THE CRUELTY OF HORSE CARRIAGES, “FIAKER”
Someone with a bit of awareness for nature, animals, justice, and equality, who doesn’t know much about horses, their natural environment, a species’ special traits and emotions, can see and understand that horses used for this cruel, exploitative business are immensely suffering.
Carriage horses live a completely unnatural and stressful life in the midst of the big cities all across the globe, which include Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck in Austria. They serve as a tourist attraction, exploiting the horse individuals and earning money for their forced mental and physical efforts.
In face-to-face conversations, on social media platforms, and on national media, horse carriage drivers’ statements are always the same old same old, and are not conclusive nor justify the use, oppression, and suffering of animals in any way.
The sensory overload of the city overwhelms these sensitive animals. Blinkers (horse blinders) are necessary to even put the horses into this horrific situation they are in.
The retinas of horses’ eyes are very large, therefore they have very good peripheral vision. A subtle turn of the head allows a horse to focus on an object. Blinkers, as well as the entire face and body harness they are strapped into, prevent them from pursuing this physical movement and trait.
Also, the loud sounds of the cities’ traffic must be unbearable, frightening, and really distressing for horses—especially with blinders on.
Horse behavior is best understood from the view that horses are prey animals with a well-developed fight-or-flight response. Their first reaction to a threat is often to flee, although sometimes they stand their ground and defend themselves.
Just because humans domesticated horses thousands of years ago, and they have been used by humans ever since, doesn’t make using them in any way an acceptable, morally, and ethically act. On the contrary, just because we have always done something does not mean that it was good.
If you haven’t yet signed the @vgt.austria’s petition, please do so by clicking this link.
![[Germ. below] ADOPT DON’T SHOP ✽ Bookmark | Spreading the message page by page.
It is so important that people understand that breeding causes immense animal suffering. There are so many rejected, abandoned, and neglected animals living in sh](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e52dc9312c0b7337202747b/1726829681675-3DM8GUJ5DTAQWXTLI9GL/image-asset.jpeg)
![[Engl. below] HUNDEGEFÄHRT:INNEN | DINGE AN DIE ICH NICHT GEDACHT HABE BIS ZU ADOPTION. ✽ Eine:n Hundegefährt:in zu adoptieren bedeutet eine große Verantwortung und sehr viele Entscheidungen treffen zu müssen. Das Wohlbefinden un](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e52dc9312c0b7337202747b/1726829682615-IJXPD5UUGDX0DN2H41Q9/image-asset.jpeg)
![[Engl. below] „WARTE EINFACH UND SCHAU, WAS PASSIERT“ ✿ Das ist mein Ansatz, besonders im Umgang mit anderen und mir fremden Tieren.
Interesse und Anziehung geschehen ganz natürlich, wie ich es bei meiner Begegnung mit den Kaninchen](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e52dc9312c0b7337202747b/1726829683411-OV05IH9TOHF3DL58WJ2E/image-asset.jpeg)
