To the Editor:

Thank you, Timothy J. Albright, for your letter in the Feb. 12 edition of The Enterprise (“Remembering when old horses were not shot; they lived out their lives on the farms where they were worked and loved till death”). 

Mr. Albright’s knowledge about and love for horses is evident in his recitation of their history through millennia and how they have served humans as transportation and helpmates to farmers by doing the heavy work of plowing and pulling farm equipment.

As Mr. Albright points out, farmers understood that horses were not just a commodity, they were necessary for earning an income and deserved constant care. When they could no longer pull a plow or carriage, they were not tossed away like yesterday’s trash; they were treated as the sentient beings they are and given a loving, forever home in the barn. Not so today.

Last September, The Enterprise published my letter describing, as Mr. Albright does, the fate of horses, mules, and donkeys when they are no longer able to earn money for their owners. Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses, once racetrack royalty, are sent to the slaughterhouse when they are too old and injured to race or breed. Work horses and mules suffer a similar fate. They’re replaced as easily as we buy new mobile phones or TVs when we tire of the ones we have.

I’m a volunteer at Unbridled Sanctuary in Greenville, New York. Unbridled is a farm for abused and abandoned Thoroughbred and other breeds of horses as well as former farm mules. We rescue them from the slaughterhouse, literally, nurse them back to health, and give them a forever home or offer them for adoption to a loving owner. There are hardly enough rescue sanctuaries in the country for the 26,000 equines sent to slaughter each year but we all do what we can for those we have. 

Mr. Albright asks us to support organizations for abused horses. I ask the same. Without private donations, Unbridled Sanctuary could not continue its work of rescue and salvation.

Anyone may request a tour to see our work first-hand. And we always need more help. Our cadre of dedicated volunteers range in age from teenagers to seniors in their 80s, all of whom share one thing: an appreciation of the souls of these horses and mules and a desire to ensure their permanent care and comfort.

I invite anyone reading this letter to become a donor. Unbridled's website is: https://www.susankayne.com/unbridled.html. To request a tour or to volunteer, send an email to . Thank you.

Diana M. Hinchcliff

Rensselaerville