As the petition to hold AHAR to account approaches 30,000 signatures, we are going to highlight another animal sadly failed by AHAR. We need to keep the pressure on so that lasting change is made at AHAR. Why the founder and current manager is still in her position with these catalogue of failures we do not know? Please continue to sign and share the petition. EVERY signature matters, as without us the animals have no voice. Thank you. A former volunteer who helped rehome equines for AHAR speaks out. ---------------------------------------------------- SNOW MELTS. HORSES SHOULDN’T. "This horse, Fantsi, melted quite literally inside of three weeks in Ahar's care. The first picture shows him in AHAR on May 30, 2016. Less than three weeks later the manager sent him on transport to travel to an experienced equine home in the UK booked by me. What I discovered later sickened me. On the day of transport, in the stables and out of sight of the transporter, the AHAR manager placed a sweat rug on Fantsi which hid his poor body condition. The adopter soon contacted me as to why her horse had not yet arrived, and on contacting the transporter I was informed that on removing the rug they’d discovered that the horse was in poor body condition and quite weak. I begged them to hold him for as long as they could to get him strong enough to travel, so he wouldn’t have to return to the same conditions that caused him to deteriorate so quickly. We had to get him out. To my gratitude they held him, fed him up, and gave him supplements, and finally he was cleared by an independent vet for travel. I was not prepared for the pictures of him on arrival. I dread to think how bad he must have looked under that rug on collection. I asked the adopter if he had any underlying condition that could have caused this, to which the answer was malnutrition and dehydration. The next photographs of Fantsi a month later on a specialist refeeding program bear out those facts. He is now the healthy noble steed he once was thanks to his loving owner. If the adopter could achieve optimal weight gain inside of four weeks, it is logical that lack of same caused his deterioration in the first place. How could this happen you ask? He had been kept in the dreaded indoor arena where so many more have met the same fate, where the law is survival of the fittest, the weaker and gentler equines bullied away from the round feeders by the others. Now here is where the story takes a little twist. On June 9th a herd registration check took place… overseen and carried out by two DAFM officials. Equines were corralled in groups of five, chips scanned, and matched to passports as entered in the herd registration book. One would have to question why neither of the two officials remarked or queried Fantsi's body condition. He should also have been health checked or at least the health check signed off on by a DAFM official prior to transport. If so how could a sweat rug have been enough to disguise his deterioration? This confirms our worst fears that body condition is not monitored by inspectors unless cases like these are highlighted by us or other concerned individuals. This poor boy was melting away by the day... and the manager got away with it using a sweat rug to hide it. Did she give a hang if he went down in the lorry on the motorway with other equines on board, where they couldn't stop? He could have been seriously injured or died. I am forever grateful to that transporter for getting Fantsi strong enough to make the journey; though far from ideal, it was all we could do to save him. Thank you also to his loving owner for restoring him to former glory and giving him a life of luxury." AHAR Exposed Team