ANG THONG, THAILAND – A horse farm owner in Sawaeng Ha district resorted to riding out with a fuel can on horseback as gasoline shortages disrupted transport and animal feed supplies.
Ride with a canister through Ban Phran
Farm operator San Kongwet, who owned the Cowboy Farm in the Ban Phran subdistrict, mounted his horse and set off with a gallon container to find gasoline.
According to his own account, he came in from the rice fields and rode through village roads looking for a petrol station that still had fuel in stock.
Petrol stations – sometimes open, often already empty
San reported that gasoline was currently hard to buy, forcing him to constantly track which stations were still able to supply fuel.
Several times he arrived only to find that supplies had already run out, turning every attempt into a race against time.
Breakdown in the field and work with a sickle
On the same day, a car that was supposed to collect grass for the horses stopped in the middle of a field after its tank ran dry.
The grass-cutting machine also came to a halt when its fuel ran out, prompting staff to continue the work temporarily by hand with a sickle.
Feed by horse-drawn cart – improvisation in everyday life
An employee responsible for the horses cut grass in the fields and collected about one basket, according to the report.
The grass was then loaded onto a horse-drawn cart and taken back to the farm so the animals could be fed while the search for gasoline continued in parallel.
Bookings in other provinces thrown into doubt
The fuel situation also hit the farm financially, as San said he supplied horses for drama productions and shows in other provinces.
Without reliably fueled vehicles, transport and feed runs were difficult to plan, disrupting schedules and procedures for external assignments.
Authorities played down concerns – but queues remained
In a related update, the director-general of the Department of Energy Business stated that the fuel supply in the country was fundamentally sufficient.
“I apologize for the queues recently seen at petrol stations and for delivery problems that in many places reinforced the impression of a shortage.”
said the director-general.