The Riderless Horse

"Today (Friday, the 11th day of June, the day Ronald Reagan is laid to rest) one hundred horses will be killed at Cavel International in DeKalb, Illinois."
- Patricia Fitzgerald

As I watched Ronald Reagan's funeral procession I felt heartsick. His casket was drawn by horses, a riderless horse walked along side. (They did not use cows, pigs, chickens.) What will become of these horses used for this momentous event? Will they be sent to DeKalb, Kaufman, or Fort Worth when their usefulness is complete; just so someone can make an extra few hundred dollars?

Poor Smarty Jones didn't live up to everyone's expectations. He ran his heart out but in the end he didn't win. So now what happens to Smarty? Hopefully his destiny will not mirror Ferdinand, a gentle soul according to the employee that took care of him in Japan.

It's hard to get excited about an event (horse racing) in which the losers pay with their lives. Oh, that's right, even the winners pay. Horse of the Year only got Ferdinand served on a Japanese dinner table.

Lest everyone forget or just doesn't know, a horse's journey, destined for slaughter, will probably start in an auction barn. I've seen horses whipped mercilessly into the sale ring and then whipped again, after being sold, back out of the ring. What did they do to deserve that treatment? The unfortunate ones purchased by the contract killer-buyers will be loaded into double-decker cattle trailers for the long journey to slaughter. Once at the slaughter plant, the horses are kept in crowded pens to wait for kill day.

Cavel will kill on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (One hundred horses in one day means at least one hundred horses penned together.) On kill day, each horse is sent into a kill box where a stun bolt is shot into its skull--hopefully in the right spot and only once. Of course the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) states that a 90% accuracy rate is acceptable.

Since the blood must be drained completely from the meat through the pumping of the heart, the horse is not dead when it is strung upside down by a back hoof. The jugular vein is cut and the blood flows to the floor. The horse is then dismembered and skinned. Owners of stolen slaughtered horses can identify their lost horse by looking through the skins.

How many pro-slaughter supporters would actually send their horses to slaughter if they had to stay with their horse and witness the whole process?

Illinois residents have their State Representatives to thank for this legacy. They should make a point of thanking them. They are:

Rep. Charles Morrow III (D-Chicago)
Rep. Frank Aguilar (R-Cicero)
Rep. Robert Pritchard (R-Sycamore)
Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville)
Rep. Jim Sacia (R-Pecatonica)
Rep. Rich Brauer (R-Petersburg)

All actively spoke against the bill that would prevent horse slaughter in Illinois.

Just a reminder, Illinois' Governor had committed to signing the bill had it passed. Go to www.barntowire.com to see how your elected delegate represented your opinion on this issue. View the results and see if you were represented correctly.

Today, one hundred horses; mares, colts, fillies, geldings, and stallions will die in DeKalb, Illinois.

Patricia Fitzgerald
Paige, Texas
published in Illinois Conservative Politics
06-11-2004
reprinted with author's permission

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