BY VIVIAN FARRELL
This has been a tumultuous year for horse advocacy at The Horse Fund. So much so that we have barely blogged until just recently. And boy, do we have a lot to tell you.
March Against Horse Slaughter
We will start with “March Against Horse Slaughter”. This was no social media exercise where you never really know who you are dealing with. We took it to the streets — literally. Boy was it eye opening.
Opinions Counted
For the whole month of March we went out and talked to the average American about horse slaughter. We decided to have no preconceived ideas or agenda, just to find out this:— are they for it, against it, no longer care?
Horse Fund volunteers went to 139 US cities in 34 States from the east coast to the west coast. We always had at least two people present, one to talk with people and one to take notes on what was discussed. The note takers were armed with clickers who recorded the numbers of people we spoke with. The total tally was amazing. Close to a million people.
Misinformed Nuts
During this exercise, Leslie and I were in downtown Louisville, Kentucky for three days, before going to Lexington and Frankfort for several days each, talking to people about horse slaughter.
The most surprising of all the responses were from this group of people — the people who looked at us like we were misinformed nuts, telling us that horse slaughter was banned years ago, that horses weren’t being slaughtered in the US any more.
Well, it’s true no horses are being butchered legally on US soil we told them (only because of the continued yearly horse meat inspection defunding in the federal budget), but US borders are still open to the shipment of horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter, and trucks loaded with horses from the US are being shipped there right now, today and every day, especially Quarter Horses and guess who — the Thoroughbred racehorse — among others. They were shocked. Truly stunned.
Shocking Brag
Not sure why, but what’s coming up below shocked us, although Leslie and I have read and heard it whispered about enough times.
Unwanted and injured racehorses from Kentucky are going to Canada to be dumped at a slaughterhouse we were informed face to face by an admitted racetrack worker. He told us he has hauled a bunch up there himself — from a famous Kentucky racecourse too he bragged.
“You bitches are ****ing stupid if you think you will ever get horse slaughter stopped”, he told us. “Racing and gambling will never let you and they got power you can’t begin to fight. And nobody elected can help you neither. They all owned. You betcha, everybody you think can help you is already owned.”
When you look at the fiasco that was this year’s Kentucky Derby, we can believe it. But foolishly or not, we are not put off. We must stop this. We will stop this.
Closing Borders to Horse Slaughter
It was in April and May, after we gathered the massive amounts of data we had collected, combed through it and analyzed it ourselves, and then had a professional take a look at it, that we arrived at the following conclusion.
Since it appears that we cannot rely on the US Congress to outlaw horse slaughter — and we have been trying since 2001 — we will go back to what we are good at and successful at doing. And that is working at the State level — like we did in Texas and Illinois.
We have a campaign designed and manned for Texas and it will begin at the end of summer.
In the meantime, what about . . . ?
H.R. 961 — The SAFE Act of 2019
There’s a big glimmer of hope. We are not giving up totally on this bill. Never were.
But we realized we just had to have a back up plan to a federal law being passed, because the nightmare of slaughter for our horses must come to a complete end.
We have a whole new strategy for H.R. 961 and pretty excited about it. We will post about it tomorrow. If you can’t wait until then, we have something up on our website now where you can begin taking action. If you are a subscriber, you already know and God willing working on it.
Pension Me Off
I want to retire but I can’t retire until I am thoroughly done with this — the issue that started it all for me 20 years ago with Texans for Horses — horse slaughter. Getting horse slaughter banned in the US would be a swell way to bow out.
Resources
Action Alert — H.R. 961, The Horse Fund »
H.R. 961 — 116th Congress (2019) — Cosponsors »
U.S. Congress 2019 Session Calendars and Schedules (pdf), Congress.gov Resources »
Horse Slaughter Legislative Timeline — 1998 to present, The Horse Fund (includes State and Federal) »
Died in Committee, Tuesday’s Horse »
Tuesday's Horse 
This is what I love, raising awareness to what so many are blind to. Taking to the streets to educate the public. What an amazing movement here.
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Thank you for your support. You are so right.
We would sometimes have a dozen people standing around listening. Some said, thank heavens our racehorses aren’t sent to slaughter. Imagine the shock when we told them that next to Quarter Horses, they are the second most slaughtered horse. We got that directly from a Canadians slaughterhouse official. Wouldn’t give us the numbers though. The third, Mustangs. Heartbreaking.
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That is so heart breaking!
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Amazing work you and your wonderful team are doing, Vivian. What a massive job that was to go to the streets and speak with 1 million people! Incredible work.
The truth about the discarded horses going to slaughter must be told.
The fact that the vast majority of the finished with racehorses suffer horrendous road transport to Canada or Mexico, many of whom are sick, carrying painful injuries/conditions, hungry, thirsty, in poor condition and in terrible fear dealing with the inhumane and cruel circumstances they’re in and what will happen to them, and then on arrival at their destination more fear and trauma, and then the torture of being brutally and inhumanely slaughtered, is utterly unacceptable and it must stop.
Needless to say, it’s just as bad in Australia. Discarded horses from race tracks in Victoria are trucked all the way to Caboolture in Queensland (at least a 2 day trip) to suffer the inhumane and brutal slaughter process. My daughter lives in the district and has been able to rescue a few but as we know the cost of keeping a horse is expensive. That racetrack worker you interviewed is fully aware of the disgraceful mess racing has created, hence his pathetic words in a futile attempt to defend the indefensible.
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Horrible. Just horrible.
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