The Pens

Born free, living free. The life of every horse.

One day, the humans came along. Dread and fear spread throughout the herd as they chased us, rounded us up, separated us. How terrifying they look! I have never seen one up close before. They chased me around and threw a rope around my neck. Terror. Fear. This predator will kill me. I faught for my life, and it worked!

"Too hard," I hear, as they chase me into a different yard. Some of my herd join me.. our collective energy is dark, scared, determined not to die. All we can do is run from them, even if that means defying our instincts and running into a huge metal crate.

'Excess', they called me, I don't know why,

It was their choice for me to exist..

I am so young, so much to live for, but that doesn't matter now. The gate opens and I run, it's the only thing my body is sure to do. But it makes no difference, they anticipate my moves and shut a new gate.

And now, out of options and nowhere to run, I am here, terrified, penned in to the smallest space I have ever been.

All around me are horses I have never met. The air is thick with fear, none of us have known this life.

My body is telling me to run, but I cannot run.

Humans walk by all day, putting hands into the pen. Do they think I will approach? Why would I want to be near such a monster?

Other horses are sniffing those hands.. are they more likely to live than me?

What do the humans want from me? I have never been taught to be a part of their world, how can they expect that now?

The crowd of humans gather around me, I am feeling claustrophobic. Loud noises all around.

It doesn't last long before they move along, on to the next fearful horse.

All but one.

"Don't worry, darling.. you're coming home with me." It says.

Hours pass. I watch as a whole herd of horses just like me are chased onto a large truck. I see their heads poking out over the top of the crate. I hope they're being taken to freedom. They all look so scared.

The human is back, she opens some gates and I find myself with another horse like me, being herded into a different crate. When will this nightmare end?

It's dark, loud and terrifying. I have nothing else to do but stand here in the dark and hope for the best. After what feels like an eternity, suddenly there is light, suddenly the gate is open, suddenly there is freedom looking me right in the face. It must be a trick. There will be humans waiting outside. My only choice is to run, run to freedom and hope this time it's real.

So I run. I feel the grass beneath my hooves and breathe in the fresh air.

It's real.

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I wrote this story from my little girl Nala's perspective.

A young horse with everything to give, regarded as 'surplus' or 'too hard' and given the fate of death. There are such an overwhelming number of horses in this exact position, or horses who have been mentally destroyed by humans and so given up on; unhandled horses like Nala who just need to be given the knowledge required to live a life amongst us; old horses who have done everything for their humans, only to be discarded; horses that are too young to be ridden yet, but too old to be 'that cute foal' that would be rescued. There are colts, stallions, aggressive mares, as well as kind, sweet souls and well handled horses. Thin, sick or injured horses. Every one of them has the potential to live a good life, they have just been let down by our human race.

The very same species that can save them.

Laws need to be implemented, breeding restrictions need to be implemented, people need to grow an ounce of compassion and everyone breeding horses needs to learn how to train them kindly so they have a chance at life.

Unfortunately, none of this is a priority to anyone who could make a significant difference. We can work towards these objectives, but in the mean time, what we can do as individuals is save lives.

If you have the space, the knowledge, the room in your heart, I can guarantee that if you look, you will find a horse to fill it.