Posted on 06/11/2007 11:40:09 AM PDT by TheTruthAintPretty
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The 100-acre bluegrass pasture at the state prison where Tomo, a retired thoroughbred, spends most of his days grazing under the hot Kentucky sun is a long way from the glitzy, fast-paced racetracks where he grew up.
At age 6, with a less than stellar career behind him, Tomo was headed to a slaughterhouse last year, like thousands of horses whose racing days have ended. But he is one of the lucky ones. He landed a slot at the Blackburn Correctional Complex, where inmates care for the horses as if they were their own.
It was on this sprawling landscape, which looks more like a college campus than prison, that two unlikely friends formed a bond. Joshua Maggard, 28, a recovering drug addict and petty thief, had never spent time around horses. Both he and Tomo were in need of a fresh start, and they found it on the prison grounds, in an old dairy barn that has been converted into a stable.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
horse ping!
Ever heard of The Bird Man of Alcatraz? Great story.
Now if only we could find a way to install caring and compassion into horse breeders who deliberately breed many times the number of horses than the industry can support, in hopes of striking it rich with one good one. The rest get sent to slaughterhouses as soon as the owners determine they aren’t moneymakers.
No truer words spoken.
Greyhounds also.
The women’s prison at Purdy here in WA trains Sevice Dogs.
How much do you really know about the horse business... and how much do you just ~think~ you know?
Yep, that’s another industry that will never see a penny of my money. I always cringe when I see those adopt-a-greyhound promotions. It’s promoting the false idea that everything’s set up so that “retired” greyhounds get good homes, in order to promote the idea that there’s nothing wrong with greyhound racing as a sport. The vast majority don’t get homes, and aren’t even retired, but rather discarded before they ever race because they weren’t fast enough in training.
I think it probably works with any who are not born sociopaths. If the junkies get straight behind bars and start getting in touch with their feelings, they can make a bond with a dependent animal, and once they begin feeling ok with themselves, they can start relating to other people again.
If they learn to care for horses, there is also an opportunity that some of them will be able to secure employment on a horse farm upon release. Pay isn't terrific, but there's usually a place to live provided.
Where do you two get your screwy ideas? Obviously, not from ever being around the TB business. I don’t know anything about dog racing, been to the track exactly once, but I would bet that you’re not correct about them either.
Well, it’s worse than that - new govt rules disallow the processign of horses here in the US for meat. This means that unwanted horses are now just left to starve, or they’re shipped out-country for slaughter elsewhere. It’s a no-win, and a cruel one no matter how you look at it.
Horses are such generous, forgiving creatures - their partnership with Man is age-old. They deserve far better than what many of them get. We care for ours like they’re family - which, in a way, they are. We just can’t understand how someone could mistreat a horse.
Yes I have. He was a sociopath who committed his first murder in Alaska and spent the rest of his life in prison, where he managed to murder a correctional officer. He also viciously assaulted other staff and inmates during his lifetime in prison. He was nowhere near the saint the movie made him out to be. Just to keep it in perspective.
WOW, not exactly like the movie, is it? Sheesh, I didn’t know.
My horse was just a spoiled brat! :-D
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