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Crete: Man arrested for equine abuse
A disturbing discovery was made by members of the Panhellenic Animal Welfare and Environmental Federation in the district of Heraklion in the Greek island of Crete, when they found tens of equine corpses (horses and donkeys), in the area surrounding a catering business. Policemen had discovered earlier two donkeys in a horrendous situation, hardly able to stand and with their furs fallen off. Based on the reports, it is estimated that the donkeys have been in this condition for at least six months. The man who owns the business claimed that the donkeys had been abandoned and he had collected them for treatment. But nobody believed him, as the federation…
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Are horses more responsive than people think? Helping Zimas help himself
This is just one of the numerous other blogs I want to write to support the view that our equine friends are clever creatures, who don’t just respond to commands they have learned during their schooling. After my first horse riding lesson, I read some general things about horses and I remember a text saying that the equine brain has been found able to perform quite complex processes, even solving crosswords. Some people think it’s hilarious to treat a horse like a human and find the image of me interacting with a horse like that quite funny. But some notable experiences I have had prove that we have to look…
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The Cretan horse breed
Someone has said the Cretan horse “doesn’t waste the time of those who waste its own time”. This is just one of the comments about the special characteristics of Crete’s indigenous equine breed. The Cretan horse is also called “Georgalidikon”, or “Messaritikon”, and is very different to any other breeds that I am aware of. It has been used in rural work, commerce and warfare, its glorious moments unfolding during World War II. Many of them were used for the defense operation of the Greeks against the Italians in Epirus and some of them -though very few- returned alive. But in general, Cretan horses were used throughout the Greek territory…