Equids

How do these animals live? According to nature or according to the logic of business?

Horses, donkeys, mules, hinnies, are tamed, trained and forced to do work that is not part of their destiny.

• They are exploited in the so-called sporting competitions as in 'traditional' horse races (as in the 'Palio di Siena')
• They are used to pull tourists on buggies around in the big cities for hours on end
• They are used in agriculture as draft animals.

It is never too late to open our eyes to the suffering that most equines still endure and to condemn it once and for all.

Horse racing and equestrian sports are the perfect expression of man's dominance over horses. There are more than 150,000 "starters" (horses that can be used in horse races) at the 40 race courses in Italy.

Horses are tamed, trained to run or to perform movements, jumps and gaits using methods that can cause suffering and stress.

The use of coercive instruments such as muzzles, spurs and whips is permitted.

Our battle

• We aim to free horses and other equines from exploitation in equestrian sport, to achieve the abolition of all events such as palio and jousting, and to ban their use as a means of transport.
• We promote knowledge of the correct way to treat these animals. We support the urgency of a law to protect horses and exclude them from slaughter.
  
• We fight for horses to live free from use and abuse and we want a law to protect them, including the exclusion of horses from slaughter
• We have been campaigning for years for the abolition of animal-drawn transport and for a nationwide ban on the use of equidae for the transport of goods and merchandise.
• We monitor the application of the law and work to obtain regulations and measures in favour of horses.
• We highlight their suffering, the risks they run, and the accidents that have claimed so many lives over the years.

FOCUS: Palios

Palios are competitions where there is a high risk of accidents, even fatal ones, due to the nature of the tracks on which the animals have to run.

Since 1975, 13 horses have died in Asti and 50 in Siena, to mention only the two most important and famous Palii.

The fierce competition between rival towns can also lead unscrupulous people to use prohibited substances to improve the horses' performance, exposing them to the risk of respiratory and cardiac collapse.

FOCUS: Urban Slavery

About 300 horses or other equines are still used for transport in Italy, although it is impossible to estimate exactly how many are used for tourist buggies or similar vehicles.

They are:

• Forced to work many hours a day with loads of up to
  with loads of up to 900 kg
• Exposed to increasingly extreme weather conditions, and subjected to high levels of extreme weather conditions, subjected to very high levels of stress.
• Slaves to an anachronistic and unacceptable tradition that is only in place for the protection of the economic interests of a few people.
  
  

What we ask

• Tourists not to use carriages to visit the cities
• Local authorities not to issue any more licences for animal-drawn vehicles for animal-drawn vehicles and to promote their conversion, encouraging he use of replacement vehicles, as has already happened in the cities of Verona and Cagliari and in the Royal Palace Park in Caserta.
• The Parliament and the Government to enact a law banning animal traction, as LAV has been demanding for years.
  

What can you do

• Do not participate in equestrian sports, horse racing or similar activities.
• Do not use buggies or other vehicles pulled by animals.
• Avoid trips on the back of horses, donkeys or other equines.
• Spread the word about their suffering and the abuse they endure daily, including the use of doping substances and drugs to improve the performance of racehorses.
• Help us to highlight the suffering of exploited horses and other equines.