Yesterday, something rather sad happened. I was on my way to teach my class when I came across five men who were trying to ‘persuade’ a young horse to pull a trap. This was on a busy road with traffic coming both ways so I stopped. One man was at the front, pulling as hard as he could. The others were behind the horse, slapping, shouting, flicking a whip. They were not being gentle. The horse was clearly terrified.
I have come across this situation once before. Last time I was on a heathland walking my dog. Last time I asked the men to stop what they were doing. Last time I got into a row with them. This did not help. It certainly did not help the horse. It made them angrier. It severely traumatised me.
Yesterday, faced with a very similar situation, I ached to get out and tell them, ‘this is not the way. Terrifying the horse won’t help.’ But I knew they were unlikely to listen. They didn’t strike me as the ‘listening’ kind. By now, I was holding up the traffic. One of the men waved me past. I agonised with myself. I thought of that quote, ‘all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing’.
But there I was – about to do nothing.
Five minutes later at my class, by now quite upset, I phoned a dear friend. He suggested I might call the RSPCA – or perhaps the police. Was beating up a horse a crime? Were they beating it up? No – not really – although I did wonder what they would do in private – if they were prepared to do so much in public.
Would calling the RSPCA or the police help the horse? In my experience, this was unlikely. Perhaps the authorities would respond – perhaps the men would be angry, perhaps their anger would turn in on the horse. perhaps it would make things worse. I hate feeling helpless. So what should I do?
I believe in karma. I believe that doing something good has to help. And it seemed to me that the best thing I could do would be to help another horse. So this is what I’m doing. I have just sponsored a horse called Gulliver at Redwings Horse Sanctuary. Gulliver looks a bit like that horse last night.
Here is their link. Just in case you want to check out what Gulliver looks like – or maybe even sponsor your own horse.
Right – I must stop ranting and get down to some work. And apologies for going off my writing topic. But I wanted to get that out of my system.
Happy writing everyone.
