Do The Five Freedoms Cover It All?
Recently I read an on-line article “The Five Freedoms and Equine Welfare” by Dale Rudin https://www.horseillustrated.com/five-freedoms-and-equine-welfare
Rudin begins “Most of us have pondered whether our horse has a life he enjoys. Is there any way to find out?” and says “yes.”
He then describes the British Farm Animal Council standard for the humane treatment of equines as:
- Freedom from hunger and thirst, by ready access to water and a diet to maintain health and vigor.
- Freedom from discomfort, by providing an appropriate environment.
- Freedom from pain, injury, and disease, by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
- Freedom to express normal behavior, by providing sufficient space, proper facilities, and appropriate company of the animal’s own kind.
- Freedom from fear and distress, by ensuring conditions and treatment that avoid mental suffering.
Rudin concludes “When you follow The Five Freedoms, you can rest easy knowing your horse is living the great life he deserves.”
I disagree – I think he’s missing an important factor: feedback from your horse. And I don’t mean just her behavior. Yes, that can indicate problems but I want to know if she’s content, satisfied and even happy. My horse deserves to be truly happy, not just well cared for. I owe her that. I’m grateful that, through an animal communicator, she was able to confirm how happy she is. Click ‘The Five Freedoms’ to comment
In the awesome design of things you receive a B+ just for effort. Where exactly you lost me was first on all the particulars. You know, people say, the devil is in the details… And it couldn’t be more correct here. Having said that, permit me tell you just what did do the job. Your article (parts of it) is certainly incredibly powerful which is probably why I am taking the effort in order to comment. I do not make it a regular habit of doing that. 2nd, while I can easily see the leaps in logic you make, I am not necessarily confident of exactly how you seem to connect your ideas which inturn help to make the conclusion. For the moment I will yield to your position however hope in the near future you actually connect the facts much better.
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