Farriers come to the aid of Pyramid Horses

Kris Parsons, a remedial farrier from Devon, along with his two apprentices, Alex Eltringham and Roland Thompson, will be joining a group of vets, vet nurses and equine dentists from New Zealand who got together to create the Pyramid Horses project.

The horses are victims of last year’s revolution. The fighting and violence on the streets resulted in a major drop in tourism. Consequently the income these horses earned by giving tourists rides around the Pyramids has been lost.

Many of the horses were already in a poor condition but now without any money coming in, their owners are unable to feed or care for them and hundreds are being left to starve to death.

One of the problems that Kris and his team will be looking at is laminitis.

This is a major problem with the Pyramid horses, caused by stress on their feet, something rarely seen in this country where our lush grass is usually the culprit. Kris will also be running some educational and practical workshops for farriers already working in Cairo.

The vets plan to spend a week in Cairo but still need to raise funds. One of the fundraisers is an auction of lessons which began on Monday and is running for five days.

Some of the UK’s leading riders and trainers have donated lessons. They include John Whitaker, Mary King, Caroline Saynor, Andrew Gould, Jill Day, Malcolm Pyrah, Emile Faurie, Sharon Hunt and Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks.

If you would like to bid for your “dream lesson” go to the Cairo Farrier Facebook page, www.facebook.com/cairofarrier or email [email protected]

It is hoped to make Cairo Farrier an annual event, allowing farriers to take their apprentices to Egypt to gain experience and insight into the problems that can occur with these horses.