Introduction

WVS has projects and resources to help vets that deal with Working Equines wherever they are found. Equines are used in a wide variety of settings, including: racing, show jumping, endurance, polo, riding schools, and agroforestry to name a few. However these equines are not usually ‘working’ and at some level have access to professional services and protective legislation.

Many equines are used to generate income that directly contributes to the economy of a family in low resource settings in LMIC (low-middle income countries) and LIC; these equines typically have limited access to services, resources and legislative protection.

A good definition of a working equine is :

The term ‘working equine’ includes horses, donkeys and their hybrids, mules and hinnies. Mules are often deliberately bred as they have the larger size from a mare and hardiness from a jack (male donkey). Hinnies are often accidental matings between a jenny (female donkey) and a stallion; it can be hard to tell mules and hinnies apart. For organisations trying to improve welfare, the definition ‘equines’ covers this whole group and is useful to communicate with other stakeholders, to create common indicators for welfare, and work for their improvements.

This definition covers the wide variety of roles that working equines undertake including:

• Transporting goods and people by cart or pack saddle
• Carrying water for other livestock and communities
• Ploughing, sowing, harvesting of crops
• Tourism especially in urban and peri-urban settings

Working equines are usually found in communities with limited access to services and low income/ resources. This includes areas where the wider country may be viewed as relatively prosperous, for example populations of donkeys used in rural Portugal and Spain.

Equines that are used to produce meat, milk or skins suffer from many of the welfare issue see in working equines, as well as challenges specifically related to production.