best to save every calf, lamb etc. He does this as much because they are his paycheck, his financial investment for his future as for any other reason. A man will also go to great lengths to save a foal out of a favorite mare, because he has true emotional ties to that foal or to the sire or for the love of the horse itself. He will also be driven by his financial investment as in those who raise race horses, prize reiners, or Budweiser Clydesdales, just to name a few. It is my opinion that horses need their own category as they don't fit the livestock category for the above named reasons and they don't fit well in the companion animal category either. We should, in my opinion, strive to be creative and humane in our solutions for the noble horse who has served man wellslaughter is not the only possibility yet it is all I hear anyone, included folks who declare themselves to be horse lovers and equine advocates.

America has indeed been built on the backs of the horse. Quotes and documentation is too numerous to list. In closing, please consider a couple of quotes from or about some famous Americans:

General Robert E Lee to an artist who would paint his horse, Traveller,

"If I was an artist like you, I would draw a true picture of Traveller; representing his fine proportions, muscular figure, deep chest, short back, strong haunches, flat legs, small head, broad forehead, delicate ears, quick eye, small feet, and black mane and tail. Such a picture would inspire a poet, whose genius could then depict his worth, and describe his endurance of toil, hunger, thirst, heat and cold; and the dangers and suffering through which he has passed. He could dilate upon his sagacity and affection, and his invariable response to every wish of his rider. He might even imagine his thoughts through the long night-marches and days of the battle through which he has passed. But I am no artist Markie, and can therefore only say he is a Confederate grey."

And words of a visitor to George Washington's home:

"When dinner was over, we visited the General's stables, saw his magnificent horses, among them "Old Nelson," now twenty-two years of age, that carried the General almost always during the war. "Blueskin," another fine old horse, next to him, had that honor. They had heard the roaring of many a cannon in their time. "Blueskin" was not the favorite on account of his not standing fire so well as venerable "Old Nelson." The General makes no manner of use of them now. He keeps them in a nice stable, where they feed away at their ease for their past services."

Learn more about this author, Karen Vanderlaan.
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