Money is a powerful motivator, coupled with a heart breaking cause, it can effect a host of dramatics that belong in a five part mini series on television.
Know where your money goes, research people!!!!
Google, IRS, State, and various other websites can often give you clues as to are you donating to a legit cause.
The cut throat business of donations for various "rescues" can be down right vicious. People will stop at nothing to prevent one another from getting that extra dollar. There are many blogs out there documenting the pros and cons of broker programs, some that hide behind a 501c3, some that would like to hide behind a federal non profit status, and some that refer to themselves as a "community effort". Well, sweetheart at the end of the day, most if not all of these types of broker programs have one thing in common, horses being the main source of income.
Who really benefits from the cause?
In many cases it's not the horses. Horses sent back into bad situations, no shortage of those. Just look on Facebook. Horses that end up having health issues so immense that often the new owner is over whelmed not just emotionally, but financially. Horses that end up being shuffled from one broker program to another, one auction to yet another. Yet the general public still supports these programs. Various breed specific rescues, and well rescues in general are unwittingly at times feeding into this, the tug, the plea, and the pictures.
Are there benefits to rescues pulling specifically from broker programs? Absolutely, it tugs at human emotion, and compassion, it essentially creates a mass following of sheeple. People that blindly give, give, and give. Because humans are compassionate, we feel empathy, sympathy, and as species, we like to feel that we have been part of a greater good.
I cannot tell you how many times, I have heard this line "it's all about the horses". But, is it? Or is it solely about the feel good moment? Or is about the increments of egotism that come with the praise?
But, really what it comes down to is the feel good moment. That one moment, where a individual can say "It was me that saved the horse" or "I helped get that horse to safety." The moment fades, and sometimes individuals are left holding the bag. Looking at that very bag and saying "now what?"
Those that are doing it the right way, which are very few. Aren't saying "now what?" , they are saying "what the hell?". While those that are struggling to find a ethical solution for unwanted horses, trying to stop them before reaching auction, you know those pesky craigslist horses that people like to save, you know to prevent them from ending up on the lots or in sale, or on a Facebook page. The numerous owner surrenders, the ones seized from animal control. The lack of community support they receive is astounding. It is very disheartening. Is it because once in true rescue there is no time limit? No dead line? No bail price?
Yes.
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
Think about it.
