Horse Intervention?
You may have gathered from reading my blog and seeing my art that I am a horse addict. Yes, I can freely admit this. My drug of choice is equine. Fortunately I've got a barn, large pasture and a supportive husband so I can feed my addiction. My goal is to 'manage' my condition like you would diabetes. I'm not after a cure. I am after daily doses of equine therapy to sooth and relax me (and the horses), exercise and something beautiful to look at out my back window.
I had a flare up of my condition this past week. I am on facebook in which I have contact with many horse-y friends. I also follow many rescue organizations. The last few weeks I've been watching the posts of new horses each week that come in with the horse brokers to be auctioned off. Many horses wind up with the KBs or kill buyers who take the horses to Mexico or Canada to be slaughtered. A couple groups of rescue organizations have used facebook to help get funds raised so these horses can go to homes rather than as meat. Many of the horses are young, ride able and sound. These are not broken down, old sick horses as someone might imagine. Many are young horses with their whole life in front of them if it were not for the fact that they are on this dead end road. The rescue groups are able to give some general assessments and show youtube videos of the horses being ridden which is a huge help. I do not have the stomach or the will power to go to these kinds of sales myself so they made it accessible for me to see these horses and help.
You tube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVApd-CYTVw
Each week a new load of horses are paraded in front of my eyes with cries for donations. The fundraising all must take place quickly because time is of the essence. By 4:00 each Friday they go into the auction ring and unless there is a private buyer they are bought by the KBs. To a horse junkie this is like the drug dealer on the street corner offering you a hit..... enticing you and drawing you in.... flashing images of horses one foot away from being loaded on a trailer to a terrible end.
I am a sucker for any underdog. I have rescued horses for as long as I have had the barn and land and means to do it. I enjoy it. It is a gamble no doubt but I have 'won' more times than I have lost by being rewarded with seeing an animal blossom under my care. The painting on the top of this page is inspired by a horse I rescued last year. She came to me skin and bones and to see her now looking healthy and happy is very rewarding.
Yes, I am helpless to stop myself from donating, bidding and taking home one of these creatures when I can. But unlike the drug dealer's junkie this avenue has so many positive rewards. Please no horse intervention for me! I am excited to be able to take part in the rescuing of this new horse. Her new name is Rhythm because of her pretty trot. She is a bay arab cross mare and there is not a whole lot more we know about her but horses have a way of telling us their story in time. That's part of the beauty of taking in these animals. Take them in, give them the time and space to breathe and let them tell their story. I plan on capturing on canvas so stay tuned!
The amazing thing about this scenario in which I am part of, is it would not of been possible without like minded people gathering together for a cause. Many people donated time and money to get this horse and a long string of others that appear weekly at these kinds of sale barns to an approved home. Thank you for your help and I hope you enjoy watching the blossoming as much as I do! To see the people who do this each week visit http://www.ac4h.com/ Pass the word along to other horse addicts so they can get their daily hit too - either directly or vicariously!
Sue Steiner
animal and equine artist
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BZ