I’m am from Southern West Virginia. I’m from Lincoln County, actually.
No person who has lived has done more than the community than my Daddy did.
I know what it is to grow up thinking people don’t feed their kids enough, let alone their animals.
I remember what it is like to see people selling their food stamps to buy cigarettes, alcohol and prescription drugs on the street.I know what it is like to see dirty little kids with parents so strung out on meth or pills that I had to call CPS and beg for help (that never came.)
I know that there are people there that try hard to help others, who care and work at making things better.
And I I know that education lacks all over the nation. I know that things are bad all over.
But what I know best in Southern West Virginia.Tonight, someone shared a video of a horse being so abused, I could barely watch it.
It was gruesome. It hurt me more because it happened where I am from, and it had people I know interacting with it as if what took place was ok.It hurt me more than it would have if it was somewhere else, anywhere else.
It is my hometown.
To think I’ve worked overa decade to improve equine welfare and been recognized everywhere for positive impact on the lives of horses, and I could still see a video of a horse being brutalized . . .
It almost feels like too much for me.I am so disappointed, so upset.
I so hope the poor little being that is so mistreated in the video I saw (and in these photos) finds help. Human beings everywhere need more awareness on kindness.
West Virginia is known across the USA for being nice to people – that’s great. Let’s work on how we treat our horses. The state was built on their backs.
Beating on a confused horse that doesn’t know what was being asked is abuse.
Putting tack and a person on a horse that clearly isn’t ready isn’t being a “cowboy” or smart or kind.
The “bronc and buck it out” nonsense is archiac.Horses deserve better than this.Learn better.
You don’t have to act this way.
I hope one day, every single person who took part in this, whether you rode, hit, shared, laughed, commented or interacted with the post. . .I hope you realize you took part in abusing a horse.
And the truth is, whether you realize it or chose to stay blind to it, you did abuse the horse.Learn better.
You don’t have to act this way.“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Watching the video shared from my county tonight of what happened to this horse has crushed my heart.God, people. Do better 
Absolutely heartbreaking! I can relate, somewhat – someone I once SO admired as a champion for the horse came out in defense of a rider whose horse was eliminated for blood on the sides and I was crushed. It is easy to get demoralized when the problem is so wide spread and seems to continue unabated. But no great social change would have happened without people taking up the seemingly impossible fight. Stay strong! You have been the savior for many who have or might have suffered like this poor horse.
Can’t this poor horse be found?