Charlie’s Angels Educators at Equitana

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue Inc. has been invited to attend this year’s “Equitana” in Melbourne, from the 18th to 21st November. Two of our members, Joanne Schoenwald (President) and Eileen McLean (Secretary), will travel to Melbourne to present education sessions on horse welfare in Australia, the opportunities for improving the future of horse welfare, and starting up and running a horse welfare charity.

This is a great opportunity for Charlie’s Angels to share their campaign ideals and shed some light on horse slaughter and the horse meat industry in Australia, information that is still largely secretive.

If you can help us to get to Melbourne, we are looking for two return flights from Brisbane to Melbourne. Donations of money or frequent flyer points (or similar) that we can use will be greatly appreciated. (Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible!)

All new! Kids’ Page!

Thanks to the enthusiasm of young Charlie’s Angels supporter, Alyssa, who organised cartoonist, Peter Ryan, to create these pages, we now have a Kids’ Page.

We try hard not to include overly disturbing images on this website because we know that the content can be disturbing enough for adults, let alone children. We try to celebrate the positives where we can, and share the love of horses. So enjoy the new kids’ page and feel free to download them and try them at home. Here’s two of the pages to get you started.

Please Stop Breeding

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue does not support the breeding of horses in any way.

One trip to a dogger saleyard (such as the Gympie saleyard where this photo was taken of a tiny foal) will show you just how many unwanted horses there are that go through the trauma of being shipped around for weeks at a time, starving, injured, ripped from their mothers, and ultimately killed.

We are launching a campaign to introduce mandatory regulation and microchipping of horses and tough restrictions on the breeding of horses.

Many people think that the horse that they breed will be okay, because they have a great pedigree or because they are a ‘good’ breeder. But the reality is that conservative estimations place at least one in every two horses bred in Australia as having its destiny in the slaughterhouse. Everyone thinks their horse will be fine, but the reality is otherwise. What happens to your horse after you sell it? You will never know.

We understand the desire to breed a foal and bring a new life into the world, nurture it and give it the best start in life. Why not pick up a pregnant mare at the sale yards? The sale yards are full of pregnant mares and foals, many just days or weeks old. We understand that a small minority of people make their living off breeding horses. But there are many other fantastic ways to earn a living working with, and loving, horses.

The simple fact is that there are more horses in Australia than there are places for them to go to. Every year, horse breeders pump out hundreds of thousands of horses, the majority of which will end up in a slaughterhouse. The racing industry alone can ’start’ 200,000 young Thoroughbreds into racing in a single year.

If you want to see an end to the suffering and cruelty that so many horses endure before they are killed and butchered, then STOP breeding. It’s as simple as that.

Skin Care Pamper Pack Raffle

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue is currently running a ‘Pamper Pack’ raffle, with over $200 worth of organic and natural skin care products, hand-made soaps, scented candles and more.

So far, we’ve received amazing skin care products from three fine Australian companies.

Lin Lou Skin Rituals Lin ”formulates, handcrafts and hand pours each and every product in the ritual range with love, joy and harmony. The energy of all the ingredients and the energy around the handling of such ingredients is done in such a way as to always maintain the highest level of integrity. Truth as a foundation, Respect for the power of nature and Integrity in living.”
Brooklan Tree products are designed by Cassandra Minchenberg in South Australia. Cassandra says that she “became seriously concerned about the adverse reactions that clients had experienced with some products and I decided that it was time to develop a range of skin care that was safe, gentle and affordable…. Using my knowledge of the many exquisite ingredients available today I began the long journey of developing a range of skin care made from the purest and finest botanical ingredients the world has to offer. I also decided to include as many certified organic ingredients as possible as I wanted to give my customers the very best products available.”
Everescents produces pure, organic hair care products, which are available exclusively through hair dressing salons. “There is no substitute for lush, healthy, shining hair,” says Julia Reschow, General Manager of EverEscents. “I am proud to say that our Senses hair care collection contains the finest plant based and Certified Organic ingredients available. We are so excited about these products and I am sure that you will feel the same!”
 
We feel very lucky to have such amazing products donated to us by these three fantastic Australian businesses. Our Pamper Pack raffle will be drawn on Saturday March 13th at the Green Earth Festival in the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens. You don’t need to be there on the day to collect your prize, so if you would like tickets (just $2 each), email us at charlies-angels@live.com.au.
 
We would like to offer our thanks to the amazing women at these three companies for their generous donation, and ask you to support them in return by going natural and organic with their products!

Animal Massage Workshop, funds to Charlie’s Angels

An Animal Massage course is being run this Sunday, 7th March 2010, in Alderley, Brisbane. It is being run by Lucy Gabrielle and Eileen McLean and $15 from the course fee of everyone who books between now and 5.00pm Friday will go directly to Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue.

The massage workshop covers the principles of a good massage, types of massage (e.g. effleurage, petrisage etc.), canine anatomy, techniques for small animals, hands-on practice on dogs, contraindications, and case studies.

The course is aimed at those people who wish to take a first step into animal massage, either as a way of treating their pets, or to explore the beginning of a new career.

$150, includes comprehensive take-home manual and certificate upon completion.

Email Lucy (lucygabrielle@live.com) if you would like a registration form, want more information, or have questions.

Equine Ultrasound Added to our Wish List

Have you seen our Wish List lately?

equine ultrasound unit by physiosupplies

We’ve just added and Equine Ultrasound to our list. Ultrasound has been shown to be the most effective form of electrotherapy. It is particularly useful for tendon and muscle injuries, to help reduce swelling and aid tissue recovery. Many of our rescue horses come in with injuries. In fact, many horses marked as “dogger” horses actually end up in the saleyard because of injuries that could be treated with the right attention.

We are lucky enough to have Alwyn Blayse (Founder/Campain Coordinator) on our team because Alwyn is a full time physiotherapist. We think this ultrasound machine would be a wonderful addition to our rehabilitation program.

You can find out more about the Equine Ultrasound unit HERE. If you can help us, we’d love to hear from you! You can email us at charlies-angels@live.com.au.

Feeding Horses in Australia, Charlie’s Education Series

This Wednesday 24th February at 7.30pm, Joanne Schoenwald (President of Charlie’s Angels) will present an information evening on “Feeding Horses in Australia“.

Joanne has a certificate in Equine Nutrition and will be covering information such as: proteins, roughage, starch, fats, vitamins and minerals; grazing horses; seasonal variations; laminitis; body scoring; weighing your horse; and more! Attendees will get to take home detailed hand outs of information that they can start applying to their horse straight away.

This is the first of the “Charlie’s Education Series” that Charlie’s Angels is committed to bringing to the community in their efforts to help spread education within the horse community.

This session is FREE to members of Charlie’s Angels. Non-members can attend for just $5.

Where: ‘Terah Creek’ saddlery and cafe, Mackenzie Street, Dayboro. 7.30pm

(A FREE information session about Charlie’s Angels will begin at 7pm beforehand. All welcome!)

No words necessary

Some of the poor horses (mostly mares with foals) for sale at today’s Gympie horse sale (“dogger” sale). All of these horses were marked as doggers. Some are only just beginning their life and haven’t even had a chance to make their mark on the world. This is a snapshot of them and their spirits before they were taken away. (All pics taken by our friend, the amazing, Amanda Vella.) This is our tribute to them, to say that we will not forget them. We will not turn away until this cycle of death ends.

 

just walking...

New arrival! Zazen comes to Charlie’s Angels

Today we welcomed a new arrival into foster care at Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue.

“Zazen” arrived off the float into care at Samford, where he will spend some time being assessed and any rehabilitation needs taken care of. He is a seven-year-old chestnut gelding, with a beautiful white blaze. He is a former racehorse. He suffered an injury in his race days that means he is unable to race. Facing an uncertain future, in which sending him to the doggers was on the cards, he has been surrendered into our care for re-homing. He is unable to jump anything other than very small jumps (under 60cm) but the vet has said he should be fine for any other riding pursuits.

day 1 in foster care

We are very grateful to the owners and caretakers involved in his surrender, and congratulate them for standing up for his right to go on to live a long and happy life in a forever home. As a surrendered horse, “Zazen” becomes one of the Charlie’s Angels horses and will be protected for life.

We expect him to be up for adoption in the near future!

EAGALA Equine Assisted Therapy Proves Value of Horses

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue President, Joanne Schoenwald, recently returned from a week’s training in New Zealand, in the EAGALA model of Equine Assisted Psycotherapy.

EAGALA is the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, which has its home in America. But the organisation has grown over the past 10 years and now offers training all around the world.

“EAGALA is committed to setting the standard of professional excellence in how horses and humans work together to improve the quality of life and mental health of individuals, families and groups worldwide” (www.eagala.org).

The EAGALA model works on a two-person team approach to assisted growth and therapy, with one horse specialist and one mental health practitioner. “The beauty of this form of therapy is that the horses are the ones doing the greatest work. And it’s amazing how many times they do exactly the most powerful thing at exactly the right time to really generate an incredible impact on someone’s life,” Joanne says. “Just by horses doing what they do best, they are able to open windows into the psyche that might otherwise stay shut.”

EAGALA therapies are solely ground-based: no riding is involved and there is no instruction on how a client should work with a horse. It is entirely client-directed, and the horse is entirely able to do its own work on its own terms.’

“What I love most about this therapy is that it clearly shows us the incredible worth and value that horses bring to humanity just by being a horse. They’re value does not have to rely on how much “work” they can do, how many ribbons they can win, or how much income they generate. They are amazingly special just because they exist.”