NZTR Leading the World in Animal Welfare - Yeah right!

[Huey]

37 minutes ago, Tony said:

Who is this Martin Burns chap with the title "NZTR GM Welfare & Sustainability" What are his qualifications for the job. What would the qualifications for a title like this involve.  He obviously isn't a Vet or he would have known the mayhem that the introduction of his Rule concerning Altreno would cause. It only took a month for the realty of the situation to make  a change back to basically what it was. Anybody who had been involved in breeding horses and been involved with cranky fillies or mares would have been aware that when you take them off Altreno they come in season. Obviously page 28 wasn't available to Martin Burns when he took part in the seizure of broodmares in September 2017. By February 2018 NZTR had spent over 40K of Racing's money fattening, paying for care, foaling down, Transport, etc only to ring Majestic's and ask Majestic's to return them to the owner.

Nobody at NZTR was accountable for this expense. They are lucky it is not run under the same principles as a Private Enterprise.

Youve lost me abit? But I get you understand that no one there has a clue about racehorses,a big problem obviously.

[Freda]

5 hours ago, Huey said:

Youve lost me abit? But I get you understand that no one there has a clue about racehorses,a big problem obviously.

Lost me a bit too.  What happened wrt to these broodmares?  Haven't heard any of this.

Marty Burns was a former NZRB staffer.

I met him at the Rangiora trials on a couple of occasions ( can't remember why he was there ) and he got a fair earbashing from me on the first occasion.  To his credit he was unfailingly polite,  and was pleasant and approachable the next time I saw him.

He was at the jumps enthusiasts gathering at the 2019 National meeting, this time as an NZTR employee.

I asked him why he jumped ship, got a wry grin but no real comment, could hardly expect one I guess!

I've found that he always answers emails,  unlike many in that organization. 

[Huey]

2 hours ago, Freda said:

Lost me a bit too.  What happened wrt to these broodmares?  Haven't heard any of this.

Marty Burns was a former NZRB staffer.

I met him at the Rangiora trials on a couple of occasions ( can't remember why he was there ) and he got a fair earbashing from me on the first occasion.  To his credit he was unfailingly polite,  and was pleasant and approachable the next time I saw him.

He was at the jumps enthusiasts gathering at the 2019 National meeting, this time as an NZTR employee.

I asked him why he jumped ship, got a wry grin but no real comment, could hardly expect one I guess!

I've found that he always answers emails,  unlike many in that organization. 

The point I was trying to make was someone who fronts Horse Welfare should have a lot of depth in their knowledge of the racehorse, someone like yourself perhaps.

He most certainly does not, as polite as he is and I dont believe he has the indepth knowledge,industry & beyond relationships to appropriately perform to levels they are attempting to make out horse welfare matters to the industry.

[nomates]

10 minutes ago, Huey said:

The point I was trying to make was someone who fronts Horse Welfare should have a lot of depth in their knowledge of the racehorse, someone like yourself perhaps.

He most certainly does not, as polite as he is and I dont believe he has the indepth knowledge industry & beyond relationships to appropriately perform to levels they are attempting to make out horse welfare matters to the industry.

To get one of these senior positions , when did it become necessary to have a sound understanding and knowledge of the race horse industry and associated knowledge of any part of that industry where you would be required to make sound fact based decisions that impact the industry . 

I can't think of one person at the top table of NZTR that could say they were in their position because of their knowledge and sound hands on understanding of NZ racing .

Till this changes , nothing changes.

[Tony]

From Mary Burgess's Memo "NZTR GM Welfare & Sustainability, Martin Burns, who drove the development of the New Zealand Welfare Standards over a two year period prior to their release last October,"

We have these people making all the rules for racing and in particular these welfare standards are going to have a serious impact on everybody involved in the industry. I'm all for good Welfare Standards but they have to be practical as well. 

I'm just asking what practical knowledge does Martin Burns have. In the past  I don't think he has shown very much. Is he just another NZTR Staffer who has worked on the principle "fake it till you make it"

Regards the broodmares. Some of you will remember in September 2017 a stud north of Wanganui had 8 broodmares removed by NZTR and the SPCA. A big to do was made over it with the intentions of convicting this bloke. When the horses got to Palmerston North one of the best Equine Vets in the CD was called to help with the evidence. Apparently the mares were light, they did have rain scold and some were showing their age.  They were not emaciated and the astute vet said"every stud would have some mares like this at this time of the year (September) This Vet was then sacked and replaced by another that was expert in Cat and dog neutering  and she thought the the mares were appalling. NZTR then employed her as their Consulting Vet.  After 5 months and over 40K of NZTR and Racing's money the mares were returned to the owner as there was no case to answer. I think a practical person may have gone to the Saddlery Warehouse and brought 8 $100 covers. Brought 10 bales of Balage $1500 Total $2300 and monitored the stud. May be worked with the bloke rather than the Grandstanding that occurred. I don't know the bloke or support him but I do know that journalists don't let the truth get in the way of a good story. 

[Freda]

2 hours ago, Tony said:

From Mary Burgess's Memo "NZTR GM Welfare & Sustainability, Martin Burns, who drove the development of the New Zealand Welfare Standards over a two year period prior to their release last October,"

We have these people making all the rules for racing and in particular these welfare standards are going to have a serious impact on everybody involved in the industry. I'm all for good Welfare Standards but they have to be practical as well. 

I'm just asking what practical knowledge does Martin Burns have. In the past  I don't think he has shown very much. Is he just another NZTR Staffer who has worked on the principle "fake it till you make it"

Regards the broodmares. Some of you will remember in September 2017 a stud north of Wanganui had 8 broodmares removed by NZTR and the SPCA. A big to do was made over it with the intentions of convicting this bloke. When the horses got to Palmerston North one of the best Equine Vets in the CD was called to help with the evidence. Apparently the mares were light, they did have rain scold and some were showing their age.  They were not emaciated and the astute vet said"every stud would have some mares like this at this time of the year (September) This Vet was then sacked and replaced by another that was expert in Cat and dog neutering  and she thought the the mares were appalling. NZTR then employed her as their Consulting Vet.  After 5 months and over 40K of NZTR and Racing's money the mares were returned to the owner as there was no case to answer. I think a practical person may have gone to the Saddlery Warehouse and brought 8 $100 covers. Brought 10 bales of Balage $1500 Total $2300 and monitored the stud. May be worked with the bloke rather than the Grandstanding that occurred. I don't know the bloke or support him but I do know that journalists don't let the truth get in the way of a good story. 

Have to agree there.

I've seen some awful decisions made by small animal vets wrt horses/ cattle.   No practicality or common sense.