Learning More

So, in my quest to learn more about the equine world I'm doing all sorts of reading. One of the first things I learned was that there seems to be an epidemic of starving horses. It would appear that the down economy is taking its toll on horses as well. Reading about all the cases of neglect, starvation and possible abandonment makes my heart hurt (although it seems some people are positive that abandonment is just a myth). I wish I had 50 acres and a ton of cash, cause I'd rescue as many as I could. I just can't stand seeing animals suffer (any animal) and the stuff I read seems to go beyond suffering. I'm also perturbed about the things I've read about Tennessee Walking horses. It would appear that chemicals and certain horse shoes are used to manipulate the gait of these horses. Is it really that important to people to show off these horses that they terrorize these animals into ridiculous unnatural gaits? How does a person feel like they've accomplished something to be proud of if their "walking" horse shows well because it has oversized, overweight horseshoes that do not allow it to walk normally, or use chemicals that make the horse pick up it's feet from pain? I'd give anything to be able to use the same tactics on these individuals so they can have the same fantastic experience that the poor horses have.

I work for a company that designs horse halters and leads and I think I need to spend some time and think about what Red Haute Horse could do to help, in some way. I don't want to do the usual "we donate $x.xx or x% to -insert name of horse organization here-." I always think that someone is lining his or her pockets at the expense of poor animals or that the animals never really get the help promised. I do realize that there are many good and trustworthy organizations, that could use some extra cash, no matter how little; and if I could identify these organizations I probably would just do a donation thing. But, I'm thinking that there must a better way to help, and I'm open to suggestions. So, feel free...