Dear Editor,

Before we can make a charge of cruelty to an animal as the Cullen-Bess photograph of the January 13, 2008 issue of the Guyana Chronicle claims to depict, we must know the mass of the horse and the load it was hauling. A healthy horse can easily pull a well-lubricated four-wheeled vehicle six times its own mass, but most horses are used at only 25% of that capacity. Since horses range in mass from 545 kg (1,200 lbs) to 1,045 kg (2,300 lbs), they can pull loads within a range of 3,270 kg (7,200 lbs) to 6,270 kg (13,800lbs). At the 25 % capacity, the range is 820 kg (1,800 lbs) to 1,570 kg (3,450 lbs)

In my estimation the dray cart depicted in the photograph is loaded with 30 sacks of cement, that’s about 1,500 kg (3,300 lb), within the 25% capacity and well within the maximum range.

We need to know the mass of the horse, its state of health and nutrition, and the laws of Guyana concerning animal haulage before we quixotically fling ourselves on the cruelty-to-animals horse cart and gallop off madly in all directions. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but then appearances can be deceiving.

Yours faithfully,

M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett