Quick Ways to Help Horses
Do you love horses? Would you do anything to protect them? Then this is the page for you!
Right now, countless horses across the U.S. are suffering. These majestic animals are pushed to their physical limits and made to run at breakneck speed in races, they’re forced to pull heavy carriages full of passengers through busy street traffic in extreme weather conditions, and thousands are even shipped to foreign countries to be slaughtered for food for dogs and humans every year. From this page, you’ll be able to complete multiple PETA action alerts that help horses.
Get started now:
How Horses Suffer
Horses used for racing are forced to sprint—often under the threat of whips and even illegal electric-shocking devices—at speeds so fast that they frequently sustain injuries and even hemorrhage from the lungs. Pushed beyond their limits, most of these horses are subjected to cocktails of legal and illegal drugs intended to mask injuries and artificially enhance performance.
Every week, on average, 24 horses experience fatal breakdowns at racetracks across the country, and this number doesn’t even take into account the ones who are discarded by the racing industry when they’re no longer considered profitable. Thousands of “unprofitable” or simply unwanted Thoroughbreds from the U.S. are trucked or shipped to Canada and Mexico and slaughtered each year. Even horseracing “stars” can end up in a slaughterhouse. Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand was sold to a Japanese breeder, and a few years later, when they were done with him, he was sold to slaughter. Tens of thousands of foals are produced each year for the greedy racing industry, but there is not always a plan regarding what to do with them when their racing days are over.
Making horses pull oversized loads like carriages is cruel. The animals are forced to toil in all weather extremes, dodge traffic, and pound the pavement all day long. They may develop respiratory ailments because they breathe in exhaust fumes, and they can suffer from debilitating leg problems caused by walking on hard surfaces. Animals and humans have been seriously hurt—and even killed—when horses have become spooked and run amok. And there have been countless incidents in which carriages have been hit by impatient or careless drivers. Accidents have occurred in nearly every city where horse-drawn carriage rides are allowed.
Horses used in the carriage and racing industries are afforded no protection under the federal Animal Welfare Act, so the responsibility of looking out for their welfare falls to local animal control officials and compassionate people like you. Current anti-cruelty laws provide horses with few safeguards, and many animal-welfare agencies just don’t have the resources or the time to monitor horse-drawn carriages on a regular basis. Animals can easily be overworked when profit-driven operators fail to follow regulations. That’s why we must always speak up for animals in need. You’ve come to the perfect place to get started.
If you want to be an all-star for animals, there are tons of ways to get more involved. Follow PETA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to stay up to date on our latest campaigns; subscribe to PETA News to get weekly updates on our efforts; and be sure to complete the PETA action alerts below with the quick click of a button.
—Take Action for Horses—
There are multiple opportunities to help. As soon as you take one action below, another will automatically appear in its place.
Just enter your information once. Then, keep clicking the “Send Message” button until you’ve completed every action. Once you’ve finished, be sure to share this page with your friends, family members, and social media followers. Encourage them to join you in helping stop the abuse of horses.