Horse Savaging (CONTROVERSIAL RESPONSE)

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

At 09:13 PM 3/13/00 -0800, Jen wrote:
> He's a real nice riding horse, put together
> like a brick privvy and just about the smartest thing I've come across
> (too smart).  

So how nice is he?  He's a gelding so can't pass his niceness or
smartness on, so he has no value there.  As a riding horse I
wouldn't say "nice" is quite the same qualifier as
"excellent", "exceptional", "worth keeping him
alive for", so there's not as much value there.  And as for his
smartness... well, when you equate smartness with strategies to keep
oneself alive, I'm not so sure this horse is so very smart after
all.  

The horse's problem could be emotional in which case I'd say that if you
have a place with double fencing, with chain link and concertina wire,
electric zappers etc. (in other words, a place that you might be able to
keep a pack of rabid wolves in, for instance) then you would have the
luxury to deal with those problems.  

The horse's problem could be medical.  I guess you could have him
tested for abnormal hormone levels - the only horse I know of personally
that acted like that was a young stallion who was tested, found to have
soaring levels of testosterone (I mean WAY high) and he was put
down.  But what would the point be?  Is he worth the cost of
hormone therapy (if there is even such a thing?)  Maybe he's got a
tumor in his brain.  Is he worth brain surgery?  

You see where I'm going with this:  The problem is that one time you
have an accident.  I'd guess (not being an attorney or anything)
that if the owner is an attorney (who probably the court system would say
has no excuses), and if you are taking money for training (so you're a
pro and have no excuses), since you both live in CA you are looking at a
time bomb.  I'd get rid of that time bomb in a flash.  

Personally - and go ahead, flame me all you want, Ridecampers - I may be
a tree hugger but I  wouldn't hesitate to chop down a tree that was
going to fall on my house.  If the tree was say that giant sequoia
(what's it's name?  General Sherman?  General Grant?) with
incalculable value, and it's roots were uprooting my house, well in that
case I'd have to admit that that irreplaceable tree was worth more than
my replaceable house - but this horse, even though he is a living being
with intrinsic value in his soul, is a criminal and his life is not worth
more than yours, the owner's or some innocent person who gets savaged by
him.

So my solution would be to face reality, and shoot him in the head, with
a butcher standing by to make him into dog food.  From experience I
can tell you this is a hard thing to do (and hard, too, to find a butcher
who will process horse meat) but it is the RESPONSIBLE thing to do. 
When the safety of other people is in question, the RESPONSIBLE thing to
do is always the right thing to do.  Lif

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