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Sunday, October 7, 2012

Dignity for Wild Horses?!?!?

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Posted: October 7, 2012 by R.T. Fitch

By Teresa Keegan as published on the Denver Post
“This Ain’t the ‘Feel Good Sunday’ Article
 that Ought to be Posted Here”
“Sorry folks, while researching for an uplifting equine related story to share with all of you, today, I came across a post in the Denver Post that I thought was the ticket.  I was reading along, enjoying the poignant and accurate equine accolades and out of nowhere a freight train ran over me and left me crumpled, seathing and speechless on my office floor.  Nuff said, I will let you read on but the DP is getting to be a bit of a pain in the ass.
Last week an upstart journalist prematurely published an article in the Post that squelched an ongoing investigation that was hoped to provide documented proof of the BLM’s covert dealings with kill buyers who are selling our national icons into slaughter.  The damage done is real and it will be costly and time consuming to recover.  Now this week the DP publishes this enigma…it’s shocking at the very least and I still can’t wrap my mind around it.
Again, sorry but please, please, pretty please read this piece of drug induced fantasy and comment to the DP.  If this is an example of mainstream media, I don’t want anything to do with it.
Oh, ensure that you neither food or beverage in you mouth while reading as the natural reflex to suck air at the ending would put your good health at peril.” ~ R.T.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would that I could unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on the likes of Tom Davis.
He’s the Colorado livestock hauler who’s been buying wild horses from the Bureau of Land Management at ten bucks a head, less than I spend on lunch at Panera’s. Although he’s supposed to be finding “good homes” for the animals, wild horse advocates are concerned that he’s instead shipping them off for slaughter.
Given that he’s purchased at least 1,700 horses since 2009, I join the advocates in their skepticism. I doubt there are that many “good homes” for unwanted children, let alone 1,200-pound untrained animals.
His remark, as quoted in a recent Denver Post article, sets off further alarm: “Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt.”
That comment turns my stomach. But why? I’m not a vegetarian. It’s surely the height of hypocrisy to eat meat and wear leather and yet decry the killing and eating of horses. Why should chickens, fish and cows be fair game for my palate but not the equine species?
Reason one: I’m a lifelong horse nut. And I have precedent for my feelings dating back to antiquity. Examples abound of horse worship in the ancient world. The emperor Caligula so adored his stallion Incinatus that he built for him a marble stable, fed him oats mixed with gold flakes and tried to make him a senator.
Alexander the Great named a city after his legendary steed, Bucephalus. Mongolians have revered ponies for centuries, so much so that horses outnumber people in their country. A horseless Genghis Khan would not have gone far.
Reason two: Horses are not merely livestock. They’ve been with us for thousands of years and have likely done more to change the course of human history than any other domesticated animal. They’ve carried soldiers into battle, bleeding and dying in wars not of their making. They’ve pulled plows, drawn wagons and delivered the mail. Riderless horses have accompanied our presidents to their final resting place.
Reason three: Evolving standards of decency. People are animals, too. There once were and may still be tribes who found the flesh of their fellow humans lip-smackingly delicious, but most people now recoil in horrified disgust from Hannibal the Cannibal. In America, we don’t eat each other. Nobody’s making Soylent Green. We’ve also added dogs and cats to the “forbidden foods” list. I say expand that category to include horses.
Now, before every farmer and rancher in the not-so-wild West writes in to excoriate me for my sentimental city-girl squeamishness, I understand there are too many wild horses and too few homes for them. Not many people can take on the enormous expenditure of time, work and money involved in owning a horse. There’s much truth to the old saying: if you want to make a small fortune in horses, start with a large fortune.
The BLM simply doesn’t have the resources to continue keeping excess horses in taxpayer-funded holding pens. I understand they can’t all be saved, as regrettable as that may be. But must we send such magnificent creatures to their deaths without even a blindfold and cigarette? Surely these fiery steeds deserve better than an ignominious death on the slaughterhouse floor.
One alternative: Let them be killed humanely in a solemn ceremony, complete with banners, bugles and flowery speeches to see them off on their last journey. Let their bodies be cremated and the ashes scattered over the plains where they once ran free.
Now that is a fitting end for these noble beasts who have served us so long and so well.
Behold a pale horse.
Teresa Keegan lives in East Denver and works in the Denver district court system.
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