A Prayer For All Animals

Please add that H.R. 503 passes. It will outlaw shipping horses out of the US for slaughter for human consumption.

The Horse's Prayer

"To thee, my master, I offer my prayer. Feed me, water and care for me, and, when the day's work is done, provide me with shelter, a clean, dry bed and stall wide enough for me to lie down in comfort.

Always be kind to me. Talk to me. Your voice often means as much to me as the reins. Pet me sometimes, that I may serve you the more gladly and learn to love you. Never strike, beat or kick me when I do not understand what you want, but give me a chance to understand you. Watch me, and if I fail to do your bidding, see if something is not wrong with my gear or my feet.

Do not check me so that I cannot have the free use of my head. If you insist that I wear blinders, so that I cannot see behind me as it was intended I should, I pray you be careful that the blinders stand well out from my eyes.

Do not overload me, or hitch me where water will drip on me. Keep me well shod. Examine my teeth when I do not eat; I may have an ulcerated tooth and that, you know, is very painful. Do not tie my head in an unnatural position, or take away my best defense against flies and mosquitoes by cutting off my tail. I cannot tell you when I am thirsty, so give me clean, cool water often. Save me, by all means in your power, from that fatal disease - the glanders. I cannot tell you in words when I am sick, so watch me, that by signs you may know my condition. Give me all possible shelter from the hot sun, and put a blanket on me, not when I am working but when I am standing in the cold. Never put a frosty bit in my mouth; first warm it by holding it a moment in your hands.

I try to carry you and your burdens without a murmur, and wait patiently for you long hours of the day or night. Without the power to choose my shoes or path, I sometimes fall on the hard pavements which I have often prayed might not be of cement but of such a nature as to give me a safe and secure footing. Remember that I must be ready at any moment to lose my life in your service.

And finally, o my master, when my useful strength is gone, do not turn me out to starve or freeze, or sell me to some cruel owner to be slowly tortured and starved to death; but do thou, my master, take my life in the kindest way, and your God will reward you here and hereafter. You will not consider me irreverent if I ask this in the name of Him who was born in a stable, Amen"

- Author Unknown

www.gentlehorses.com

Amen! That is a beautiful prayer. Brought tears to my eyes.

I loved it.

The poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still the master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth,
While man, vain insect hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.

Lord Byron
Inscription on the monument of his
Newfoundland dog, 1808

I have six dogs and everyone of them were strays my husband and I took in. There is nothing like driving into my driveway and having six smiling, tail wagging babies to greet me. They make you feel so welcome when I you come home from work.

I've always owned a dog and don't think I could ever live without one.
Nothing like a juicy, wet kiss in the morning...

I can barely get out of my truck when I get home because all six of them are there with tails wagging just waiting to give me a sloppy kiss. You are right, there is nothing like it!

The Power Of The Dog
by Rudyard Kipling


There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

The Kipling poem had been in my mind and heart, as I sadly needed to take my mother dog Bear to be put down at the old age of 17 years a few months ago.

He was a stray that we took in and the one thing other then food he loved was to go on walks.

My mother lost the ability to walk him a few years ago so he only got the walks he love a few times a week when I visited my mother.

When I came down to take him to the vet for the last time and entered his compound, he begins howling something he never did before.

After helping him get on to his feet, we took our last walk together.

I still miss our walks together and it still seem very strange not to be taking Bear for his walks when I visit my mother.

That last trip to the Vet can be a real sorrow. To this day, I love and miss all of my previous dogs.

I used to run a homeless cat shelter. The hardest part was having to have some of the cats euthanized. But, there comes a time when it is nothing but cruelty to let them suffer. I always was there with them in the end. I always held them when they left.

Why do we let humans suffer, while allowing our diseased animals ( for the most part ) to pass peacefully from this earth?

My response would be because we are different than animals and God is the one who decides.

long as I have possession to my 357 revolve I am the one who decides for myself when enough in enough.

A former co-worker and friend just call me up to tell me that a mother cat and her kittens had been poison in her back yard by a neighbor throwing food over her fence.

The Animal Planet TV show portraying the animal police of Miami going out of their way to stop animal cruelly and punish such evil people is nonsense.

My friend went to the police and talk to any numbers of officers and even have a female officer crying showing her the pictures of the dead kittens and here is the long and short of it.

If she would spend five hundred dollars of her own money getting the food and the cats bodies tested and it come out positive for poison then and only then would they look into it.

So in Miami you are free to poison your neighbor pets if you are fairly sure they can not afford costly testing.

I am also always with my pets in the last seconds of their lives.

It is both my duty and honor to do my best to reduce the stress on them in their last seconds of lives and it help to know that the last thing they hear was my voice telling them how must I love them and with my hands on them.

It is also hard balancing the desire to keep them with us and what is best for the pets.

I had always will be grateful when a vet take the time to tell me that I am dong the right thing.

One time a vet even came to my home and gave my cat her injections when she was on my lap.

Even at that sad time I could not however stop myself from telling her not to miss and get the needle into my leg instead.

It was very nice not to need to add to the stress of the cat going by taking her to the vet office.

Sadly, no vet that I now know will do house calls for any reason.

There are a few Vets in the Boston area who make house calls, but they don't seem to have an office anywhere. I never use them.

Also, we have emergency Vet hospitals here but they're very, very expensive. Admission to the clinic is a flat $143 and an overnight visit to the ICU is about $1000, while an MRI is about $2000.

Health insurance for animals usually doesn't cover a whole of the expense of caring for a sick pet.