Do the Romani abuse their animals?

Or do they just share what they have

Nicky and his horse Rino

Horse-driven carts are a source of great shame for the ethnic Bulgarians living in the capital city, Sofia. “What kind of European capital is this,” they say, and very often add a compassionate, “Those poor horses.”

Not counting rural villages, here in Bulgaria the horse-driven cart is a vehicle used exclusively by the Romani. People look down on these carts. They are seen as a sign of low class, poverty, and aimlessness. Also, as a relic of a long bygone time. In today’s modern world, there is no place for wooden constructions being dragged by animals on the busiest boulevards of our capital city.

And speaking of the animals: exhausted, malnourished, on the brink of fainting. Clearly abused by these savages, the Romani.

Now, let’s see how much of this is actually true.

What are the carts for?

In our piece addressing the stereotype that the Romani are lazy, we talked about how the Romani, employed or not, exploited or not, never choose to take a day off. Regardless…