Since its founding JAAN started to help the carriage horses working in Jakarta’s heat and busy traffic. The carriage horses’ welfare are of much concern to us as they are pushed over their limits with little care provided. Often the owners and handlers don’t have much knowledge about horse care and the carriage horses are literally worked to their very early death, when normally with better care, horses can reach a very old age. The horses in Jakarta are found tied up under bridges and other very unsuitable areas where the horses can’t rest nor graze.
JAAN has started to offer and provide free veterinary care for carriage horses in Jakarta and developed a Standard Operational Procedure for the carriage horses. With the help of the Organization Animal People, JAAN developed a proper sanctuary and care center for the horses on donated land in West Jakarta. Meanwhile JAAN was striving to obtain a ban from the Jakarta government to use carriage horses in Central Jakarta, which was realized in 2010.
This is because, not only the welfare of the horses is at stake, but the use of these horses in Central Jakarta also endangers the traffic and general safety of people. In 2010 this ban was realized. But sadly, in 2015 we see carriage horses again being used in the center of Jakarta.
JAAN was shocked to learn about the extremely cruel methods used by some horse handlers to ‘treat’ the horses, such as the force feeding of pepper water to ‘cure’ a cold or a flu, the puncturing of the front muscles with sharp bamboo sticks after which a rope is passed through the hole. This, to ‘clean the blood’ and many more horrendous practices. JAAN rescued two carriage horses who both had been exposed to these cruel practices and were adopted by an amazing horse center, where horses are cared for in the most natural way – Havana Horses in Central Java.
As the workload for the carriage horses is enormous, JAAN approached actively to other specialized horse welfare organizations to ask for assistance as the horses in Indonesia really need a focused program on its own. Yet, no organization has been willing to come and work in Indonesia so far to help address the suffering of carriage horses. JAAN conducted a tour in 2010 and 2011 to visit different areas in Java, Bali and Lombok where carriage horses are used.
Our team treated horses in Semarang, Jepara, Jogjakarta, Salatiga, Kuta (Bali) , Mataram and The Gili Islands. Untill 2015 JAAN has actively assisted the Gili Horse Clinics in collaboration with the Gili Eco Trust. Since 2016, JAAN only assists with medicines or other practical needs if required yet the clinics on The Gili Islands are well organized and very important as the welfare issues on these islands are huge.
