susique

Tying horses feet together is called hobbling. It is a method that has been used traditionally in many countries to prevent the animals straying too far, when land cannot be fenced. Done correctly it should allow the horse to walk in order to find food to graze, whilst restricting its ability to run or wander off any great distance.

Another method often seen in Spain, and indeed here on our village common in England, is to tether the horse using length of chain. In both cases the animals should have access to water and be attended at least twice a day to check their wellbeing but in any event, they quickly become used to it and are perfectly fine.

SmartiesUK

You know I can believe this but have never given it a thought before. We had a dog lost a leg and run around for 8 years on three quite happy so I could imagine a horse coping with leg restraints. I think the key is if you took a horse that had roamed free in a grassy field in the UK and dumped it Spain and tied it up it would suffer terribly. Its all about what they are used to in that department. So long as food and water and veterinary care is in abundance I guess all is well

Hillybilly

I've seen ponies kept hobbled in their stables. Now, what's the point in that? Have also seen plenty of horses kept tethered on short ropes and with no water or a kicked-over water bucket.
There is a road near here we have nicknamed "dead dog alley" because there are always dead (run over) dogs every few metres along its length.
I once denounced someone to SEPRONA for keeping 5 dogs tied up on short chains in contravention of the Animals Act at an empty house with only irregular visits for feeding. That was rejected.
And then of course there is the issue of the disposal by hunters of their tired out greyhounds by hanging them to die from a tree. There was a case a couple of years ago where a hunter hung a pregnant greyhound to die - she gave birth while slowly dying. How inhumane is that?
The whole issue is one of the things that I dislike about this culture. But I do know some Spaniards who are as caring about their animals as "we" (I) are (am).

SmartiesUK

you paint a sorry picture of Spain for sure. Now I have been plenty of countrys around the world and never seen anything like you describe. Are you sure about the dead dogs every few meters or are you egagerating or however you bloody spell it

Hillybilly

Wish I was, but, sadly, no.

Casita

Sickening reading, why oh, why do they find it necessary to hang dogs, it must be such a slow and painful death.
The trouble is, according to the R.S.P.C.A. animal cruelty is at an alltime high in the U.K. Is this a sign of the times?

The most heartbreaking thing I ever saw was during the last foot and mouth outbreak, when pregnant ewes were giving birth as they were being taken away to be slaughtered and incinerated. Oh and the sight and smell of the burning funeral pyres blotting out the beautiful Lakeland hills.

Douglas jack

Good post, some cant understand having never lived in the country and I dont me Spain,I mean the country.

jandy44

I just joined this site yesterday,have found the readig very interesting,We are thinking of moving to theAndalucia region in the not to distant future,and I will be taking my utterly spoilt boxer dog with me,its his 5th bithday tommorrow and I as usual will be treating him to a new bed and some nice treats,I would be horrified if anything happened to him.I do feel distressed at how some people treat their animals,but this is a worldwide issue,I was recently visiting egypt and was distressed at how they treated their donkeys so much so I landed up in tears at the sight of one of them working on a market ,and in the uk recently heard of fireworks been attached to a dog and then set alight!!!! so these problems are not just in spain,but I know most of us brits proberly do go a bit ot with our pets.I foun the web site smartie posted interesting, as Im trying to get as much info as I can on moving to Andalucia , Im glad I found this site yesterday

Flooziesoozie

Last year we saw a stallion introduced to the field close to our villa that was occupied by a mare. The elderly spanish chap had spent some time introducing the stallion by standing out side of the fence with it tethered and the communication between the horses was quite vocal. However when he put the stallion in the field it's front legs were restrained with a thick rope with a ball in the middle. It did look a little cruel but the horse was able to move freely about the field. Apparently this was done to prevent the stallion from mounting the mare. The restraints were removed after a couple of days.
When visiting last month we note that the field now contains a gorgeous gangly legged foal.
Oh, and a family of goats who have decided that their main objective in life is to break through the fence into the neighbouring property, eat everything in sight, climb onto the roof terrace and bleat at us as loudly as they can everytime we sit on our front porch. They are however very entertaining, in small doses!!

angiemarie

We are to move to spain in a few months and i have heard that animal care out there is bad which is a shame because when i get out there i want to work with animals

angiemarie

I hope it is not bad out there when ever i have been out there for holidays i have seen a lot of strays

brisca

[There's a Mastín puppy nearby, in a field of sheep and goats. She craves our attention when we walk past, and I'm afraid I give it! She's now learnt how to get out of the field, so that she can come and have a tummy rub, and play with our dog. However, she can't play properly because she's got a stick tied to her collar - to stop her running too fast amongst the sheep. This has the effect of making her front legs bowed, as she manoeuvres to avoid the stick hitting her.
She's also got a collar that is SO tight! I've been monitoring it as she's been growing (she's about 5 months old) and it's now impossible to get any part of my finger underneath it.
I have spoken to her owner about it twice, and he assures me he's going to sort it out, but......
I have been very tempted to remove both the collar and the stick, but my OH tells me not to interfere with things.
In fact, I've been VERY tempted to offer to buy the puppy, but unfortunately our circumstances won't allow us to do that.]

Hi derbyflan,
You may recall I posted this as part of a response to your original thread about animal treatment/welfare in Spain?

Well, I thought you might like to know the good news!......................
This afternoon I went by her field, and she’s no longer wearing either the tight collar OR the stick!
I was so pleased! Maybe my polite concern about her paid off??

As I said in my previous post, she knows which part of the wall she can climb over, in order to come and see us! That’s never been a problem, because she’ll happily follow me back round to the main gate, and I just let her back into the field.
Not so today!
She’s obviously a bright little cookie – and having played with my German Shepherd and had lots of fuss, she decided that she wanted a bit more fun!
She went straight back to the wall, jumped over and came back round to see us again!
In all, it took me 4 attempts at collecting big bits of rock to make the wall higher, AND an oil drum to do a proper job, before she stopped escaping and reappearing at my feet. So funny – it was like something out of the Keystone Cops!

Anyway, thought you might like to know that she’s looking much more comfortable now.
She’s absolute gorgeous and has such a sweet nature.
If I can ever work out how to add a photo on here, I’ll do it (not terribly technically minded, and OH is away at the moment!)

All the best, Sam.

jandy44

I have a friend who has a house on the costa blanca,she says there are a lot of people who have got no one to look after their pets whilst they come back to the uk for a few days/weeks,I should imangine that this would be a problem,I thought it would be a idea to open a kennells in Spain,She says she dosent know of any kennels in her area of Spain, I wonder if this is the case throughout ,I have thought of opening one myself, or perhaps a dog/pet sitting service,I dont know if this would be a idea

Lionda

Yessss Here's how to do it.....

click on reply (or quote), then scroll down to 'Manage Attachments' click on that. You then have another window where you can browse your pics in your pc, chose the one you want to add and click on 'upload'. Wait for it to load and that's it

Now take a pic of that cute little dog, I want to see it

jdr

You could also click on the paperclip on the top row.