Why do horse owners, too many of them, allow for the option of sending their horses to slaughter once they are done with them? What disconnect has happened to these people to make them so indifferent to their noble friends who try so hard for them?

It’s because, I believe, they have lost touch with who the horse really is.

As a child, (for those of us lucky enough to be exposed to a horse) we see the horse through our child like eyes. And thus, we see it for what it truely is, a magical being of great beauty that enthralls us with it’s spirit and majesty and power. We fall in love with this being and the horse, feeling this surge of love, returns it. Together, the horse and child speak the language of the heart and thus a potentially dangerous horse is tranquil with the child where an adult would be thrown and even killed.

When I was 11, I haunted a local stable all day long, riding horses. I was fearless, jumping upon any horse handed to me, bareback, and running them through the wild hills. The horses always took care of me and I attribute it to the fact that I had no fear of them and they could feel this surge of awe, trust and respect I had for them.

And then there was Nugget. Nugget was the most glorious golden horse I had ever seen, (even up to this day).

I was told they were going to kill him because he had become un-rideable. The man he belonged to was a Prince who liked to ride him in parades but he had become so difficult and dangerous to ride, that the man was afraid of riding him or selling him because he had gotten to the point he wouldn’t permit anyone on his back. One day, I snuck on his back, bareback, in his corral and he was so careful with me. The manager of the stable at first couldn’t believe it but when I explained that I wanted to buy him, and he could see the horse and I got along I was allowed to ride him. I rode him and eventually tamed him down to where the owner decided to keep him.

There are countless stories like these where dangerous, mean and unrideable horses are kind and gentle with children.

We lose our true sight of who the horse really is. We lose the magic. We lose the heart communication that ties us to God and all his creatures.

I don’t ever want to see a horse go to slaughter because I never lost touch with the magic of what the horse really is. But so many do. They ride, they train but they don’t really communicate with this amazing being we call a horse. They have lost the ability to see, and hear what the horse is trying to teach us because they are so busy teaching the horse.

I hope those of you who read this and have horses won’t let those who have lost touch with their horses rob you of your abiltity to touch souls with your horse.

Once the soul of a horse touches yours, horse slaughter is never an option.

Of course there are horses that do not like people or children and should never be ridden and of course one should use common sense and intuitive sense when approaching any horse before you ride it but never should a horse be sent to slaughter. Above all other animals we owe the horse our protection, love and gratefulness for riding us through history upon their backs, fighting in our wars and dying by our swords, plowing our fields and putting up with all the terrifying and cruel acts inflicted upon them from humans through neglect,mis-understanding and too often just plain cruelty..

As a little girl of ten recently wrote to Senator Cantwell,

‘Horses need to be home with those who love them when they die’.