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Fifteen horses 'too dangerous to handle' euthanised after being seized from racing breeder

 

Olivia Caldwell

16:46, Dec 16 2022

PETER MEECHAM/STUFF

 

MPI, police, and horse rescue staff remove horses from Kaikōura's Donegal House on Thursday morning.

Fifteen horses seized from a Kaikōura harness racing breeder’s property have been euthanised.

In September, 44 horses were retrieved by police from Donegal House – a well-known Irish pub and accommodation site, run by standardbred breeder Murray Boyd.

Twenty-nine of the horses were rehomed, and while attempts were also made to rehome the remaining 15, they had not been broken in and “were too dangerous to handle”, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) regional manager animal welfare Murray Pridham said on Friday.

The horses were euthanised following advice from equine experts, he said.Police, MPI staff, vets, and staff were involved in the horse take back in September.

“MPI animal welfare inspectors have completed their work at this Kaikōura property involving the welfare of 44 horses,” Pridham said on Friday.

 

 

PETER MEECHAM/STUFF

Helpers coax a young horse towards waiting horse trucks at Donegal House near Kaikoura, where MPI staff were uplifting horses.

“During the course of our inquiries, MPI gained an enforcement order from the court, ordering the owner of the horses to destock which he refused to do.

“Because of this failure to comply with the court, under the powers of the Animal Welfare Act, MPI was legally able to intervene.”

There were three large horse trucks at the scene in September, and people could be seen loading about a dozen horses into them.

About 16 more, many visibly thin, were huddled around large hay feeders in paddocks in front of the property. More horses could be heard around the property.

It’s understood there were about 50 on the grounds.

 

One mare at the scene had a young foal at foot, and others appeared to be pregnant.A young horse which managed to escape had to be coaxed out of the bushes by staff from Stable To Stirrup, a charitable trust based just out of Christchurch which specialises in working with standardbred horses.

According to information from Harness Racing NZ (HRNZ) records, Boyd was last licenced as a trainer in 2014. Boyd also raced successful pacer Donegal Delight, who won $228,988 racing in New Zealand and Australia.

HRNZ records show she is still in his ownership. HRNZ and the SPCA have been approached for comment.

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Not at all. The Chief will soon be along to reassure us that this is just another example of over-reaction by vets and MPI, and that the trainer in question is really a kind, salt-of-the-earth, type whose only fault was to be so soft-hearted that he couldn't bear to see any of his horses go to other owners. That some of them were a bit on the skinny side is misinformation revealing the media's inability to understand his unique training programme and symptomatic of their ongoing crusade against harness racing.

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On 20/12/2022 at 7:26 PM, hunterthepunter said:

what about commander KEV he would made great job of breaking them in as used to rough horses the guys magical could of even smashed up his new imported race cart

Wow. Surely even you would realise you don’t put a race cart on when breaking in horses. 
are you saying Nigel doesn’t have the skill set to break in the rough ones. 

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On 16/12/2022 at 10:14 PM, Basil said:

Not at all. The Chief will soon be along to reassure us that this is just another example of over-reaction by vets and MPI, and that the trainer in question is really a kind, salt-of-the-earth, type whose only fault was to be so soft-hearted that he couldn't bear to see any of his horses go to other owners. That some of them were a bit on the skinny side is misinformation revealing the media's inability to understand his unique training programme and symptomatic of their ongoing crusade against harness racing.

Unfortunately too much of his own product consumed

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59 minutes ago, hunterthepunter said:

what is fake news DAVIS did you not know big Eric trucked his horses to the racers in a red cattle truck 

True.

I know a number of good stories about Eric's training methods.

Like the time a horse wouldn't get off the truck so he tied the lead of the horse to a post and drove the truck away.

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8 hours ago, Chief Stipe said:

True.

I know a number of good stories about Eric's training methods.

Like the time a horse wouldn't get off the truck so he tied the lead of the horse to a post and drove the truck away.

Probably wouldnt be in the good books nowadays  with the RIU lol.

Many true stories of Mr Ryan’s training techniques.

MERRY XMAS and an interesting 2023 to everyone.

Great punting if you are indulging and enjoy your family and friends!!

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