These Photos were used with permission from:
The Equine Protection Network - www.equineprotectionnetwork.com
http://
Habitat For Horses - habitatforhorses.com
Another Chance For Horses - ac4h.com
Just Say Whoa To Horse Slaughter - justsaywhoa.org
J West Photography - jwestphotography.com
mudpony.com
Animals Voice - animalsvoice.com
Equine Advocates - equineadvocates.com
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More horse lovers, more people against horse slaughter, more people willing to put up a fight, more people with heart, more horse rescuers...
A young boy was walking along the beach as high tide came in.
With every crash of the waves he noticed that dozens of seahorses were being cast onto the beach, where they lay gasping and squirming.
Hurriedly, he ran to each seahorse he could find
and gently tossed them back into the surf.
A man watching all this approached the boy and said;
"Son, what you are doing won't make a difference",
to which the boy replied,
"To that seahorse . . . it will".
~Unknown Author
REGUARDING COMMENTS LEFT FOR US AGAINST EQUINE SLAUGHTER
Please keep the comments coming!!! Members of US Against Horse Slaughter come here to read them when they feel like giving up. Your comments and words of encouragement and our love for horses, keep us going when the fight gets tough. Thank you all so much for your kind words, your poems, your support!!! Please don't be insulted if I don't comment you back, we all really appreciate the comments you leave for us and thank you for your support from the bottom of our hearts!!!
Thank You!
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. A TRUE STORY OF A MARE AND FOAL WHOSE LIVES WERE SPARED.
This is from the website of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, and his wife, Madeleine...
While we wait for passage of H.R. 503 (to ban horse slaughter in the U.S for human consumption), along comes a miraculous story of survival. A mother horse survives a 6-day ordeal to a slaughter- house and is rescued and reunited with her orphaned foal.
Usually when the slaughter truck arrives back at the feedlot in Fallon, Nevada, it is hauntingly empty. This time it contained a miracle passenger, the sole survivor of the 39 horses taken to slaughter the week before. "This happens very, very rarely," says Shelly, a worker at the feedlot. "It is one in a million chance."
The brand inspection performed at the feedlot showed only one brand. When she was unloaded at the slaughterhouse, the workers noticed that she had an additional brand on her front shoulder. Because the initial paperwork did not match, the slaughterhouse was forced to send her back to the feedlot for re-inspection.
But this is only the beginning of this serendipitous story which began one week ago, on Thursday June 15 th, when Beth DeCaprio, executive director of the Grace Foundation of Northern California (a non-profit animal rescue organization), received a call about two orphaned foals left behind at a feedlot in Fallon, Nevada after their mothers had been taken to a Canadian slaughterhouse.
The Grace Foundation responded quickly, agreeing to pay the going meat price (55 cents per lb.) to save these un-weaned foals from suffering the same fate as their mothers, a fate they only escaped after the slaughterhouse truck ran out of room.
We then move forward to June 21 st –the date set to pick up the foals—when Beth received another call from Shelley; the local veterinarian had an emergency and wasn't able to perform the Coggins test necessary to transport horses across the state-line. She would have to wait one more day to pick up the foals.
Back at the feedlot in Fallon, Nevada, the slaughter truck arrived with a single lucky passenger. As soon as the horse was unloaded from the truck, she ran whinnying to the back of the corrals. "She was going crazy," recalls Shelly. "It was obvious she was trying to get someone's attention."
Then, another worker at the feedlot heard a tiny whinny coming from the other side of the fence where the orphaned foals were being held. The mare who barely escaped the slaughterhouse on a technicality was none other than one of the mothers of the thought-to-be orphaned foals.
" It's amazing to me all the things that had to happen for this mare and her foal to be reunited," says Beth. "Just think: If the initial papers had noted the second brand, the mare would right now be exported overseas as meat. If the veterinarian had been able to perform the Coggins test, we would have picked up the foals before the truck arrived, and nobody would ever have known that the mare was the foal's mother. In that case, the mare's brand would have been re-inspected and she would have been shipped back off to slaughter. So many things had to add up to make this reunion possible that I can't help but think this was some sort of miracle."
Facing bad publicity, the owner of the Fallon, Nevada feedlot agreed to sell the mare along with the foals for meat prices to The Grace Foundation. That meant having to come up with an additional $750 for the meat price and fees for the mare, on top of the $1300 they have already committed for the foals, and another mare and foal they agreed to take.
"We will find a way," Beth says firmly. "This mare survived the slaughterhouse and six days back and forth to Canada to be reunited with her foal. Can you imagine saying we couldn't take her because of the money?"
When the horses were picked up, they were taken to The Grace Foundation ranch where they will join forty-four other horses, all victims of abuse and neglect. Their journey will not end there. Eventually they will join the equine team of healers and will spend their lives working with disadvantaged and emotionally and physically challenged kids.
"Their lives will have purpose," Beth says. "One day this mare will make an impact on a child's life and we will fully understand the reason she was spared."
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WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW
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BELOW: THE BOLT TO THE HEAD
The story of Mack-aroni:
The story of a horse a US Against Horse Slaughter member saved.
I went to our horse auction a few days ago and I was determined not to buy any more(I already have 14), and I
couldn't stand it. I ended up buying a 25 yr old roan gelding that was VERY swaybacked. They said
he was gentle for children to ride. The killer buyer bid on him and when he did, I couldn't stand it, so I bid on him knowing I already was pushed to my limit. After we got him home and looked him over, we discovered he had a very bad hoof. Looks like a vertical crack . He wasn't limping at the sale (probably full of Bute) but the next day
he started limping. Needless to say my husband was a little upset with me but I told him he could be a pet.
Today when I was outspraying him for flies and talking to him, he put his head down and shut his eyes as if to say thank you.
I already love that big galoot. His name was Roni but we named him Mack-aroni and now we call him 'Big Mac'! He is 16hh and a big loveable baby.
I don't understand why people don't just sell their unwanted horses cheap to people and not take them to auction.
Mac-aroni is pictured above.
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On May 29th, Memorial Day, horse lovers across American participated in a candle light vigil, in memory of the many horses that have been slaughtered and in hopes that it will end soon.
Thank you to Lorraine ( from Maryland) and Gerri (from Washington) for letting me use these photos. More photos will be added as they are developed and received!
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A Myspace Friend sent me this site, please take a look when you get a chance!
A great method of tracking EXACTLY what's going on in both the house and senate. The site is called 'Thomas'
(after Thomas Jefferson) and gives very specific info
on ANY business before house or senate. It is updated
daily (if not more often) and also provides a calendar
of issues to be voted on. This site is an exellent way to
track exactly where any bill or resolution is at in terms of progress, and also shows all versions; the original as
well as modified or amended forms. The search function
will also search by bill or resolution number and by the
name(s) of the actual sponsor. This is an important tool because it makes it easier for the average person to have hands on involvement, not to mention the fact that the easier it is, the more people will become involved. The point is that more people can find more information easier. The site is user friendly and was designed in an effort to bring some practical transparency to what most people consider a big dark mystery: How Congress really works. Please check it out if you get a chance!
The site address: thomas.loc.gov .
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IN MEMORY OF SO MANY HORSES:
The Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
Author unknown...
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DON'T CRY FOR THE HORSES
Don't cry for the horses that life has set free,
A million white horses forever to be.
Don't cry for the horses, now in God's hand,
As they dance and they prance in a heavenly band.
They were ours as a gift, but never to keep,
As they close their eyes forever to sleep.
Their spirits unbound, on silver wings they fly,
A million white horses against a blue sky.
Look up into Heaven, you'll see them above,
The horses we lost, the horses we loved.
Manes and tails flowing, they gallop through time,
They were never yours, they were never mine.
Don't cry for the horses, they'll be back someday,
When time is gone, they will show us the way.
Do you hear that soft nicker? Close to your ear?
Don't cry for the horses, LOVE the ones that are here.
~ Author unknown ~
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THE HOOFS OF THE HORSES
by Will H. Ogilvie
from "Galloping Shoes"The hoofs of the horses! Oh! witching and sweet
Is the music earth steals from the iron-shod feet;
No whisper of lover, no trilling of bird
Can stir me as hoofs of the horses have stirred
They spurn disappointment and trample despair,
And drown with their drum-beats the challenge of care;
With scarlet and silk for their banners above,
They are swifter than Fortune and sweeter than Love.
On the wings of the morning they gather and fly,
In the hush of the night-time I hear them go by --
The horses of memory thundering through
With flashing white fetlocks all wet with the dew.
When you lay me to slumber no spot you can choose
But will ring to the rhythm of galloping shoes,
And under the daisies no grave be so deep
But the hoofs of the horses shall sound in my sleep.
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FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HORSES:
Horse Prayer - Author Unknown
Dearest God in Heaven,
give me strength to guide my horse.
Make my hands soft and my head clear.
Let my horse understand me and I him.
My heart, you have blessed with a special love of these animals,
let me never lose sight of it.
My soul, you have gifted with a deep need for them,
let that need never lessen.
Always, let my breath catch as the sun gleams on an elegant head.
Always, may my throat tighten at the sound of a gentle nicker.
Let the scent of fresh hay and a new bag of grain always be sweet to me.
Let the warm touch of a warm nose on my hand always bring a smile.
I adore the joy of a warm day on the farm.
The grace and splendor of a running horse,
the thunder of its hooves makes my eyes burn and my heart soar,
let it always be so.
Dearest God, grant me patience, for horses are harnessed wind and wind can be flighty.
Let me not frighten or harm them,
instead show me ways to understand them.
Above all, Dear God, fill my life with them.
When I pass from this world, send my soul to no heaven without them.
For this love you have given me graces my existence
and I shall cherish it and praise You for it for all time.
HORSE RESCUERS
Rescuers are special people! God bless you all!
Unlike most days at Rainbow Bridge, this day dawned cold and gray, damp as a swamp and as dismal as could be imagined. All of the recent arrivals had no idea what to think, as they had never experienced a day like this before.
But the animals who had been waiting for their beloved people knew exactly what was going on and started to gather at the pathway leading to The Bridge to watch.
It wasn't long before an elderly animal came into view, head hung low and tail dragging. The other animals, the ones who had been there for a while, knew what his story was right away, for they had seen this happen far too often.
He approached slowly, obviously in great emotional pain, but with no sign of injury or illness. Unlike all of the other animals waiting at The Bridge, this animal had not been restored to youth and made healthy and vigorous! again. As he walked toward The Bridge, he watched all of the other animals watching him. He knew he was out of place here and the sooner he could cross over, the happier he would be.
But, alas, as he approached The Bridge, his way was barred by the appearance of an Angel who apologized, but told him that he would not be able to pass. Only those animals who were with their people could pass over Rainbow Bridge.
With no place else to turn to, the elderly animal turned towards the fields before The Bridge and saw a group of other animals like himself, also elderly and infirm. They weren't playing, but rather simply lying on the green grass, forlornly staring out at the pathway leading to The Bridge. And so, he took his place among them, watching the pathway and waiting.
One of the newest arrivals at The Bridge didn't understand what he had just witnessed and asked one of the animals that had been there for a while to explain it to him.
"You see, that poor animal was a rescue. He was turned in to rescue just as you see him now, an older animal with his fur graying and his eyes clouding. He never made it out of rescue and passed on with only the love of his rescuer to comfort him as he left his earthly existence. Because he had no family to give his love to, he has no one to escort him across The Bridge. "
The first animal thought about this for a minute and then
asked, "So what will happen now?"
As he was about to receive his answer, the clouds suddenly parted and the gloom lifted.
Approaching The Bridge could be seen a single person and among the older animals, a whole group was suddenly bathed in a golden light and they were all young and healthy again, just as they were in the prime of life.
"Watch, and see" said the second animal.
A second group of animals from those waiting came to the pathway and bowed low as the person neared. At each bowed head, the person offered a pat on the head or a scratch behind the ears. The newly restored animals fell into line and followed him towards The Bridge. They all crossed The Bridge together.
"What happened?"
"That was a rescuer. The animals you saw bowing in respect were those who found new homes because of his work. They will cross when their new families arrive. Those you saw restored were those who never found homes. When a rescuer arrives, they are allowed to perform one, final act of rescue. They are allowed to escort those poor animals that they couldn't place on earth, across The Rainbow Bridge. "
"I think I like rescuers", said the first animal.
"So does GOD", was the reply.
-- Author Unknown
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