Cruelty row over My Little (painted) Ponies
BLUE coats, rainbow manes and unicorn horns – these horses look like toys brought to life.
It’s all down to a party craze that sees children paint spots, stripes and hearts on horses. Some are even given the unicorn treatment, with horns and glitter.
Organisers say the paint is non-toxic and harmless to the animals, which simply feel like they are being groomed while the paint is brushed on.
But animal rights campaigners are calling for a ban on the activity – in which horses are made to look like My Little Pony toys.
Sophie Tomlinson, who started a petition to end the £150-per-hour parties, said ponies should not be used as chalkboards.
‘It’d be great to nip this one in the bud and urge respectful ways to entice children with animals and art, such as painting pictures of the ponies,’ she said.
‘There are millions of other ways for the businesses to still make money and be responsible about what they are teaching and creating culturally.’ Her petition has
‘Treating animals like colouring books’
more than 50,000 signatures so far. Elisa Allen, director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals UK (PETA), said: ‘Allowing kids to treat animals like colouring books is a lesson in insensitivity to which no thoughtful parents would expose their children. Ponies and horses aren’t party props – they’re intelligent, complex animals who should be appreciated for their natural beauty.’
Dr Mark Kennedy, equine specialist at the RSPCA, also had concerns. ‘We understand children love getting close to animals but we would urge any such encounters to focus on fostering compassion towards animals and providing education about how to act safely around horses and ponies and meet their complex needs,’ he said.
But Helen Preece, the owner of My Happy Equine, a company that sells the paints, said they could be easily washed off and the activity was no different to farmers painting numbers on their sheep.
She said campaigners should instead ‘put all their energy into actual cruelty and neglect cases, rather than pony painting’. Others also defended the parties.
Katie Enos said: ‘As a horse owner it’s clear the horse is in no way shape or form in danger or being abused.’ And Lucy-Anne Petto, who runs an equine therapy centre in Edenbridge, Kent, said: ‘The paints and chalks are vital for our clients who feel unable to express themselves through words... they are not harmful to the horses.’