Of Horses and Horsemen

A friend once said to me, "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a mechanic."

Likewise, owning a horse doesn't make you a horseman any more than owning a book means that you can read. In fact, it looks like a lot of people own horses the same way that an illiterate man owns his books -- yes, they belong to him, all right, but he hasn't the faintest idea of what's inside them.

Too many people people "love" horses, not for what the horse is, but for what the horse can do for them. For them, the horse has only instrumental value, no inherent value. So when they get done using a horse for whatever it was they wanted for themselves, they cut it loose, sell it, neglect it, abandon it, put it down, send it to slaughter. Use it up and throw it away. No compassion, no remorse.

Of course, there are some people who treat other people that way, too.

They're called "psychopaths."


sj