This week's 7.30 Report on ABC TV covered the tragic story of the death of  a young woman, Sarah Waugh, at a TAFE Riding Course in Dubbo 2 years ago. 

Professor Paul McGreevy is a horse management expert and an advisor to the RSPCA.  He was interviewed in the story and was speaking of the lack of regulation in the horse industry within Australia.
He said 'Outside the racing industry, there are no regulations on the horse industry. There's no register of horses in Australia, there's no register of their history, so it's very difficult to keep track of horses, either good or bad.'

To add to this, I feel it is quite alarming that there are no regulations to the Saddlery Industry in Australia. 
I often witness riders in saddles that are so ill fitting that I am surprised that the horses are able to be controlled at all.  It is equally as important for a saddle to be comfortable for the horse as well as the rider.  If the saddle is hurting a horse than you can't blame the horse for not performing correctly or misbehaving.  The rider needs to be in a balanced position to mainitain full control of a horse.

The way it stands currently, anyone can go and buy saddlery tack that has no standards and instructions on what limitations  the product has.  All riding helmets have Australian Standards that are strictly enforced throughout horse sports in Australia but when it comes to girthing up a horse there are no standards.  Some of the girths on the market are made from the poorest of materials in terms of strength...it astounds me that they are available in our country.  
Poor fitting saddles can make a horse uncooperative and hard to control.   Most riders are not even aware of the damage they are doing to their much loved friend.  Some saddles are so poorly designed that in some cases can cripple a horse or lead to permanent scarring.

I feel deeply saddened every time hear of yet another horse incident ending in tragedy they could have possibly been avoided.


To read the full transcript from ABC's 7.30 Report use this link
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3160944.htm