25/06/2011

(2011, June 25th)

We have been stunned by the statement released on June 22nd by the Undersecretary for the Health Ministry, On. Francesca Martini, about the announced bill that will regulate the use of equines in the ‘palii’ races.

The Undersecretary, in fact, wanted to reassure who exploits horses in the palii by saying there won’t be any ban on the use of riding crops and spurs, adding that “every rider knows these are useful and necessary tools to control the animal.”

“The presentation of the bill about the palii could have been a step forward from the positive attempts of regulation introduced by the Ministerial Ordinance issued on 21/07/2009 and wanted by Francesca Martini herself”, states Sonny Richichi, IHP organizational manager. “Instead these statements are huge steps backward: saying riding crops and spurs are necessary tools means to support an outdated culture based on the coercion and restraint of the animal with the use of mechanical tools. We hope these lines don’t express the Undersecretary’s true beliefs, and that they might be a bad interpretation given by the press.”

The people really knowing the horses (thus not just those “riding” them), know how essential is to create a relationship based on respect and a complex language that lead humans and equines to have a true bond: no longer mere use, but a true sharing. In such a balance, there is no need for riding crops, spurs, mouthpieces and all the other stuff man invented to bend the horse to his will.

Getting back to the palii bill, another unconvincing matter regards the testing for doping.

At the moment, the palii ordinance bans the use of doping substances on the equines, but it doesn’t state the typology of the controls, which are done by the organizing committee according to their own rules. In other words, every organizing committee decides if and how to apply a procedure of anti-doping controls, since there is no general procedure valid for everyone—and it looks like nothing will done in this regard in the soon-to-be-presented bill.

It is a sort of “self-certification” done by the organizing committee, about a matter that is instead terribly delicate, because it represents one of the major risks connected with the palii and that, as such, should be explicitly regulated.

Examining in detail what is written in the ordinance, Section 2.4, (“the organizing committee is responsible of the application of the present section”), we find spontaneous to rise some questions, to which the Ministry has not yet given an answer:

- Who does oversee and check the anti-doping procedures?
- Which lab the samples must be sent to?
- Who does take the samples from the horses?
- Who does take the samples from jockeys/riders/drivers?
- Who does pay for the cost of the analyses?
- What is the percentage of horses tested for doping in regard of the number of horses entered in the event? What about the percentage of jockeys/riders/drivers?

We hope, as we have said many times, that the animalist associations will be involved in this important regulation process of the palii. Otherwise, there is the risk to protect only the interests of who sees the horses only as something to be exploited for fun, with no regards for their wellbeing.

As a matter of fact, the Palio di Siena’s organizers are cheering at the news the bill could be just a photocopy of the Ministerial Ordinance. Pity that Major Cenni never replied to our letter sent last August, in which we asked for news about the horses Leggenda di Gallura, Lillos e Giove Deus, the latter put down after an incident.

Related links:
2011, May 8th, IHP comments on the bill about palios
2010, August 17th, request for clarification to the Mayor of Siena