Ok so most everyone knows I run a rescue here on Gili Trawangan in Indonesia. I thought it might be interesting for everyone to see photo of the horses and ponies from our clinics so you can see the different types and breeds and traditional harness etc. We hold two clinics per year and see every horse we can on the 3 Gili Islands. Each is dewormed, given B vitamins, Teeth floated, feet trimmed, wounds cared for, bits and harnesses distributed. We see a variety of types/breeds. There are Java ponies form Bali, Lombok horse and pony from Lombok, Sumbawa horse, and Sumba horse and pony. We will be doing a genetics study with Texas A and M to see what breeds comprise these animals. They vary form 11 to 12 hands to 14 to 15 hands. Most are narrow and have boxy upright feet and pasterns. We think the feet are artificially created by poor shoeing practices. 95% working on all 3 islands are stallions as well.
All of these in this first post are Lombok horse or pony they differentiate by size horse is over 14 hands pony is less than 14 hands. All are called "kuda" all of these are working cart horses either pulling tourist carts or supply carts. the first two belong to the riding stable STUD and are used for beach rides for tourists
Here are some more nearly all of these are also form Lombok with one or two from Java thrown in. The really thin ones are the rubbish ponies that pull the rubbish carts on the island they work the hardest (note there is NO motorized trasnport of any kind here so all horses/ponies, bicycles and by foot)
And a few more mix of Lombok and Java origin ponies. Note the hand made headstalls/halters out of rope and hose pieces. They also tend to have the lead come form on top of the nose frequently instead of under then chin.
These are some of the hand made bits we replace withe donated snaffle non leverage bits and headstalls. There are lots of mouth injuries form bits on the corners of the mouth and many horses also have very abnormal molars in the front we assume from trying to hold the bit to avoid mouth and gum pain.
A few more and then I will stop lol. All of these but the last one are form Lombok or Java. The last one the bay is from Sumba. stunning animal but look at his nostrils and ears...they have been notched for identification...he is the only one we have seen with nostrils like that. His owner says it is because the horse is valuable. Most have brands of some sort either on shoulders, hips or occasionally on the face. Some have notched ears mostly those form out islands.. I will post some photos of horses form the islands of Sumba and Sumbawa later so you can see the differences.
Very interesting to see the different horses. Totally different world than what I am used to seeing...keep the pictures coming, I find them fascinating! Good work with the horse rescue!
Ditto to @carshon on the poor rubbish ponies. So thin and scarred up it turned my stomach. Just curious but do you know how long their work life averages since it looks like they don't get much care? A huge kudos to you @Tori Taylor for giving them the help you can.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Some of the ponies do look to be in poor condition, but certainly not all of them. Their photos are, as said above, really fascinating!
Thanks for the pictures! I see a lot of those blocky feet in the Philippines. I also think it is from crude farriery. Out of curiosity, what size bits are you using to replace the home made ones?
So to answer a couple of questions-
The average age of the horses on the 3 islands is about 8 years old. We now see many well into their teens and have a couple that by teeth appear to be over 20. They start using them as cart ponies at 18 months to 2 years and literally never touch them prior to that. Mares are rarely if ever used they are primarily to make babies and only a few live here on the 3 smaller islands. Most mares are on Lombok or Bali and horses come form there in boats. The useful life of a rubbish pony used to be 1 to 2 years before they were sold for meat. Now we have subsidies from Animal Aid Abroad proving better quality feed for those ponies and we have put into place a reward system for drivers of them if the ponies are better cared for. We also retired 2 of the worse condition ponies. Also for those ponies we have a grass field that they are taken to three or four times a week and allowed to graze and run fee and they are put there if they have injuries that keep them from working.
I have a video somewhere of the poor farrier practices which I will find but essentially they clean the foot, cut away dead frog and sole and remove the old shoe. then the apply a new shoe and place the foot on the ground. Then they trim around the edges and remove the excess hoof wall. This in turn results in a boxy, upright hoof with contracted heels and incorrect angles. I will try at some point to take some photos of the feet of horses shod this way for many years and you will see arthritic changes in the pastern and I suspect rotation if we x rayed them.
We replace the bits with a variety (essentially whatever we get donated) but most are 4.5 inch, we get an occasional 4 inch which works for a few and most 5 inch are too big except for the bigger riding horses from Sumba and Sumbawa. Most true pony bits are too small.
Overall 80% of the ponies and horses are in good body condition but it is a still a struggle keeping the rubbish ponies in good weight.
I will find some more photos and try to post more later of the various types.
I wold buy bells for Nemo! He might hate me forever...
Check out this site, it might provide some ideas on how to get going, if creating and selling the local tack turns out to be anything like a viable idea.
These will be photos of horses I know are from other islands such as Sumba or Sumbawa. These are taller animals generally lighter in frame and are bred for riding or racing. Horse racing is a very popular past time for Indonesians. Just google Bima horse racing to see. Bima is the main city on the island of Sumbawa.
Other differences to note between the breeds (they are technically considered breeds but are not pure as a lot on inter breeding goes on) is the longer fine silky hair on the suma/sumbawa horses mane and tail, no hair on their fetlocks, fewer whiskers, and finer boned. They look similar to arab or welsh crosses to me and are like small horses not ponies. The lombok/bali/java ponies have think pony mane and tail, hair and small amount of feathering on fetlocks and much sturdier build overall. At first they all looked like small horses/ponies but after 3 years I can usually tell what island a horse is from. All the bali/java ponies (not necessarily lombok) are much more colorful having many pintos, cremes, buckskins, palomino, grey etc whereas the sumba/sumbawa horses are almost always bay black...maybe seal brown
And here are some of the ponies/horses attached to the carts. There are two types of carts one is a tourist cart with a shaded area and benches and the other is a simple open work cart. Both are common all over Indonesia. You can also see some of the elaborate head stalls and decorations they use
I saw a lot of stallions. Do they leave all the males intact?
Thank you for posting the photos. I really enjoy seeing different cultures and their approach to horsemanship. Sometimes I think we try to make things so "perfect" that a reality-check of how horses are actually used in places they need them for work, is good for gaining a different perspective.
I agree. I think sometimes people get far too caught up in the minor differences in horse keeping between them.
I imagine that with so many stallions who I presume are not used to being around mares, a working cart mare near the stallions could be big trouble! Probably good reason for picking one gender and sticking with it.
I think many cavalries also used only one gender, but I could be wrong. I know that shows like Cavalia use geldings and stallions exclusively.
Keep up the posts like this. I love seeing equestrianism in different cultures. They have some darn cute ponies over there too! Sometimes I get sick of the generic tb/wb/qh scene over here lol
Thanks guys yes they are all stallions and they rarely if ever use mares to work. Nobody here to geld them we have had a few gelded on occasion when vets are here but always personal horses. It actually is not a great environment and most end u with some nasty post surgical infection...
overall western horses are usually very lucky I think I realize that even more so now than before I lived here
There is definitely an Arab influence in the Sumbawa horses. Pretty cool some of those headstalls.
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