Click here to read Voice For The Horse Thoughts on Advocacy

Five Sails ~ The Amazing TB that was my Master Teacher rests high in the sky with many friends. Click on the image above to meet Five Sails and learn about the amazing horse he was (and still is in my heart).

 I have heard it said that "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter". Today more than ever, I belive this. Over the course of the past five years, more so than ever, many new groups, associations, advocacy groups have come together and combined with social media have found a way to communicate globally for many causes. Horses have been one of the subjects of discussion that many are talking about today. My personal experience which led me to begin my writing back in 2007, was when I learned of Premarin. I would have to say that as many as 95% of the people I shared what I had learned about Premarin had no idea what is was what it was used for, shocking for me to realize. The same when the subject of horse slaughter became more recognized; not only the fact that it existed in North America but the inhumane way in which it is executed; many people did not know nor could they imagine it.

This leads into another very deep subject as we are now asking the question, who are in fact the horses we are slaughtering today? Well let me tell you it is not just the old, crippled, injured and dangerous horses as it is said that find their way down this dismal road but also includes up to 80,000 thoroughbreds across America that don’t make it as successful racehorses earning the big bucks for their owners and also horses that are started way too young as seen in some of our equine sport categories. There are foals that are born every year and if the color is not what the breeder was hoping for this too is enough to deem them unwanted. This is not to mention the hundreds of thousands of PMU mares and foals that ended up down the path to slaughter when it was discovered through scientific studies back in 2002 that the estrogen extracted from the pregnant mares urine  for HRT (hormone replacement therapy) which has been prescribed for women since as far back as the 1950's, was harming women and causing other diseases in fact, as side effects of this pharmaceutical drug. Many horses were given an automatic death sentence when this was learned which included not only the mares and foals but the unborn babies of many pregnant mares. Horse have endured much hardship and still today do.  

Prior to proceeding further into the VFTH Advocacy, please note that some of the content may contain graphic images or descriptives of horse abuse and neglect. If you find yourself not at ease with this, we recommend that you immediately dismiss yourself from these pages and go immediately with Mischief into The Enchanted Forest of Horse Angel's and Fairies. Your mind will come back to peace and you will most likely end up having lots of fun while you journey through the trails and trees with your "equine escorts"!

 There are viable answers to these cases of abuse, neglect and mismanagement and through sound education. Does this mean that the slaughter of horses in America for human consumption is still acceptable or even the practice of this method of killing horses? We invite you to come to your own conclusion based on much scientific evidence we are presenting below. Thank you for coming to this web page, we hope that this information enlightens you further into our world of horses.

Listen to what Fritz has to say about American Horse Meat !!

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Blog - Dec. 9, 2011 ~ Setting the Record Straight on Congress Lifiting the Ban on Horse Slaughter

Click here to view web page dedicated to the inhumane treatement of Horses in our Lives compiled by VFTH Director/Horse Advocate Barb Edmonson. This web page gives you ALL the straight good as to why VFTH exists today. We also share the Documentary Trailer for Saving Americas Horses which we encourage you to check out as they have a terrific educational program for children going on also.

Dr. Temple Grandin exposes her findings on the Inhumane Manner in which Horses are Slaughtered in North America

It is already being suggested to serve horse meat in schools and it is not safe for your child to consume, you need to review the information below including the article The Big Debate higlighted in red below. NDP Calls on Government To Shut Down Horse Slaughter Industry ~ Alex Atamanenko Member of Parliament of B.C. Southern Interior

 The Stable Women Gazette ~ A Primer on Horse Slaughter ~ Part A

The Stable Women Gazette ~ A Primer on Horse Slaughter ~ Part B

The Stable Women Gazette ~ A Primer on Horse Slaughter ~ Part C

 The Big Debate ~ Is horse meat that is processed in North America healthy for human consumption? Click here to find out. 

There is no getting around the fact that we know better today as we have resources at our fingertips that educate and share a better and more humane way of working with our horses; there is no more denying that what we have done so far does not work. The recession and downturn in the economy did not help matters most certainly however we need to learn from these mistakes. Every animal deserves to be handled with dignity and respect. There is no denying that horse slaughter will be happening soon in the U.S.A. One positive that comes with this is that horses destined for slaughter no longer have to suffer the abuse of over loaded trailers while being shipped to either Canada or worse yet Mexico from the U.S; nor will we hear of drastic illness and injuries horses endure where sometimes they are dead upon arrival from the lack of food and water "because they are all going to die anyways" (does anyone care?).

With the awareness that has now been put out there on the hardships that horses endure across America, we must now look to people such as Dr. Temple Grandin who have viable solutions that will cause less stress for horses that do go to slaughter. But still ... the problem has not yet been resolved. Horses are still being bred for the same reasons and if the wrong color, not fast enough or if not conformationally correct, these babies, and we are not talking about old and retired horses or the dangerous horse, we are talking just babies who end up going down the sad road of beingslaughtered and butchered with no choice; a death penalty, for what? Let's not forget about the broken down  horses whose lives end before they even make it to full maturity; quite unlike many of those that are raised under ethical equine management practices where they are only starting their young ones at this very same age. There is a big gap in between here and I believe that within our hearts, we all know better today. There is no more denying that the resources are not available for us to learn better management practices for our horses. We must all now play our part and be accountable to the horse and treat this most noble animal who brings so much light into so many lives, with care and respect for not "what they are" but for "who they are" in our lives today.