Horses are definitely one of the most popular pets, probably the second after dogs, however, there is a ‘not so good’side in this human-horse relationship. Not all horse owners treat them as they should be treated, but they are actually seen as money-making machines. In nowadays world, horses can be a good way how to make huge profits and a lot of people are trying to benefit as much as they can.
The worst part is that there is usually an earlier selection of the horses as well and the ones who are not appropriate for the type of work, they are left rejected. Fortunately, a lot of cases have been made public and the whole situation has changed through the years cause it is easier to raise awareness now than it was decades ago, however, the phenomenon is still present.
Referring to the US, the new law regarding animal mistreatment might help to bring the number down even more because animal mistreatment is now punishable for up to 7 years since the last month of this year. Let’s be more concrete about this topic with the mishandling story below. The Duchess Sanctuary is a huge ground (or to be accurate 1,120-acre facility) located in Oregon. This vast land is home to 200 rescued horses who were formerly rejected and mishandled.
A woman named Jennifer Kunz lives at this sanctuary and has dedicated her life to taking care of these horses. The overwhelming number of equines did not hinder Jennifer in taking care of them for she already knows each name and personality of these horses by heart.
Amazing, isn’t it? As Jennifer said, “some of these horses came from the PMU or Pregnant Mare Urine industry where they harvest their urine to extract CEE or conjugated equine estrogen to be used as the hormonal component in the Premarin family of products used to treat menopausal symptoms in women.”
According to LCAnimal.org, the whole process consists of keeping horses in a small stall where they can’t even move around because the urine needs to be collected. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case for these 200 horses who got helped in time by a sanctuary. Thanks to Jennifer, these horses are living their best lives now.