One of the workers told Xenii about a horse he’d seen on his way to the Shelter. The horse had something wrong with his leg – but was still working, carrying a load of firewood bravely up the hill, though obviously having trouble and probably in a lot of pain. The worker said he knew the owner of the horse, so Xenii told him to ask the owner what his price for the horse would be. I imagine the idea was to buy the horse, give him rest, medication and a decent diet while his leg healed, then find a buyer with a healthier grasp of ethics. Knowing Xenii, though, she would have found a reason to claim that the poor horse could never work again, but could be the companion for Flicka we’d been looking for. A great – but potentially expensive – idea.
A great idea, yes, but it came too late. When the worker went to negotiate with the owner, the horse was dead. The owner had left him tied to a fence – but on a slope. The horse slipped on his injured leg, and strangled over night on the end of the rope, dead in the morning. Abuse, neglect, lack of education, nonchalance – these are things that cause so much suffering for animals, and which AWARE must confront daily.
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