Champions
are rare. In the horse racing industry, champions are crafted through a
network of stable owners and stud deals. The chances that a foal will
become a champion race horse are often no better than a crap shoot.
In
1970 an odds-beating horse was born, making his unlikely owner and
himself so famous that Disney Studios has made a million dollar movie
about him.
Coin toss luck
Two year
years before Secretariat’s birth, Penny Chenery, owner of Meadow
Stables, participated in a coin toss to determine which foal she would
receive from the champion thoroughbred race horse Bold Ruler. Chenery
lost the coin toss, leaving her with an unborn foal, ironically the
exact choice she would have made had she won the toss.
Chenery's
foal became a Triple Crown winner, the rarest of race horse champions,
at only three years old. This month Disney Studios, the premier maker
of 'against all odds, feel-good' stories, released the movie
Secretariat directed by Randall Wallace.
Not so feel good stories
The
odds of producing a champion such as Secretariat are close to
impossible. Still horse breeders are a dedicated bunch, producing tens
of thousands of foals each year, two-thirds of whom become useless
surplus, ending up in Canadian or Mexican slaughter plants, according to
humane activists.
Scott Beckstead, Equine Protection Specialist
for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) says that in 2007,
lawsuits and the inability of the USDA to inspect horse slaughter plants
ended horse slaughter in the United States. But because the demand for
horse meat in Europe and Japan means there is money to be made, horses
are sold to 'kill buyers' who truck them to Canada and Mexico for
slaughter.
Beckstead says, "Ninety-two percent of these horses
are young and healthy from the racing and recreational industries. Many
of them are the result of irresponsible breeding, where the breeders
are trying to get that one perfect horse."
Bonnie Stohen riding Secretariat's great grandson
As described by the Equine Protection
Network on their website, these American horses are transported across
the country in double-deck trailers designed for shorter animals such as
hogs and cattle. The horses are packed together: pregnant mares,
stallions and foals separated from their mothers. The journey is
arduous, non-stop, and without food or water. Sunny Day Farms,
an animal sanctuary in La Coste Texas, sits on highway 35 where every
Wednesday morning, tracker trailers filled with young horses head
towards the Mexican border for slaughter. Owner of Sunny Day Farms
Brooke Chavez says, "Last Wednesday the truck was so crammed with
terrified horses I could see a young horse, not any older than three
months, being crushed in the back of the truck. To me, horse slaughter
is the ultimate act of betrayal."
Bonnie Stoehn, founder and past
president of Redwings Horse Sanctuary in Carmel California, has been
rescuing horses from slaughter auctions for over 20 years. She says
that foreign-operated horse slaughtering plants have no oversight from
American regulators.
"Horses suffer unimaginably just getting to
the slaughter plant,” says Stoehn. “Once there, they are sent through
chutes to the killbox. But since horses are so animated, so aware of
their surroundings, they see the killing, become so agitated, that it
often takes up to three shots to the head to kill them."
Babies on the track
Secretariat's
triumphs came during his first three years of his life. But Stoehn
says that horses are not physically mature until they are five to six
years of age when their bones have completed growing. Because time is
money in horse racing, the feeding and caring for these animals over so
many years would be cost prohibitive.
"Running the babies cuts
their costs, but it means these horses break down,” Stoehn explains.
“It can take up to a year for them to recover which is dollars and
cents, so instead, horses are sold and sent to slaughter."
To
get these young horses onto the track as quickly as possible, the horse
racing industry officially makes January 1st the birthday of all
thoroughbreds born during that year. Says Stoehn, "So if a horse is
born in June, by January first of the next year, he is considered a one
year old."
Stoehn adds that steroids are commonly used to bulk
up these young animals all with the aim of fast-tracking them into the
races.
Drugged meat unwelcome overseas
HSUS's
Beckstead pointed to a glimmer of hope that could potentially end horse
slaughter for meat. Recently the European Union enacted a ban on horse
meat that contains residues of drugs, even the commonly used Bute, an
equine form of the anti-inflammatory drug Advil.
Beckstead says,
"Ninety-seven percent of all American race horses are given Bute before
and after races." Beckstead notes that Europe is particularly wary of
toxic meat from America. Drug-laden horse meat could ultimately be what
saves horses from transport and slaughter.
To convince their
best customer--Europe--to keep buying their horse meat product, Canada
and Mexico now must require detailed medical histories on each and every
horse. But because falsified documents are a concern, HSUS is helping
Canada and Mexico undertake steps to avoid fraud from kill buyers.
Horse movie may bring horse awareness
Beckstead
hopes that the new film Secretariat will remind the American public why
we love horses. "They (horses) are heroes who take it to the limit for
us with their loyalty and courage giving us their all. The horse is an
American icon and most Americans would be appalled if they learned the
way these animals are discarded."
The United States Congress is
considering passing the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, H.R. 503/S.
727. "This legislation seeks to ban the slaughter of American horses
for human consumption and their export for slaughter in other
countries," states the HSUS website.
According to Beckstead, the bill has broad bi-partisan support and is sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans.
As
for Stoehn, despite her loathing of the horse racing industry, she has
always been a tremendous fan of Secretariat, a horse she calls “a
phenomenon.” In fact, Stoehn owns a horse named Let's Jazz Dance, a
great grandson of Secretariat's. Stoehn says, "He (Let's Jazz Dance) is
the love of my life. When I ride him he runs away with me."
A lifelong dog and animal advocate, Shelley Frost wrote
Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know about Rescuing and Caring
for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press, 2007) with coauthor
Katerina Makris. Email Shelley: shelley@youradopteddog.com, and visit www.youradopteddog.com
