What Happens After Sex(y)

There is nothing nicer than doing a good thing which gives you instant gratification, such as saving a horse from a kill pen.  Most of us are unable to do it ourselves so if we are so inclined, we donate to horse rescue(s) of our choice who will go to an auction and purchase a horse destined for slaughter either through bidding directly or buying from a kill buyer who is ready to load the horse into the start of the slaughter pipeline.

Like I said, it feels good being part of something 'sexy' but what happens afterwards?  Do you follow through?  After all, being part of something sexy requires a commitment on the part of all partners, otherwise the relationship withers away and it's like that special moment never happened.

It's 'sexy' to rescue a horse, but then comes the mundane.  The quarantine, the evaluation, the training, the placement attempts, medical expenses, the return of horses if an adopter can no longer keep the horse, and at times maintaining a horse which will never be placed.  Not as flashy, but important steps,  Steps where rescues need the support of their benefactors to take care of.  After all feed, veterinary, blacksmiths, and in the case of the larger rescues, employees cost money.  Discounted perhaps, but it costs money just the same.  Without financial support, these rescues will be forced to close up and the relationship comes to an end which means less horses are saved; the 'sexy' disappears, becoming a distant memory.

When you think of it, supporting horse rescues is like a marriage.  Sure the sex is good at the start but if both partners don't work together on the mundane parts of their relationship, the marriage falls apart except in this case, when a horse rescue closes, it means the horses suffer.  The horses in their care need to be moved elsewhere, the horses adopted out no longer have that safety net of someone tracking their well-being, and there is one less rescue bailing horses out of dangerous situations.

You may be saying "Why do I need to worry about horses after they retire"?  Make no mistake, those who breed and race horses have a responsibility to make sure their charges are taken care of after their racing career comes to an end but horseplayers also haves a responsibility to help with retired horses because if people didn't wager on horses there would be no horse racing, at least at the levels it presently is.

If you contribute to horse rescue efforts, thank you.  If you haven't contribured, now is a good time to start.  Volunteering, financial support, and adopting a horse are ways to help rescues thrive, but the commitment doesn't end once a horse is saved, the effort goes on long after.  So when your favorite rescue doesn't seem to be saving horses remember saving a horse is the easy part, it is the mundane part which in many ways is even more important.

You've heard people say "give till it hurts".  I am not suggesting you deprive your family of its basic needs, but it is important to give what you can to a horse rescue of your choice.  Maybe $20 a month is too much in this economy, but does $10 or $5 work for you?  Whatever you can give, be it $1 or $100 it doesn't matter, just give what you can.  If you wager on horse racing here's an idea.  If you average a wager of $10 a race, why not donate the amount you bet on one race a month to the horse rescue of your choice?