The established horse world is,at its center, a commercial enterprise. It has no purpose but the accumulation of wealth. All forms of equine competition tie into that desire for cash.
At the root of the moral squalor that is the established horse world is the idea that a horse's sales price is the equivalent of its value. There exist the idea that some horses lives are more valuable than others solely based on the amount of income the more "valuable" horse can produce.
I saw that some one had written that they support horse slaughter because they value the horse industry. In such a case industry is valued more than the horse.
The established horse world relates to true horsemanship the same way prostitution relates to marriage. In each case one is a degrading commercial venture and the other is an institution based on love.
This colt lays down with Daddy on a pretty much daily basis. How much is that worth?
I do not want there to be any equivocation on this issue. I do not support horse slaughter and I do not support the horse industry.
I would be so very ashamed of myself if I were raising and training horses that working people could not afford. If I knew that I was raising and discarding six horses for every one that made me so much money I would not be able to walk around in public.
The gift of being in a position to connect people with horses is all the reward one needs for the endeavor.
1 comment:
Why do we as Humans create so much tragedy around us?
Why do we allow, encourage, or patronize industries which create tragedies around us?
In a perfect world, there would be no need for a place like Mill Swamp..No horses that needed preserving, no people with challenged backgrounds to work their way out of..
We would simply be a quaint farm, teaching riding to no purpose but the mutual recreation of people and horses...but in a perfect world, all that would have already been done.
Sadly, our world is far from perfect.
Lest ye begin to believe that I am some sort of Lotus Eater idealist, I am not, I know better than to believe such a thing is possible.
What is real, is that our world can be a whole lot better..
Of all the big name clinicians out there, how many of them are truly there for the horse?
Does anyone really believe that Cargill, or Archer Daniels Midland value your horse over their profits? Who has whose best interests at heart? Lemme tell ya what 'interest' those companies have...just that..financial interest.
I simply cannot abide the racing industry..cannot abide anyone breeding horses on the off chance that they might wind up with the next Seabiscuit..(Can't,he has been reincarnated as a very happy goat at Mill Swamp...See? there is a heaven.) while wasting the lives of hundreds, and still failing to get there.
When I was a kid, we lived just a few miles south of Roswell N.M. The dubious home of a packing plant called Valley Meats..We used to get some of our meat from there, as they distributed to the small country groceries we patronized.. Valley Meats is now the focus of the horse slaughter argument...and I detest them. Roswell..Major breeding center for the racing industry that supports Ruidoso Downs...The horses they want to feed to their machines have to come from somewhere, and I see two sources..That same racing industry, and wild horses rounded up for slaughter...
That bubbling sound is my blood boiling..
The lesson I have taken is from Chief Plenty Coups. "The white man tells me that my horse has no soul, but how can that be? I have looked into his eye, and seen it there." I have looked into the eyes of dozens of horses..deeply..and there is one in particular, that looks me in the eye..almost every day, and the love that she looks back at me with is so strong as to be almost physically painful sometimes..What if I fail her?
How can anyone look at a horse, and believe that they should be slaughtered? Those that can are some subhuman that I care not to associate with.
"One may easily see the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A horse is not one who can do nothing for you..She is the strongest partner, capable of loyalty and love far deeper than many humans will ever deserve.
I choose the side of the horse..every...single...time. -Lloyd
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