Document type : Article published in The Horse
Preview: An overview of the current situation with the President of the horse study group at the National Assembly, Mrs. Martine Leguille Balloy (LREM representative, Vendée 4th constituency). A lawyer by. training and a horse rider and owner, she is particularly sensitive to the needs of the industry and its current concerns. Among these are animal abuse, VAT, and the animalist movement.
Animal abuse
"We have been working on three subjects for three years" (see below). "We needed a legislative vehicle and we found it. These three subjects have not been discussed at all. Our plan is to get thing turned around by helping people to understand the needs of horses and the most important thing that must be done, which is to address the life-long welfare of horses. We'll be very frank, our focus is on what happens to older horses. That is currently our greatest concern. In terms of abuse, we are not hearing of anything to make us think that the situation is particularly alarming. There are all the problems of mutilation we saw last year but it's not the same thing. We will remind people that horses have needs and that abandoning them at the end of their lives is not acceptable.
Then there is the VAT problem. The 10% rate for foals has been agreed. Now we need to define at what age a horse ceases to be considered as a foal. It is obvious that there are differences between sport horses which generally start their career at 4 years old and racehorses, some of which start racing at 2 years old.
PMU
"In the French 2020 Finance Bill, Anne-Catherine Loisier successfully introduced an amendment in the Senate to change the PMU basis for taxation. This is no longer based on bets placed, but on the Gross Gaming Product. The ball is now in the National Assembly's court, which rejected this amendment two years ago. However, things have moved on considerably since then, as the privatized French gaming industry has reaped the benefits of this tax gift. Senate members are worried and concerned about the balance between the sectors, and want a debate to take place in the National Assembly and to ask the legislators to explain the fact that the PMU does not have the same advantage for its horse betting as the FDJ does for its sports betting. We are also curious to hear the government's explanations. […]
Are you concerned about the radicalisation of the animalists?
"I've been working in animal welfare for years, I even did my doctoral thesis on it. At the time, there was no general public interest, it was a topic only for those concerned. I predicted then, because my work concerned only livestock, which includes horses, that it would upset the economic landscape in the medium term. I feel no satisfaction that this has turned out to be the case. We have gone from anthropomorphism to abolitionism. Changing the status of horses would be a mistake for the simple reason that the French tradition of horse riding has been on the UNESCO list of non-material human since 2011. It wouldn't make sense. The horse, if it were classified as a pet, could no longer be ridden. It's a whole tradition that would have to be abandoned. Then I can tell you, we know that most horse owners do not mistreat their horses, far from it. People take care of their horses, they see their horses as precious goods. There are sometimes mistakes but rarely abuse from the majority of the horse community.
