I read Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand and enjoyed it. I was shocked at the cruelty of the guards and still wonder what makes someone capable of such cruelty.

Friends recommended her book Seabiscuit, too. So I did. I was apprehensive because so many times books about animals include abuse and a sad ending. It was a good book and I enjoyed reading it. But, I’ve long had issues with horse racing. It’s abusive to the horses. 700 to 800 race horses are injured and die on race tracks every year. It’s estimated another 1,000 die during training annually. Horse racing was also hard on the jockeys. Humans can make choices about whether they want to be involved in a sport, but horses cannot. They are property and are forced to race. It seems cruel.

My dad had work horses on our farm before he got a tractor, and would often put me on top of one when he went out to do farm work. My sister had a horse when we lived on the farm. I’ve ridden horses from time to time all my life. But I just never really got into them or wanted one of my own.

I don’t know how well or ill-treated my sister’s horse, Lady, was. She was sold over and over like a piece of inanimate property. When you put the saddle on, she’d breathe in and hold her breath. You had to wait her out or the saddle would get loose and flip you off. If that didn’t work, she’d run into low hanging branches to try to scrape the rider off or run into the barn if the door was open, if the rider didn’t control her. The girl who owned her before my sister taught her to rear up on her hind legs if you kicked her in the sides with your feet. That could be surprising for some riders.

I find rodeos to be cruel, too. I attended one in Wyoming and cringed when a horse ran into a fence so hard it was bleeding. I didn’t like the bull riding either. I’ve never attended another rodeo. I don’t find them entertaining.

Horses are highly social herd animals, and taking one horse, isolating it from other horses and keeping him or her solitary and isolated is also cruel.

I read an essay in a class about a solitary horse in a pasture. The author befriended the horse. One day the horse didn’t come to seek her affection and she found out why. Another horse had been put into the pasture and the two of them were galloping around, playing, and having so much fun. As it turned out, the horse was only allowed companionship because of breeding purposes. Once he had mated, his “friend” was taken away. After that the horse was angry and never came to get treats from the author, but rather just looked at her with accusing eyes. One of my classmates was angry after reading it. He said it was dirty, meaning it played on his emotions.

I believe humans are arrogant, looking at animals as property to do with or dispose of as we see fit and never considering that they are sentient creatures with needs of their own like companionship with their own species.

My family rode horses on a trail in the Rocky Mountains. Other than my husband’s horse heading to eat every plant with blue flowers he spotted, it was relaxing and enjoyable. One thing about riding a horse is that it’s quiet. No motors. The wildlife isn’t frightened away.

While vacationing on Prince Edward Island, my son decided he wanted to go horseback riding along the beach. I found an outfit that provided rides on horses along the beach. We arrived and there was a young French-speaking couple, my son and I and a couple of others going on the ride. The guide asked, “who has ridden horses before?” I raised my hand.

We mounted the horses and left the farm riding on a scrubby, vegetation-lined lane towards the ocean. The ground was sandy. My horse stumbled a bit. It wasn’t that he stepped into a hole or tripped on something, it was more of a hesitation or tremble. Instantly, I became concerned and alert. Something was not right.

Just as we were coming up to the crest of the hill where the ocean was visible, my horse took off like a bullet. It flew past all the other riders and the guide. My son thought, “Mom, why are you showing off.” I was planning, as we raced along how, if the horse ran into the ocean, I’d just jump into the water. But before he reached the water, he swerved, flying like the wind, and headed up a huge sand dune, climbing higher and higher. Before I could work out a plan to get off, the guide finally caught up to us, grabbed the halter, and my horse went nuts. It bolted and pulled and tried to get away. It stood stamping its feet, moving from side to side until I was able to get down. The others caught up to us and the young couple’s faces were as white as sheets.

The guide gave me her horse saying, “here, you can trust this one.” So that was it. She asked who had been on a horse before because the horse I got was crazy? I rode the guide’s horse back uneventfully and she managed to control the wild critter I had been on at the beginning. I was fine. I also had a story to tell long afterwards.

My uncle, Gary, and my sister, Marcia, and I went to an apple orchard. They had animals there and you could feed the goats and sheep. I got some corn, held it out to one of the goats. I love goats. Before the goat could get the corn, I heard Gary and Marcia gasp. They saw what was coming, but didn’t have enough time to do anything to stop it. A large mouth clamped over my hand and tightened down. It was a horse. He was not going to let go of my hand with that corn in it either.

Fortunately, horses have flat teeth. They are vegetarians so they don’t have cuspids to rip meat. He kept his mouth clamped on my hand like a tightened vise. Eventually, I was able to tug my hand out from between the horse’s teeth without any tearing of my skin and bleeding. He got the corn.

The horse who clamped down on my hand was just an opportunist. There was corn. He wanted corn. My hand had nothing to do with it. It wasn’t personal between me and the wild horse on Prince Edward Island. I’ll never know what caused his behavior.

I’ve never had a close relationship with a horse, nor been inclined to do so. They are expensive, eat a lot and need time and effort. They can’t live in our homes like cats or dogs. Despite my unpleasant encounters with horses, I don’t dislike them. I respect their intelligence. I find them to be beautiful, even magnificent, animals. I’m empathetic to any suffering or mistreatment of horses and wish we humans could be kinder to the four-legged creatures that share our world.