I received an e-mail this morning from someone I would have never even thought of getting an e-mail from. “A girl who wants to date you?” no. Thanks for reminding of that though. I received an e-mail from Barbaro, the three year old colt injured at this last weekend’s Preakness. For those of you who don’t know, he broke his leg into twenty different pieces during a race and still may not survive.
As I’m sure you’d rather read this straight from the horse’s mouth, here is a copy of the e-mail he sent me.
—–Original Message—–
From: Barbaro The Horse
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 9:15 AM
To: Joel David
Subject: Possibly My Last Request
Hey Joel,
Just thought I’d shoot you an e-mail to let your readers know that I am ok. Maybe shoot isn’t exactly the appropriate word. Send. Yeah, that’s better. Since this is probably the last e-mail I’ll ever send, as I might be dead soon, I figured I’d better go ahead and throw some stuff out there that has been bothering me.
First off all, I wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for the idiocy of human beings. You humans are the only ones who use other species for pure entertainment. You never see a bunch of bears gathering around to watch some horses race.
My damn leg is broken in twenty places! That wouldn’t have happened if I was in the wild just hanging out with my horse friends. Actually, it very well may have happened but I bet you the chances of it happening would have been much less. Why? Because there wouldn’t have been a tiny Latin dude on my back whipping me. I know that might appeal to some of you out there but it sucks for all us horses who aren’t sadomasochists.
I guess that I would just like humans to know that animals do feel pain. We deserve better than to be treated like sporting equipment. If cockfighting is illegal, how is horseracing still considered entertainment? The only time animals were involved in sporting events where the humans didn’t have a shot, was when a lion got to snack on the occasional gladiator. That was fine by me. But that was thousands of years ago! You people still race us, have bullfights and dog races. That is just pathetic.
Feel free to eat us though. Some of my best friends are chickens. While it makes me sad that you’ll kill some of my chicken friends to eat, I get it. We all know that humans are gluttons. Despite there being more than enough vegetation to eat, I get that humans seem to have to kill something in order to feel validated.
I guess my wish, in the event that I am shortly turned into glue, is to please make an effort to not use us for sport. We are as much a part of this planet as you are, despite what redneck hunters might think. Stop polo, horse racing, bull fighting, dog racing, and rodeo. Even if you don’t believe in karma, just stop doing it because it is painful to us and wrong.
Ask my newly broken leg.
- B
www.chkona.com
www.myspace.com/joeldavidd