Brooke trains horse owners in Senegal
Brooke, with the help of partner UGAN, has employed a Community Change Agent (known as a Relay) in Badoudou Village, Senegal to run community training sessions on topics including provision of shelter and hoof care.
Ablaye Cor lives in the village with his horse that he uses for agriculture and transportation of goods. “The horse has done a lot for me, he helped me build my house,” he said.
Ablaye has always appreciated his horse, but before he began attending Brooke’s community engagement sessions he didn’t have all the skills or knowledge to ensure his horse was being well looked after.
I wasn’t fully conscious of the fact that animals needed a shelter. But, now I’ve come to realise that animals need to be protected against mosquitos and flies.
Brooke and UGAN (Union des Groupements Associés du Niombato) have been working hard to train owners like Ablaye on the importance of hoof care.
Relay Mustafa Kor training Badoudou residents, including Ablaye Cor in far right corner
Ablaye explains how he first came to realise the importance of Brooke’s message on hoof care: “Whenever I went into my shelter there was a foul smell, almost like a dead body. One day I realised it was coming from my horse’s foot. The smell was so bad that I didn’t know what else to do so I took him to the farrier. He trimmed the hooves and cleaned the frog area, which had pus coming out of it. When I took my horse home, there was no smell again. I could see a real difference. I now make sure my horse’s feet are trimmed every month and I clean the hoof daily. My animal walks better and day by day I am all the more convinced that this is a necessity and what Brooke is saying is true.”
Since Brooke began working in Badoudou Village, Ablaye has observed that “people are paying more attention to equine animals now. My animal is part of my life today.”
Badoudou Village in Senegal. In areas where natural shade options for animals are limited, man-made shelters are more necessary to achieve physical and thermal comfort for an animal to have quality rest
Man-made shelter provides shade for animals in the village. Part of Brooke’s vision for good welfare is that animals have thermal and physical comfort, and the opportunity for quality rest
We need your help
To reach more horses, donkeys and mules, and provide better support for owners to create lasting change.
See also
Brooke West Africa and their partner UGPM have developed a traffic light system to help villagers evaluate the welfare of their equines.
The process involves villagers getting together and assessing each other's animals through a checklist of animal welfare issues, which includes hoof quality, response when a person approaches the animal, and body lesions.