Are Our Horses Better Off Than They Were Four Years Ago?

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Posted: November 5, 2012 by R.T. Fitch
OpEd by R.T. Fitch ~ volunteer president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

Dicey Question, Difficult Choice

We are late in publishing a commentary, today, because one of the cardinal rules of this blog has been to avoid discussion on both politics and religion with good reasoning; the above two issues are personal, intimate and to many very private.  I have delayed posting so that Terry, my truly better half, could weigh in on my commentary and I do feel that I owe this readership a word or two, we are family.  I believe I am now at edit number seventeen under Terry’s direction.

Remember several months ago when I commented on howAnn Romney found solace and healing from her MS through contact with her horses?  I was shocked and dismayed at the lashing that I took for simply bringing up Ann Romney’s name.  From my perspective I thought it was a good thing that someone with a bit of a media footprint spoke to the heart of where we equine advocates reside but I paid for my naïve outlook with a backlash of political commentary and fallout.  Lesson learned.

So today, the day before a historic election, I will not speak of parties or political persuasions as both Terry and I vote on issues, not on party or candidate’s personalities…it’s all about getting things done and we are dead serious about our decisions.  With that in mind, I pose this question, again:

Are our Horses, both domestic and wild, any better off than they were four years ago?

If you actually contemplate that question for a cool and solid ten seconds the sensible and educated mind will answer with a simple, non-divisive, “Hell No!”

This election is not about Democrats or Republicans.  Historically Republicans have been anti-animal while our strongest elected advocates have been Democrats.  For us, Rep. Jim Moran stands tall and with whom we maintain a very open dialogue.  So this election is not about parties, it is about issues.

Many of you have stood with us outside the White House and protested, you have organized demonstrations in your home towns, you have lobbied along side of us in D.C. and joined us in letter, email and fax campaigns.  Do you feel that you have ever, for one fleeting moment, been acknowledged…from my perspective the answer is simply and unequivocally a sterile and lonely, NO!

Our final flash in the pan effort to get this current, incumbent administration at least give us a nod was when Jerry Finch, Terry and I flew to D.C. in September to hand deliver over 15,000 of your letters to the President to stop the roundups and allow us to take an actually accounting of what is left on the public lands…and what did we hear in reply, NOTHING, NADA, ZIP.  In return all we have received is the arrogant, “don’t bother me” attitude that has been the hallmark of the current leadership of this country.  It is not as if we have not tried.

So for me, I have become weary of voting for the lesser of two evils; instead I am focused on the issue of the horses and at this point in time I am furious with the current, appointed cattleman who is the Secretary of our Department of Interior, Ken Salazar, who is supposedly in charge of overseeing the welfare of our wild horses and burros…and has done a piss poor job.  Also a point to consider is that his cozy, next-door neighbor has been fingered with selling over 1,700 American wild horses to slaughter.  Pretty telling don’t you think?  It is not a pretty picture and this appointee needs to go away and needs to be axed, yesterday.

I am not talking about electing a President but instead denouncing an appointee…I guess in a nutshell I will find myself voting AGAINST Salazar instead of endorsing his current policy of managing our wild horses and burros to extinction; we HAVE to make a change and on Election Day we do have that option.  Now how we go about effecting that change is yet to be determined.

Tuesday will prove to be a most interesting day, indeed.

Vote for your love of this land and the horses; they can only verbalize through your selection…the power of change, for them, is in your hands.

Listen to your heart, consider the horses and do the right thing.

Keep the faith and God Bless America.