I got bitten real bad. Very ouch indeed. After deliberating the
advice received from family, friends and forumers, I decided to go
to the New Paper and close this thread.
The article was published on 4 Oct 2006 (Weds). However, there were
numerous inaccuracies in it and I am beginning to understand how
Reporters without Borders came to their conclusion.
Note that this is a non-political issue with no verbal abuse/slurs
involved, and it still got censored.
As such, I have decided to re-post the articles here so that
readers can arrive at their own eduated decisions.
Here are the newspaper reports compared with the actual letter I
wrote detailing my original concerns (with original picture)
:
The New Paper Article
Original Letter / Interview
Material
18th Sept 2006
Blue Dolphin Gallery (S) Pte Ltd
No 6 Tagore Drive #01-05
Tagore Ind. Building Singapore 787623
[email protected]
cc: [email protected]
To Whom It May Concern,
I visited Gallop Stables @ Pasir Ris with my fiancé on Sunday, 17th
Sept 2006 at around 5 pm, and came away with a very bad
experience.
I was feeding and admiring a foal kept in a paddock near the
stables. About 20 minutes later, a horse handler released the
foals painfully undernourished looking mother, Peanut, to join the
foal. Peanut began grazing in an area away from the crowd, but when
there was nothing to graze on, she wandered over and ate from my
hand. When I ran out of food, Peanut moved her head too close to my
face for comfort. I noticed her ears were folded back, so I moved
back slowly to avoid provoking her with sudden movements, but she
tried to bite my right arm. When she bit air, she suddenly lunged
forward and bit my right breast. I was still moving away, but
Peanut did not release her bite. In doing so, she tore my bra off.
The crowd around me gasped loudly and looked shocked. The children
beside me ran to their parents. I was in shock, but warned the
crowd that the mother bites.
The few staff in the area were busy handling horses, or standing
too far away. None of them saw this incident, or even if they did,
they did not act. My fiancé then brought me to the Horseshop to
seek first aid. There were 5 ladies altogether standing at the cash
register. I told them exactly what had happened. When they did not
seem concerned, I pulled down my blouse slightly to show them the
bruised, bleeding wound and said that the horse bit so hard that my
bra got torn off. They made faces and nodded, but offered no
further assistance! I told them to get a handler to lead the mother
away from the crowd before someone else got hurt, but my request
fell on deaf ears!
The Indian lady who was seated began explaining that Peanut can be
quite protective of the foal. When my fiancé pointed out again
that I had been bitten badly and needed first aid, she went on to
explain lamely thats why we warn people not to feed the mother,
but usually we let the mother graze away from the crowd. My
fiancé then asked why Peanut was allowed to roam freely in the same
paddock if they knew she might behave in this way, and why no one
was informed not to feed the mother for the entire duration we were
feeding the ponies, but the 5 ladies were at a loss for words.
Throughout this conversation, I repeated my request to have the
pony led away a total of FOUR times, but no one acted! Finally, one
of them gave us antiseptic cream, and a round-sized plaster small
enough to cover a tiny cut. Immediately after that, Peanut she bit
another young girl (about 5 yrs old) on the upper chest. Only then
did a handler lead Peanut away.
1) This was an accident waiting to happen. There were many
other women and children feeding the foal when Peanut was released
into the enclosure. Peanut ate out of several childrens hands as
well. The staff were obviously well aware of Peanuts behaviour,
but still no safety precautions were taken It would have
been as simple as leading the mother and foal away to a more
private area, or tethering the mother loosely away from the crowd
but within the same enclosure. There was certainly no way of normal
members of the public knowing that they should not feed the
mother. There was no staff member nor sign present to warn
us of such a thing. Why?
2) Your staff handled the situation VERY poorly. They did
not offer immediate or adequate assistance even after I showed them
my bleeding, bruised wound, nor did they offer any apology. Even if
the ladies were not the people to speak to, we were not referred to
anyone else. There was no proper first aid available at your
facility. To top it off, I requested to have Peanut led away a
total of FOUR times, but no one acted until another little girl got
bitten minutes later! My fiancé rushed me to a doctor, who
bandaged my wound with an 11cm by 11cm dressing. In contrast, the
size of the round plaster offered to me was of 2.5cm diameter, even
though the 5 ladies had seen how bad my wound was! I was offered a
piece of tissue paper and four small plasters only after my fiancé
asked for better dressing. Tissue! One would think that a riding
facility like yours would at least have proper dressing for wounds!
And I did not even ride that day! Because of this incident,
I was forced to take a day of unpaid leave from work because of the
nature of my wound, and foot a $66 medical bill.[b] That doesnt
include the cost of my expensive, ruined bra. I also have to take 4
types of antibiotics, painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicine.
[b] Ive had to pay for your managements neglect! Is that
fair?
3) I am concerned that Peanuts poor health might have
played a part in the degree of her aggression. Her ribs were very
prominent and her pelvic bones were jutting out! I dont
know if this is from malnourishment, neglect/abuse, or both, but
Peanut really ought to be nursed back to an acceptable level of
health before being released near people other than her handlers.
In light of this, I hope any disciplinary measures taken
will be against the horse handlers/trainers, and not the
horse.
Its just a shame that the first ever public pony riding by the
park would have such glaringly poor standards. If this is what I
got from just feeding a pony, Id loathe to think what could happen
had I opted for a pony ride that day.
I have attached some documents as proof. I trust that the
management will take appropriate action immediately, and also
re-imburse at least my medical expenses. You may contact me at for
any further clarification on this matter.
Regards,
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