California veterinarian Gary Gordon, DVM, made his first trip to Haiti in 2008 through the Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM), a group that provides veterinary services to the animals of working poor in nations worldwide. Since then, Gordon has learned plenty about the working equids there, the people who own them, and how improving conditions for the equids there means balancing welfare with basic economics.

“When I got there I saw that the people were starving to death, and the horses were starving to death, too,” Gordon recalled. “There was just not enough food for the people let alone the animals. I knew this was complicated.”

Gordon said most of the working horses in Haiti are derived from small, hardy South American breeds and generally spend their lives pulling carts, making deliveries, and transporting families and tourists. Because the animals are expensive both to obtain and maintain, many of the horses are shared by multiple people.

“You’ll see four or five families sharing the same animal to work, to take their children to the school, and to go to church,” Gordon said