by Lisza Wright

Created on: March 03, 2007   Last Updated: July 04, 2010

I am one of many people on this Earth who keep horses not only for the pleasure of their company and recreational riding, but also use them for help where my tractor or bare hands are ineffective. Horses have captivated the imagination of people since both species have resided on the planet together, into history and pre-written history.

Little girls dream of encountering and knowing horses and ponies, and as they grow to be women, learn that these equines offer a special relationship which can not be duplicated between people. Young boys, as well, have cowboy, huntsman and polo dreams. When they become men, their horsey aspirations become realized, and special bonds between man and horse are bound with unwavering strength.

We identify so closely with horses; their expressions, silent communications, outstanding memories, herd interactions and interactions with us evoke a true knowledge and feelings of how alike we are. We constantly mentally view the live horse, and dread any notion of a dead one, or one which is suffering in life. The mere idea of a horse with a broken leg, a starving horse, a horse hit by a car, horses owned by the ignorant/the cruel, send feelings of anguish and terror through us, in deep empathy for the horse. Very few people in our country have eaten horse meat, and revile at its mere mention.

Yet, we allow other species, (cows, chickens, fish, hogs and others) to be raised specifically for the use of their dead bodies. This is an interesting paradox. Why are some species farmed for their corpses, or their bodies sold post-mortem, (even human remains from India and China sold to the USA), while the fight to end the sale and slaughter of other non-endangered species becomes so important that the focus on the healthy and the living is lost? My feeling is that food animal slaughter and processing has become such a big business, with astronomical demand, and relatively few plants to accommodate this volume, that the lives of these sensitive, purposeful animals is ignored in the desire to turn a big profit.

Also, what makes chemical euthanasia and the resulting waste of food and other materials acceptable in a world filled with starvation, poverty, pollution and disappearing landfill plots? Do the feelings we have for our horses give us the rights to supersede real needs to conserve in this world, when our equine companions fall ill to disease, injury or old age? I think not.

The subject of selling horses for slaughter on a large scale is

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