Go almost anywhere these days where conversations can be overheard and it is almost bankable that the subject of Yellowstone, Paramount Network’s western drama series shot on location in Montana, will at some point come up in every single one. Following near-constant haranguing, I myself finally succumbed a few weeks ago and found myself quickly hooked, not because it is brilliantly written (fair), but because I find every episode so aesthetically captivating. And the primary source of said captivation is the near-constant onscreen presence of horses. Many, many beautiful horses.
If dogs are man’s best friend, then let’s call horses man’s best ally, shall we? As the British Museum Blog reminds, for 5,000 years the horse has been an ever-present ally in war and peace, as civilizations have risen and fallen on their backs. Certainly America as we know it simply would not be were it not for our equine allies.
We don’t agree on much these days as a people, but I think we all can agree that horses are a cherished part of our culture and social fabric. Millions of Americans have (or, as in my case have had) a daily relationship with horses – as companions in work, logistics, sport, leisure entertainment and just plain pets.
But unbeknownst to most of us, beneath the surface of our modern day relationship with horses lies a dark and repugnant underbelly which manifests from things like intense abuse in pursuit of a blue ribbon, to slaughter to serve as a delicacy for certain foreign palates (which is perhaps the most egregious current betrayal of our equine allies). Every year tens of thousands of them are hoarded by profiteers known as “kill buyers,” and carted off to Mexico and Canada to face a grisly death at the hands of foreign abattoirs, their meat then shipped to markets in Europe, Asia and Russia for human consumption.
Domestic slaughter of horses ended in 2006 with the closure of the last remaining slaughter plants by state laws in Texas and Illinois. The U.S. Congress has thankfully since prevented new plants from opening in other states through the annual appropriations process, but they haven’t yet closed the loophole that enables the export pipeline.
The few opponents of a ban on horse slaughter – in the horse industry and in Congress – have relied on the false narrative that without access to slaughter as a “necessary evil”, horses would be dumped with reckless abandon, or simply left to languish and starve in their pastures. Neither has happened since the closure of the domestic plants, nor with the plummeting foreign demand for horse meat.
A similarly egregious practice within the U.S. horse industry involves Tennessee Walking Horses and other related breeds which are routinely tortured through a practice known as “soring” to force them to perform a high-stepping show ring gait, prized and rewarded in some circles. From a young age, the legs of these animals are burned with caustic chemicals that cause extreme pain, then ridden with chains around their ankles, causing them to step high in a futile attempt to escape the pain. They are fitted with tall platform shoes nailed to their hooves that force them to step even higher, and squat at an unnatural angle. Sharp objects are shoved between the hoof and shoe to create even greater pain. It’s been compared to forcing a runner to sprint a race barefoot across hot coals, or run a marathon with broken glass in their shoes.
Thankfully, to paraphrase a favorite Yellowstone line, we have a chance to shut down the aforementioned trailer parks with a bi-partisan legislative tornado. The Save America’s Forgotten Equines(SAFE) Act would permanently ban the domestic slaughter of horses as well as their export for that purpose. It’s strongly supported by a bipartisan majority of House cosponsors and supported by 83% of Americans.
The Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act would close loopholes in the 1970 Horse Protection Act that have allowed soring to persist, and it too has the strong support of a bipartisan majority, and in both chambers of Congress. Polls in Kentucky and Tennessee, where soring is most prevalent, show that voters also support the bill by an overwhelming margin, yet many of their federal elected officials thus far persist in opposing it.
The stories are abhorrent, but brave solutions are on the table here. In our era of such division and ugliness in Washington, these pieces of legislation provide an opportunity for all to take a breath, don the white hats, and do what’s right by man’s best ally--not to mention the American people they serve who so very obviously want them to.