Sunday, October 19, 2008
Support The Horses At Pure Thoughts!!
The T-Shirts We Have All Been Waiting For
Are Ready!!
Just In Time For The Holidays!!!
Hi everyone...Please go to the Pure Thoughts website
and check out the shirts!!!www.pthr.org This is a great way to spread the word to others about
Team Horse and the rescue work we support.
Michelle Tolley wore her shirt a few days ago, and it gets attention! It will also make you feel good that you have this shirt and the horses have your donation!A BIG THANK YOU to the "Travelling Circus Ladies" for their generous donations!Note From Michelle:If you order a shirt (and we hope that you do!), please send me an email to let me know your shirt size, # of shirts and your mailing address: mtolley@ctc.net -
Kind Regards,
Laura Boothby
Pure Thoughts, Inc.
A Stand 4 The Horses Fundraising & Rescue Education
Friday, September 19, 2008
Wait.....Wait For It...Wait For it.....
Responsibility? not quite yet
Responsibility? what’s that?
I don’t want to think about it; we’d be better off without it
So much on my mind, I have to say paying close attention to our government this week was excruciating............................
While I watched the hearing for HR 6598 a song kept creeping into my head, Responsibility by MxPx. The lyrics remind me of every irresponsible horse owner who refuses to see they hold the power in their hands to finally run the horse killers off. But that would mean they would have to think when breeding, or buying or trading a horse. Why think of the future? Why think of being responsible for a living being who is immediately affected by your inability to live up to an unspoken promise?
The Pro Slaughter camp really have shown their true colors over the last week. Cheating on a poll on Washington Watch, a committee member admitting he did not care if they got to HR6598 because he was against it, calling horse rescues under the guise of needing to place horses, and let's not forget the 288 horses that will go to slaughter every day this week while another chance for the horses slipped through the cracks. What happened to Due Process? Whether in a court of law or on Capitol Hill we as Americans should be able to have our concerns heard. First Larry Craig (Minnesota Bathroom Visitor) stalls S311 in committee and now in a committee chaired by an Anti Slaughter supporter the newest version of the bill is still not getting it's fair chance.
So as for our leadership in DC? I have come to the conclusion. After I watched the entire committee hearing on HR6598, I sat back and realized that there is a reason we have a DO NOTHING CONGRESS, regardless of who is in power. I am dismayed to see the people, that we as voters, have allowed to run our government continue to destroy what our country was founded on. Sometimes I seethe with such anger when I hear the words of Goodlatte or read how once again Stenholm was able to blur the lines of reality. And then it hits me. This is just one issue that I have watched very closely. There are thousands of issues that our government is very good at not dealing with, brushing under the rug, or completely destroying with amendment after amendment. And let's not forget the continued partisan squabbling and arrogant men and women who rarely can agree on anything for the betterment of our country. Watching the proceedings of an immigration law discussion get dragged out for hours and hours after the committee started late and took a 45 minute lunch it all became very clear to me. We are paying the people in Washington full time wages for doing a part time job. They have perks thrown at them by every interest group, they get treated like kings in there hometowns, and they continue to give themselves raises every chance they can while people like my husband who works 7 days a week, leaving the house at 7 am and often getting home long after dinner time and hasn't had a raise in three years!!
There are people out there who have been out of work for months and will soon see there unemployment benefits end and will more than likely find themselves with repossessed cars, foreclosed homes and sadly some who will have to turn to living in their parents homes or in shelters while they struggle to get themselves back on their feet. These are people with degrees and years of experience who have worked so hard for what they have. And who is getting a bail out? High risk investment companies who played with other people's money. How does this make sense? Insurance companies who continued to raise rates and then give their executives $20 million bonuses!! This type of irresponsible, pass the buck business has become the status quo whether it is big business or horse breeders who are sending horses to slaughter for being the wrong color.
We have President Bush who has lost all credibility, the man has even lost his own party's respect and trust, come on TV and tell everyone he is talking with his advisers? The same advisers that have advised us into this debacle? Please enough already. I know when this is discussed on the hill, in hearings and on the floor of our great Capitol building it will takes weeks and weeks, if not months, then DC will go on Thanksgiving break, then they will go on Christmas break, then they will go on Winter Break. They get more vacation then my kids do.
So the purpose of my rant?
If the government refuses to take care of it's own people than how are we ever to think they will do the ethical thing when it comes to our National herd [especially when there is hard cold cash being stuffed into their pockets]? If they, (our ELECTED officials) continue to leave Washington with unfinished business we will lose everything WE have fought for. It's bad enough that we can't get an animal cruelty bill passed what happens when there is a bill on the table to protect Senior Citizens or Kids from predators and it's forgotten so our government whiners...err, leaders can get on the first plane to Disney World.
Now as for the second half of the song Responsibility, I have a message for our government leaders:
You think I'm so simplistic
I'm onto you and your tricks
I'm still young and I'd like to stay that way
'Cause growing up won't make everything okay
I'm still young and I'd like to stay that way
I've got a voice and I've got a lot to say
I've got a lot to say. . .
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
IReport About HR 6598
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-88520
September 17, 2008, Wellington, Florida Today Victoria McCullough will be in Washington D.C. to speak at the Judicial Committee on Behalf of H.R.6598 The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008.
On May23, 2008 Victoria McCullough and members of Pure Thoughts Inc. Horse & Foal Rescue traveled to Sugarcreek, Ohio to attend one of the gruesome weekly kill-auctions held every Friday. This was the day The Triumph Project was born; all the horses were saved from slaughter. The Triumph Project was not just about saving the horses that day. It is about changing the future of the horses and horse slaughter by raising awareness through tested and proven facts. Former Representative Charlie Stenholm, (now a lobbyist for the pro-slaughter campaign) would like the country to believe that the horses going to slaughter are “old and infirm.” Pro-Slaughter would also like us to believe that disposing of 90,000 horses a year would be impossible and economically not feasible for horse owners. Both of these statements could be construed as crucial to the cause IF they were true. Horses that are sent to slaughter have been labeled “unwanted” when really they are inhumanely DISCARDED, with no accountability or responsibility to the owners.
Contrary to Mr. Stenholm’s statements, the proven facts are the following:
Total Horses Purchased 163 (all horses that were destined for slaughter)
Number of old and infirm horses from that total 7 (4.3% of the horses purchased were old or infirm and needed to be humanely euthanized, all due to neglect)
Cost to euthanize and dispose of ALL old & infirm horses $1225
In addition, in less than 3 ½ months since their purchase from auction almost half of these horses have been placed in forever homes and successfully adopted, which shows they are not unwanted horses.
In regards to Victoria McCullough’s continued fight against slaughter the following statement was made. “I firmly believe that the present economic crisis is a very clear tutorial that in arrogance we have lost a sense of human definition and traded our once core fundamentals for self-serving elements. How we treat our children, our elderly, our pets and companion animals give us our identities I would prefer to endeavor to reach for alternatives to restore our compassion and sensitivities. To slaughter young healthy beautiful horses, ponies, foals and mares in foal and to overuse and abandon work animals that have given their lives in service is purely barbaric and unjust in our country of opportunities and dreams. I am in Washington to fight for the environment; the human environment. Cruelty such as this is intolerable and I have promised the horses that we have saved from slaughter to illuminate the injustice corruption and senseless mass disposal that has lingered in back rooms permeated by greed. These one hundred and sixty three horses spared on May twenty-third will save many many more; they and I have been reborn.” Victoria McCullough for The Triumph Project
The Triumph Project - The Davis McCullough Foundation funded the Triumph Project as an awareness campaign to enlighten the world through unified efforts, both in the United States as well as abroad, of the betrayal of our equine ally. Throughout history, horses have served us by escorting us to battle, tilling our fields, drawing our carriages, and enriching our lives as our companions and friends.
Pure Thoughts Inc. - is an all-volunteer 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to saving the lives of horses, yearlings and foals that were intended to go to slaughter for human consumption. These horses would have been brutally tortured and slaughtered. Pure Thoughts Inc. Horse & Foal Rescue also rescues horses from starvation, abuse and neglect, any horse in need. To date, over 1150 innocent equines have been saved and we will continue to fight for the horses. We cannot do this alone...we need your help!! Please help us and others save these beautiful animals and please remember in your thoughts the ones we were unable to reach.
Jennifer Swanson
561-254-0415
Jswan0415@aol.com
www.PTHR.org
Jennifer SwansonPure Thoughts Inc.Horse & Foal Rescuewww.PTHR.org19181 Capet CreekLoxahatchee, FL 33470Saving the life of a horse may not change the world...................but it will change that horse's world.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
West Palm Beach: WPTV Covers Equine Cruelty Bill H.R. 6598
Sincerely,
Laura Boothby
Pure Thoughts, Inc
www.pthr.org
http://astand4thehorses.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/4thehorses
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Some Quick Facts and Responses That Can Be Used to Debate HR 6598
1)Slaughter is NOT Humane Euthanasia
2)Horse Slaughter Promotes Neglect. If a horse owner/trainer does not feel responsible for the animal and he can dump him at an auction sick, starved or injured without facing any charges there is no reason for them to be responsible
3) Horse Meat is full of carcinogens. On any feed, supplement or drug used in the equine industry it states Do Not Use On Animals Intended For Human Consumption.
4)Horses Are Not Raised in the U.S. as a food animal.
5)Transport to slaughter is inhumane. Laws are broken on a daily basis. Severely Injured, starved equine, mares heavy with foal delivering on trailers or slaughter house floors, blind horses, and foals under 6 months are transported off of feedlots and from auctions to Mexico on a regular basis.
6)The proponents of slaughter are not thinking of the horses they are thinking of their wallets.
7)90% of horses bought for slaughter are healthy serviceable animals under the age 10. Alarge portion of these horses are race horses, TBs and AQHA, they are loaded with drugs, hormones, and other products lethal to humanes. So the theory that US horse meat is better for you or is safer....well it's just that a theory based in lies not truth.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
USA CLAIMS OLYMPIC SILVER
Here is Gina's NBC BIO Page Link
http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=1257/bio/index.html
I have to say I am quite disappointed in NBC's lack of respect for the Equestrian portion of the Olympics. I have talked with so many horse lovers, equestrians, and Olympic fans who say they can't find the equestrian programming. They feel that some of the excitement and beauty of the games have been lost with the tunnel vision on sports like Beach Volleyball and Water sports. The fact that China's Archery team got more play time that our Equestrian Team has really turned off many Americans who were looking forward to seeing our majestic horses compete.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The view from the village of Alexandria Bay is a history lesson in itself. Boldt Castle is located on Heart Island and is part the romantic history of Alexandria Bay, NY
If you blink you will miss it. Redwood, NY, tucked between Butterfield Lake and Mud Lake in Northwest Jefferson county, to me is paradise. Cool mornings and warm afternoons where fishing and easy walks along secluded trails makes one forget the everyday responsibilities we all face.
Sounds like an intro to a tourist pamphlet doesn't it? For the most part the above statement is true, but for this woman, it was a time to reflect and dig as deep as I could into what I was put on earth to do. It made me think about my everyday responsibilities and other concerns I have been hiding from. My life had been in a stalled state of unfinished business for so long and I was afraid to fix. Afraid of the happiness that could be, because in a split second it could all be taken away. I have seen it so many times, happy people with an easy rode ahead of them, with lives shattered because of a health issue, death, job loss or numerous other things that can pull us down from the clouds we were dancing over. So. why even be happy in the first place right? Why not just stay under the radar, never quite satisfied or achieving my goals, that way when something went horribly wrong it wouldn't bring me to rock bottom in a second flat, breaking me in two, because I was always just hovering over it. The higher the fall, the harder the fall. It hurts less when you don't have far to go.
I know, crazy right? So many people are living this way. Why? Studies show that people who don't follow their dreams live shorter lives, more likely to get sick at a young age, or live at the poverty line. Who wants that? I know I don't. I tend to dream big, but my dreams are a matter of helping others, four-legged and two-legged. Why not look into one's heart and soul and find out exactly what you want from life and what you really expect from yourself? How are we to succeed in life without really knowing ourselves?
So this is what I found I wanted in life. There are two goals I want to see achieved. My number one goal is to have a sanctuary for horses and people in Northern New York. A place where horses deemed un-adoptable could live out their lives being doted on by volunteers who cannot afford to own their own horse or are vacationing in the 1000 Islands region and need their horsey fix. My farm would be a sanctuary to those who need some time to get away from the grind of everyday life. Kids, adults, and families who find themselves in need of returning to the simple things, touching the soft velvety nose of a pony, or catching a yellow perch off a lake dock. Goal Number Two? There is a piece of property for sale in Alexandria Bay, NY that would make an amazing Tea Shop and Book Store. The building is old, it needs so much work, but it is a piece of American history. The goal of the shop is to help sustain the sanctuary while promoting the 1000 Island region during the short five month tourist season. The building is large, large enough to sustain a Rescue Shop where items, new and old could be sold to support Pure Thoughts and the sanctuary. My vision for the shop is to educate about rescue and earn a revenue to support needy horses. Is it big crazy dream? Yes it is. Will it take a lot of hard work and some major sacrifice? Yes it will. Do I think it would be worth it? Yes I do.
This is what my vacation gave me. It gave me time to asses my life and the goals I had put on the back burner years ago. My tea shop in Alex bay? A dream I have harbored for close to 10 years. Having a sanctuary? Well my entire life I have put off this dream not believing in myself enough to even consider taking steps to achieve this goal. To be honest I am still not sure where to begin, but did get some advice. I was told Laura, write. Write, a lot. It's who you are above everything else, you are a writer and in order to achieve your goals you must follow your heart and from the time you were able to put a sentence together you have written. So buckle down and get to work. So here I am writing down my dreams, writing my words for others to read. I may fail, but honestly, I would rather try and fail. then fail because I didn't bother trying.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Add YOur Comment
I added my Lisa Ling Blog comment to this blog's page. I have learned finally to have a few stock comments to use as rebuttals to pro-slaughter articles. Over the next few weeks I will be adding talking points everyone can use. I have heard from many people that they would like to participate in such discussions but are not good at writing and commenting. I hope to help those who would like to be heard.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Knock Knock...

If you live in North Palm Beach, FL and two little girls are knocking at the door. Please listen to what they have to say, take the pamphlet they offer, and dig around for that loose change in your pocket.
Late this afternoon we received a call from Jen Swanson at Pure Thoughts, Inc. Horse and Foal Rescue to please ask everyone to pray for Melody, Team Barbaro's sponsored mare from the Miracle Save ( www.pthr.org ) . She was suffering from impaction colic and was headed to the vet. We were so worried about this sweet mare who had stolen all of our hearts over the last few weeks.
Maria and Emma knew that the vet visit and possible need for surgery would be very costly. The immediately headed out the door to ask their lemonade stand customers to please gather their hearts and pocket change together for this sweet TB mare. In about ten minutes they had $8 in loose change to help pay a tiny fraction of Melody's bill.
Maria and Emma felt defeated. They knew that the eight dollars they collected wouldn't even pay for a bale of hay here in South Florida. I told them that it was okay, that when more people heard about Melody's illness and the rescue's determination to help her, that more people would turn to their own pockets and change jars and send a little to help. That it alll adds up.
I reminded the girls of all the times we raised funds for horses that needed help. Whether it was a horse saved from slaughter or the orphan foals, we all worked as a team to reach our goals.
This was a great lesson for both girls and now they are determined to try harder. I learned a lesson from them to.......TRY HARDER.
Laura Boothby
Pure Thoughts, Inc
www.pthr.org
http://astand4thehorses.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/4thehorses