Riding Out of the Vegan Club

This is a post I couldn’t put off writing any longer. As happy as I am to finally be putting it out there, I still have a ball of anxiety in my stomach and more than a bit of trepidation in my heart, in anticipation of the slew of hate mail I am sure to receive.

Yes, hate mail. Anyone who has been in the blogging world long enough will start to receive lots of mail from lots of different people. When you are putting yourself out into the world as a semi-public figure that is only natural. I get dozens of letters a day, sometimes more. Most of them are very nice, some definitely are not.

The messages I receive tend to fall into 4 categories:

1. ‘Thank you’ letters from fellow vegans or people who are trying to go vegan.  People sharing their stories, their inspiration, and swapping tips and suggestions. I love these kind of letters.

2. Letters from people telling me that a vegan diet is unhealthy/ridiculous/pointless/etc. These letters make me angry because they are so wrong. A vegan diet is the best diet for the animals, for the environment, and for our health – go vegan!

3. People love to tell me that I’m too skinny/pale/weird looking/etc. These letters make me laugh. This is what I look like, deal with it.

4. And the last category of letters I get is from people telling me that I am not a ‘real vegan’ because I ride my horse. This kind of letter breaks my heart like no other because the people just do not understand at all.

*****

I am a vegan. Becoming a vegan was the best decision I have ever made. Nothing has ever felt so incredibly right. I love being a vegan more than anything and I will always be a vegan. As my very wise and incredibly eloquent friend Nathan says: “Vegan for life, vegan FOR life.” That sums me up pretty well, I think.

I will never eat anything that comes from an animal, whether it is meat, cheese, milk, eggs, etc. Nothing. I will never buy anything that is made from an animal like leather, wool, suede, fur, etc. I spend a lot of time researching, reading, and writing on the topic of animal rights, vegan health, and vegan activism. I give lectures about the necessity and benefits of veganism, and I also perform a lot of taste-bud activism through my vegan bakery. Of course, it doesn’t stop there; cruelty free living permeates every aspect of my life, but those are the basics. I am a vegan.

But because I choose to ride my horse Ender, many vegans want to revoke my vegan membership card. This breaks my heart and I think they have no idea what they are talking about.

*****

A year ago I rescued Ender from the clutches of a very evil man who was determined to pump Ender full of performance enhancing drugs, rush him through a very vicious training regimen, keep him in a tiny stable box 23 hours a day, feed him only the cheapest food, and hit, kick, and abuse him, so Ender could be molded into a champion competition horse.

I scraped together all the money we had in the world, our entire savings, and bought this sweet horse from this evil man. Was this a responsible thing to do in terms of my finances? No. Was it the only thing to do to save Ender’s life? Yes, absolutely.

Ender and I bonded instantly and spent the first few months of our friendship just getting to know each other and falling in love. It wasn’t long before he would follow behind me anywhere I walked with his fuzzy lips resting on my shoulder. I’ve been around horses my whole life but I don’t think I’ve ever been loved quite so fervently!

I then spent months of my time and more money that I did not have navigating my way through bureaucracy hell while trying to get legal permission to transport Ender from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia so he could live in the Aramco stables.

The Aramco stables are the best stables I have ever been to. It is most definitely the best stables in this country. In this part of the world horses are typically seen as emotionless machines that are to be used and abused until they are broken, and there are no animal protection laws whatsoever. So it was very important to me to get Ender to this stables. It is run by expats who treat their horses like the feeling, intelligent creatures they are, and all the horses are rabidly protected and loved on and doted on. 24 hour vet care is only a phone call away (very rare in the Middle-East), each horse is assigned his or her own round the clock groom, and the stables has its own set of strict rules and guidelines detailing the proper treatment of the horses to make sure no abuse occurs. It is truly a one of a kind place in the entire region.

At this new stables Ender is living in horsey luxury. He spends the majority of his day out in the pasture with his bevy of horsey buddies (you’ve never met a friendlier, more outgoing horse than Ender), only being brought back to his climate controlled stall for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and for a bit of sleep late at night.

But even though he spends most of his time out running free and playing with his friends, ultimately he still lives in a stable and does not have miles and miles of uninterrupted pasture land on which he can run and frolic and get enough exercise to stay healthy. That is where I come in.

When he sees me coming out to his paddock he trots as fast as he can to the gate, leaving his friends behind, and paws impatiently at the ground, nickering softly, till I get him out. I stuff him with carrots and apples and smother him in kisses, groom him till he gleams, paying special attention to scratch under his mane until he falls into a lip twitching stupor from the pleasure, and then I tack him up and we spend hours meandering around the desert, just having a blast.

I usually enjoy the scenery and ramble to Ender, telling him about my day and telling him what a good boy he is. Ender prances through the sand, thrilled and excited to feel the wind in his mane, but more often than not that glamorous image is ruined when he stops to sniff poop…again…..or grab a mouthful of leafy green shrub….again. No matter where we go or what we do we have fun. Just like I can tell that my dogs are excited to go out for a walk, I can tell Ender is excited to go out for a ride. It is as clear as day.

Technically, yes, Ender could live his life in the paddock and in his stall, going back and forth between the same two places every day, day after day, but he would be immensely under exercised because the paddocks here, while large and safe, are not enormous. He would be bored, angry and unhappy, and he would be at risk for debilitating health conditions, so I ride him.

Even when dogs have big backyards to run and play in they need to be taken for daily walks, as well. And just like I put harnesses on my dogs to take them for their daily walks, I put a saddle and bridle on Ender to take him for his daily ride. I don’t use any harsh equipment, nothing that makes him uncomfortable or scared, and whips and spurs are completely unheard of. Just like my dogs wear leashes for their safety, Ender wears a saddle and bridle for his.

When I ride Ender there is never any pain or fear, only fun. In fact, I’m not sure that Ender even knows what fear is. (Except of water puddles, those are really terrifying.) And just like my dog’s harnesses and leashes don’t cause them any pain or discomfort, Ender’s saddle and bridle don’t cause him any pain or discomfort. They serve exactly the same purpose as my dog’s ‘outfits’; they keep him safe. Neither my dogs nor Ender feel any pain or discomfort – ever.

Also, just like with dogs, there can be good guardians and bad guardians. Just because Michael Vick is a torturous murderer does not mean every person who lives with a dog is a torturous murderer. Michael Vick exercised his dogs by putting chains and tires around their necks and tying them to treadmills. I exercise my dogs too, but in a totally different way. Am I still an abuser because I ‘force’ my dogs to go for hikes and to play fetch? I don’t think so.

And also, just like the dog world, some aspects of the horse world are very cruel. Horse racing, for example. But dog racing exists too and no one has ever accused me of abusing my dogs just because other dog guardians force their dogs to race.

Would I prefer to have an equine sanctuary where I could turn Ender out with a huge herd of horses and he could roam for miles and miles and live happily in freedom? Yes. Is that an option? No. There are no animal sanctuaries of any kind in this part of the world, but if there were I would give up riding in a heartbeat to get Ender into one of them. But I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got.

There is also a sad reason why I ride Ender. The laws in Saudi Arabia are crazy strict and it is very difficult to be allowed to live here as a foreigner. At best we probably only have 3 more years here before we will be forced to leave. It costs US$ 30,000 to ship a horse to the US. I don’t even begin to have anywhere near that amount of money. When we leave I will have to say goodbye to Ender. (And here come the tears….) I am going to have to find a kind, good family or person to give him to. Luckily, there are many wonderful people who will dote on him and love him *almost* as much as I do. But none of them will take on the expensive and time consuming responsibility of a horse they cannot ride. That just isn’t going to happen.

So, just like when Cody and I foster dogs and puppies (sometimes entire litters of puppies), we teach them. We don’t let the dogs or puppies chew up our furniture or turn the living room into their personal potty. We love them and cuddle them and adore them, but we also teach them manners. It is our responsibility to make sure they will be suitable for adoption when the time is right. It would be doing a disservice to the dogs if we let them learn bad habits that would prevent them from being adopted.

The same goes for Ender. If I neglected him he would be unhealthy, wild, and scared to be around people, no one would be willing to take care of him when I left the country and he would be snatched up by abusive monsters to be ‘broken’ and ‘tamed’. I have to think about Ender’s future, not only his current health and happiness. If he remains a healthy, happy and fun loving horse, just like he is now, dozens of families will be clamoring to add him into their herd and he will be virtually guaranteed a long and wonderful life, in the best stables around.

*****

Being a vegan isn’t about obeying commands and garnering praise from strangers, it is about doing what is best for the animals, in every situation, all of the time. By blindly following their set of ‘vegan’ ideals these people are trying to persuade me to do something that is BAD for my horse and that would ultimately damage his health and condemn him to a miserable future.

Would I get more kudos in the ‘vegan club’ if I let Ender suffer from lack of exercise and boredom and doomed him to a life of neglect and abuse so I could adhere to a rigid, black and white set of guidelines? Probably. But would Ender’s life be better? Would he be happier? Absolutely not.

So, instead of pleasing anonymous, ignorant haters who demand that I stop riding Ender or forfeit my vegan credentials, I’m going to go with the snuffly, sweet boy who gives the best carrot scented kisses ever and whose whinny makes my heart skip a beat. I’m doing what is best for Ender.