Feature Article Writing

 

 This is a little side project of a larger Media Kit assignment I prepared this semester. The assignment centered around a company called Animal 360 who released a new educational horse health application for iTunes. The role of the feature article is NOT to promote the organisation or even the product, instead it hits it from the side rather then head on. Hope you enjoy and get a taste of PR at work :)

Horseplay at Equine Circuits

Nothing beats the excitement of a horse show, except maybe a horse show without horses. Horseless horse events are quickly becoming a worldwide craze among equine lovers alike.

Animal welfare activist and television personality Dr Harry Cooper supports events like the horseless horse show at the Sydney International Horse Trials set to begin this month.

He states that, ‘It’s a great way to recognise retired horses in care facilities and raise money to maintain their upkeep.’

Dr Harry says that not enough care goes into race horses once they have left the racing scene due to injury or age. It is fast becoming a problem for animal welfare groups such as Jacksons Farm in Western Sydney. The organisation is the largest animal welfare centre of its kind and provides homes for hundreds of retired race horses. As part of a fundraiser to build new stables the farm hosted a five kilometre horseless horse race in April this year.

Vice president of the farm Peter Giangiulio says, ‘Participants will be running over fields and around pastures that are full of our retired horses and ponies.’

‘The event aims to fundraise for several new stables due to an influx of horses needing care,’ He says.

A recent study into ventinary costs due to poor animal health has proven that over 20 per cent of animals in domestic care have been neglected. This ads to the rising need for animal welfare programs to be provided.

Rising support of the horseless horse events has created an opportunity to spread the word among equine carers to better educate themselves on animal protection and knowledge.

Peter supports the unique event by stating that, “Proper horse-show circuits are now recognising the Horseless events as the real deal and not just horseplay.’

Miss Rose Read president of the Sydney International Horse Trials World Cup Jumping Qualifier for young event and jumping horses has hope for the event due to the sponsorship backing the programs up.

She states that, ‘We have received over 50,000 dollars in donations since the event began two years ago and are continuing to receive interest and support from across the nation.’

Miss Read credits success to the willingness of the participants who pay small entry fees to enter the horseless horse events.  Third year participant Abby Heffer has won a total of 58 awards for show jumping and dressage since she turned 16 but loves getting involved in the horseless horse shows.
She states, ‘I think the shows are really funny and a great diversion in between the jumping and dressage shows.’
The shows continue to raise awareness and money about the importance of caring for horses in all conditions. Such support comes from Danny Cook and Gary Wells, horse health practitioners and equine enthusiasts.
The pair are co-founders of an educational animal welfare application called Horse 360 ͦ  which they describe as a tool to help horse owners get to know their horse better.

‘We believe that having knowledge of caring for your horse is the responsibility of any owner and can be easily learnt through the right tools.’

The pair launched the Horse 360 application in response to the lack of education programs for horses in Australia and are hoping for improvement among animal welfare attitudes.

The application can be downloaded from iTunes and used to improve horse vet and owner knowledge.
Horseless Horse events have now raced into countries such as the Canada, Europe and Australia with over 900,000 participants since 2010 with no signs of pulling on the reigns.

Animal welfare activists such as Dr Harry Cooper continue to stand by this event and hope that it will pave the path for animal welfare education in the future.