Fighting equine abuse and neglect through education of both horses and owners!

Part of what I do is help people, who help horses!

I know quite a few big hearted horse people who work with rescue horses.
I try to help and encourage them as much as I can.


The reason for this is simple, a horse that has been trained, and is in good physical shape has some value. Anything with value seldom gets abused or neglected.




Yes there are exceptions to this with a few people abusing animals to win a ribbon etc. Generally tho, those people are few, and they are getting caught and punished more often in this day of instant and global communication.




There are also the exceptions of people who think the value of a horse is not in its ability to be rode or shown, but just in the fact it is a horse. it is loved.

I admire those people and respect them, but they are not the majority of people either.





Most people have horses because they enjoy them, that means they enjoy riding or driving them, maybe even showing them once in awhile.

Owning horses is a hobby for most people,  just like owning golf clubs or a boat, they allow you to enjoy a certain activity.
The tools of an equine hobby demand more care than those of golf or fishing.

The fact that the horse is a living breathing animal means that our society wont allow people to abuse it in the pursuit of the hobby. We never seem to get upset when a golfer bends a 1 iron around a tree, or a boater runs his boat onto shore and punches a hole in it.  

Making the world a better place

Above I mentioned the few people who will feed and care for as many horses as they can. They work tirelessly to save a few. and regret they cant save them all.



The world would be a better place if there was enough of those  special people to save all the horses whose only value is per pound..

BUT THATS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!!!

I was chastised in a comment of my last post by one of those people with a big heart.
She took offense to my comment suggesting I was in favor of humanly putting down the old, the sick and crippled horses that the rescues could not save.

I still feel that assisted suicide for humans and euthanization for the sick and crippled animals offer a better option than a life of misery.

I think her main issue was that I suggested that the carcasses be used to help feed all the dogs and cats that need feeding in those shelters.
I digress though, I am still not ready to discuss a possible program like that, as I have not thought about it enough, nor had the chance to discuss it with others who can be rational and not emotional.




My main point for bringing up this chastising, is that there needs to be a multi point attack on helping horses who are abused and have little value besides per pound in Europe.

1. We need to educate owners on the pitfalls of breeding just to have a foal, with no plan to develop that horses value to the majority of horse owners.  
2. We need to educate the horses that are suitable candidates for the majority of horse owners.
3. We need to develop affordable programs for new horse owners to learn the skills they need to enjoy equine activities.
4. We need to develop more affordable activities for horses owners to enjoy and realize the value in their horses. 
5. We need to artificially give every horse a value more than their per pound value. Refer to Good intentions are driving up the cost of rescuing horses. for my opinion on how to best do that. 
6. We need to find some economical and safe humane way to euthanize the sick and crippled and down right dangerous ones. (this is where the concept of feeding the Dogs and cats comes from)
   This is where I differ from some, When resources are limited you can lament the lack of resources, and do nothing but complain, or you can direct your resources to the best effect for your intended purpose.
   My intention is to assist as many horses in need as possible. The more you spend on saving the sick, crippled and dangerous, the less you can spend on saving the ones that wont require resources forever. Save the ones whose  value can be developed so a majority of horse owners will spend their resources to care for the horse. 

There is a very good reason that things seldom seem to change, or they seem to change so slowly. We as a species seem to expect perfection in change, instead of accepting a little better, then trying to improve that new reality a little bit again.

If we could improve any situation 

by 1% a day 

it only takes 100 days to be 100%. 

We will argue and fight over ideas that are not perfect and never help things get better even a little bit.







The facts are we cant change the human race, You cant make everyone care about the same things you do!
But we can organize resources better to do a better job!

Some of the best programs I have heard of :

• The Guaranteed $100 for any horse,  that the Colorado Horse Rescue Network  offers, 
• Offering to help pay for feed and vets for people in need by the Alaskan Equine Rescue
• The Equine Come Back Challenge, a training competition for rescue horses offered by A Home For Every Horse.

If you know of any other unique type of program designed to help horses in need please let me know in the comments. 

But we are horse people!

I think if we all work together to make things a little better we can make things really good pretty quick for most horses!

But we are horse people! There is very little chance we can get along and work for one common goal!

I have watched as 2 people both wanting to help create value in rescue horses argue about the best way to train the horse?

If it works, and is not cruel does it really matter how the value is created?

Have a great day, 

Rod