Neigh.

The last time I rode a horse I got thrown off.

It was up in the Beachwood Canyon Stables, on a very beautiful trail in gp, with the steepest drops on either side you can imagine (which looked much higher sitting 4 feet up, on 4 feet). It was almost (his) dinnertime, I found out later, and Brownie was in no mood for me. From the very beginning he wouldn’t trot, kept walking underneath very low hanging tree branches so I almost got swept off the saddle, and kept stopping to eat grass. When he actually bucked and threw me off I was so shocked I can still remember the few seconds of flying in the air. Fortunately, it was on flat land, or else I would have landed several hundred feet down a canyon. I was humiliated, and in pain, and really grieving that an animal would deliberately hurt me. My friend said that it was obvious he felt guilty, as he just stood there afterwards, waiting for me to mount again, but I think he just wanted to head home. I didn’t want to get back on, but I hurt a lot, and it was way too far to walk, so I did.

Warning: graphic pic. Brave Warrior was happily adopted here, and is now fine.

But, just like the cliche, I’ve never gotten on a horse again since then. Probably my loss, but I lost a lot of trust that day. (One of my best friends said I shouldn’t feel bad that he didn’t like me, “because a horse you rent is like a prostitute, and will never have feelings for you.”) And then, there’s poor Christopher Reeve…

Still, I love to watch them, and pretend I might get to know one and ride again someday. This article in the LA Times was heartstopping, saying that because of the drought, the price of hay has doubled, so horseowners are just letting their horses die! Or sell them for $10, or give them away. Perhaps they just pretend the animal waiting patiently to be fed is a fence post, or will disappear if they close their eyes. It is so horrifying.

With many rescue centers full, fewer options are available for unwanted horses. Some are sold at stockyards — to good Samaritans, or “killer buyers” who truck them to slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada. Others are euthanized, or left to perish in barren fields. [snip]

The overpopulation of horses stems from the large number of people who have become horse owners in recent years. The industry flourished as baby boomers enjoyed disposable incomes, and breeders took advantage of scientific innovations such as frozen semen and embryo transfers.

Stellar and her mother were found inside a stall that had been nailed shut. They were living in over a foot of manure, and the mare was several hundred pounds underweight. Stellar is at the US Equine Rescue, hoping to be adopted.

Apparently horse breeders are the new puppy farms. And although the owners know it’s more humane to have a vet put them down, that might cost a whole $200 or so, so…why not let the animal starve to death?

I know how much vets cost. For me to have a vet look at my small bird costs me $100 right off the top. Then it’s $75 for a one inch x-ray. Medicine, $35 more. I made up my mind a while ago that I wouldn’t buy a bird again (to BUY a parakeet is about $10) until I had money put away to take care of any vet bills. Because once you are the owner, your animal is innocent, and at your mercy.

Some argue that the problem was fueled by the closure of the nation’s slaughterhouses.

Oh right, they really want skin and bones dying animals. Write me another one.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Kathy Grant, who runs a rescue center in drought-stricken eastern Tennessee and takes as many as five calls a day from desperate horse owners. “The back roads are where you find them — all skin and bone, just hanging their heads in the pastures, dying.”

I found a book at a yard sale that is so wonderful. I can’t wait to read more from this author, who moved into an abbey in France to recover from a long illness, and started to write there. She was still living with the nuns when this book was published in 1947. I’m not into poetry, but since the esteemed lao introduced poetry the other day, why stop there? This poem from the book is called The Prayer of the Old Horse, but it could also be called The Prayer of the Starving Horse.

The Prayer of the Old Horse, by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold

See, Lord,
my coat hangs in tatters,
like homespun, old, threadbare.
All that I had of zest,
all my strength,
I have given in hard work
and kept nothing back for myself.
Now
my poor head swings
to offer up all the loneliness of my heart.
Dear God,
stiff on my thickened legs
I stand here before You:
Your unprofitable servant.
Oh! of Your goodness,
give me a gentle death.