Tuesday’s Horse

By DAWN MANCINA

My daughter and I put the story of the Cavel Miracle Horses, Snickers and Willie into a video. I hope you enjoy it. It’s kinda long, but gee - its a long story to tell! You will also see some pics of more of the Miracle Horses that you may not have ‘met’ yet. I tried to find as many as I could out of the group. They are ALL special and ALL lucky to be alive - not just my Snickers and Willie - and I wanted to pay tribute to all of these special souls.

I cried, of course, as we put this together, even after all these months.

I want to thank Mr. John Holland for originally penning this remarkable story, which many of you have hopefully had the opportunity to read. It was a wonderful piece of work! I used many of his original ideas in the video but also had to edit and change the wording around alot to fit it into a reasonable time-frame. The sequence of events, though, could not change.

Again, it is rather long - but such a moving story.

Please use this in your anti-slaughter work. Pass this on to your own lists, legislators, anyone and everyone who might take heed to the suffering of our horses.

We WILL get ‘er done in 2008!

The following story by Kelsey Starks aired on ABC Louisville affiliate WHAS11 News

Louisville, Ky. — Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of Barbaro’s death and The Derby City has been chosen to be where the 2006 Derby winner’s cremains will be buried.

Barbaro’s owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, will be at Churchill Downs Tuesday morning to make a special announcement.

The Jacksons have said they want Barbaro’s ashes to be in a place where the public can come to pay their respects. The Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs is already the final resting place to four Kentucky Derby winners. Many racing fans are happy that Barbaro will join them.

“It’s exciting for anything like that,” says Glenn Edelen, a Louisville resident. “This is a horse community. Churchill downs, everything here is so horse-related. That’s just a nice compliment to us … to Louisville.”

Louisville holds happy memories for the family of Barbaro. His greatest victory was here and it was a great win before his ultimate defeat.

“Certainly Barbaro was a legend here in Louisville and really across the world,” says Wendy Treinen, PR manager for the Kentucky Derby Museum. “It will be really wonderful to see him rest here on the grounds.”

And at Churchill Downs, he wouldn’t be alone. The oldest horse buried at the museum won the Derby in 1993. “Broker’s Tip” won only one race in his racing career – the Kentucky Derby. “Swaps,” the 1955 winner; “Carry Back,” who won in 1961; and “Sunny’s Halo”, the 1983 Derby winner, are all buried on the grounds.

“Traditionally, horses are buried with their heart, head and hooves,” says Treinen. “Head for the will to win, heart for courage and hooves for speed.”

And although Barbaro’s ashes only remain, his legacy is all of those things.

Barbaro was euthanized a year ago Tuesday, after fighting a series of ailments, including Laminitis in his hooves. Now, millions of dollars have been raised in Barbaro’s name to fund Laminitis research and fighting horse slaughter. Soon the public will be able to pay their respects to him, right here in Louisville.

“This is the capital of the horseracing world,” says Dave O’Bryan, a Louisville resident. “Churchill Downs is the best venue for it. It would have the widest appeal. I definitely think that would be a great idea.”

A news conference is scheduled for Tuesday at 10am at Churchill Downs. Barbaro’s family will be there and signing charity autographs immediately following the announcement.

Source of photograph: Unknown.

:: View Baltimore Sun Gallery and Backstories here.

Co-sponsor of legislation hears concerns over humane treatment

Scott A. Yates of Capital Press filed this report:

SPOKANE - They love their horses, but cattlemen believe their four-legged partners would be better off if a slaughter option existed to end the lives of old, sick and maybe even starving steeds.

As a result, they oppose a law currently before Congress that would make it illegal to transport horses for slaughter. SB311 has 38 co-sponsors, including Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

Local cattlemen got a chance to talk to Cantwell, through her Eastern Washington director, Marcus Riccelli, at a recent Spokane County Cattlemen’s meeting. Many wondered whether the senator understood the implications of the loss of the slaughter option.

“These animals are going to have to go someplace,” said Gary Grub, who ranches outside Medical Lake, Wash. “I understand people not wanting them to be slaughtered, but would you rather them starve to death?”

Tom Platt, Washington State University Extension educator based in Davenport, said the majority of horses destined for slaughter will live in pain instead.

“That is the unintended consequence,” he said.

With the last three slaughter plants in the U.S. forced to close, horses are now being exported to Mexico and Canada to the tune of about 90,000 head in 2007. While professing their love of horses, the cattlemen said prohibiting export for slaughter will result in more inhumane treatment, not less.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is also concerned about the proposed export prohibition, claiming it will take away one of its members’ last viable management strategies - not to mention the fact the NCBA sees the law as a step down a slippery slope with the elimination of beef processing at the bottom.

Joe Schuele, communications director for the NCBA, said the whole issue of horse slaughter has allowed activists to taint and distort the manner in which animals are slaughtered. He said members of the association have determined repeatedly they do not want horse slaughter banned, because it serves a useful purpose.

“Nobody indiscriminately buys or owns horses with the intent of selling them for slaughter. The money is minimal. It’s a money-losing proposition, but it is, at least, an option,” he said.

Willard Wolf, a cattle broker who works across the Western United States, looked at the question from a business point of view. At the cattlemen’s meeting, he described seeing a blind horse “in misery” at a sale barn. Wolf said being able to process the animal would put value back in the economy, set people to work and provide an export product. Horse meat is eaten in parts of Europe and Asia.

“It’s a total disaster as far as the economy goes, and (it is) inhumane treatment” not to slaughter the animal, he said.

It has also affected the livestock industry in other ways. Stockyards that have traditionally kept their gates unlocked in case a trucker came in late with a load of cattle are chaining their places closed, said Ted Wishon, a cattlemen in Stevens County. The reason? Horses are being dropped off by owners in the middle of the night.

The Humane Society of the United States is supporting the bill to make export of horses for slaughter illegal. Keith Dane, director of equine protection for the society, said the major problem with horse slaughter is the transportation to slaughter. He said horses are packed into trailers where they find it difficult to keep their balance.

“It’s really inhumane and not in the interest of the welfare of horses,” he said, adding that regulations that require better treatment are not enforced. Although the Humane Society website has footage of a horse at a Mexican slaughter plant having the bolt gun administered three times before it was killed, Dane said there is a misconception that slaughter in the U.S. is more humane.

“They are all inhumane. It is a matter of degree. We would prefer no horses are slaughtered,” he said.

Dane said the preference is that horses be killed painlessly with an overdose of barbiturates, the cost of which, including disposal, could cost upwards of $500. Shooting a horse in the head is also legal in some states, and it is an approved Humane Society practice “as long as its administered by somebody who is experienced,” Dane said.

Meanwhile, he said, any increase in horse abandonment comes as a result of a convergence of circumstances, not the closing of slaughter plants in the U.S.

Dane cited drought and the rise in petroleum prices as contributing to higher hay prices, making it harder for lower-income families to feed their horses.

Staff writer Scott Yates is based in Spokane. E-mail: syates@capitalpress.com.

TAKE ACTION WASHINGTONIANS: If you are a resident of the state of Washington, please contact Senator Cantwell and tell her you are strongly opposed to the slaughter of horses. Thank her for co-sponsoring S 311 and that you are counting on her to vote yes for the passage of this bill.

UPDATE: The bill to provide funding for a horse slaughter plant in the state of South Dakota was defeated in a committee vote Tuesday afternoon , and according to various reports all plans have been shelved. TH

: : : : : :

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) South Dakota legislators may consider a bill today that would provide $1 million for the construction of a plant to slaughter horses.

Senator Frank Kloucek (KLOH’-chek) of Scotland says the nation needs such a plant so horses can be humanely disposed of.

Three horse slaughtering plants in the United States were shut down last year after state laws that ban the practice were upheld by the courts.

Kloucek says horse meat sells for $4 a pound, and both Canada and Mexico have horse processing plants.

His legislation would loan $1 million from the state economic development fund for the design and construction of such a plant.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

If you wish to take action, contact the members of the South Dakota Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee to let them know you oppose S.B. 170:

• Senator Jay Duenwald, Chair
• Senator Cooper Garnos (cosponsor)
• Senator Tom Hansen, Vice Chair
• Senator Gary Hanson (cosponsor)
• Senator Frank Kloucek (cosponsor)
• Senator Jim Lintz
• Senator Kenneth McNenny
• Senator Jim Peterson
• Senator Dan Sutton (cosponsor)

They can be reached at their Capitol offices by calling the operator at 605-773-3821.

Photograph by Sanda A. posted at this link.