[Jacob-list] (no subject)

[SJohn21855 at aol.com]

Thom and all,
 I will also stand by my statement that man has made a mess of a lot of 
things. Yes, human kind has done a lot of good, but let's face it - in the 
animal world, a lot of it has been undoing the damage they have done. You 
can't improve on God. As far as horses go - I worked on a Thoroughbred 
breeding farm and on the race track. Let me tell you, the lives that most of 
those horses live is not the plush life that we think. I worked on two 
different breeding farms and on both of them the animals were treated as 
numbers, there was no kindness. On the track - there wasn't a day went by 
without a horse breaking it's leg and having to be put down. They are run 
until they can't run anymore. If they hurt it's frozen so that they can't 
feel it. I once saw a horse run with cracked bones in her foreleg (after the 
vet said to send her home to rest and recuperate) because she was worth more 
for insurance than for breeding. She came in third by the way, but had to be 
sent home in a cast because the cracks had almost broken. When she came off 
of the track she could hardly walk. She kept falling into me. Things that I 
saw there will haunt me for the rest of my life. I have also been involved 
with Arabian horses - long story- but just as bad if not worse. To make these 
horses more "showable" man has bred out the gentle, loving, calm attributes 
that the Arabian was once prized for. Now they are more flighty and high 
strung. Most of them can no longer be considered a good choice for kids. 
Quarter horses have been bred over the years to "conform" to what the judges 
want in a show ring. Smaller feet, shorter necks, etc. The modern day quarter 
horses look very little like the originals. I could go on and on about the 
different horse breeds, but this isn't about horses.
 The point being that we can loose sight of the fact that these are feeling 
animals and not just dollar signs (although I don't know of any of us with 
Jacob's who can really boast on the money that we are raking in). When we 
start focusing just on market prices or show ring judges and not on the 
conservation of a majestic breed of animals we can so easily mess up that 
breed. I am not saying that we don't change the breed. If you were to look at 
my little herd you could tell in an instant that I like the darker side of 
50/50. But, I feel that the breed as a whole has done a fine job of keeping 
themselves beautiful and unique. I wouldn't want that to disappear so that we 
could get more at the butcher. 
 Please don't see this as putting anyone down. I love that we all have 
different likes and dislikes. That's what keeps things interesting, and a 
little diversity never hurt anyone.
God bless,
Shelly