Hi Everyone, sorry it has taken so long to get the Horse Fair
report out to you, but I was sooo tired. Too much burning the candle at both
ends seems to have caught up to me.
Well, as Amanda posted earlier, the Horsemen's Council was intent upon not
allowing the horse owners of Illinois (whom they claim to represent) the
opportunity to receive educational material regarding the fact that a horse
slaughter plant is trying to open in Illinois.
Now for a group who says they speak for the horseman of Illinois, I find it
bizarre, that they would not want these horseman to know the facts pertaining to
an issue that clearly, they all each and every horse owner has a stake and
interest in.
Several IL horse owners and myself, were passing out a one page fact sheet,
buttons, and allowing horseman who so chose, to sign a petition to be forwarded
to their respective legislators.
The fact sheet, on one side listed several facts pertaining to horse slaughter
and on the other side, had a list of the IL horsemen's groups and professional
IL horseman who support SB 1921. NO where on this sheet was their mention
of the HCI and/or their position in favor of horse slaughter.
Our mission was to hand out information and to talk to people to make them aware
of this despicable trade about to set up shop in Illinois.
We had only been passing out the fact sheet and buttons for less than 30
minutes, when we were approached by someone who was working for HCI. He told us,
that we could not hand out this information. When asked why, he stated because
the HCI disagrees with its content!!!!!
Well, you can well imagine the shock we all felt as we stood there in amazement.
I said yes, we understand the HCI does not agree with this info, but, not
everybody has to agree with what is being distributed, at the very least the
PEOPLE should have a right to choose, whether they do or do not.
To make a long story short, as Amanda has already posted, they then proceeded to
call in deputies hired for security at the Fair, to help to resolve this issue.
They kept us standing there for over 30 minutes while they tried to figure out a
way to force us to do what THEY wanted. The HCI volunteer, went so far as
try to CONFISCATE my personal belongings which I bought and paid for!!!
Well of course, there was NO WAY I allowed him to do any such thing. They
ultimately, forced us to carry our information back down to the Hooved Animal
Humane Society booth, (while they followed us) so that we could not hand
information out to any Illinois horse owners.
Furthermore, at one point "Big Brother" HCI even stated that we could
not even talk about this issue to any other fair goers, or we would be
removed from the Fair!! UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!! I said to "Big
Brother" excuse me, but we are not in "Mother Russia", the
last time we looked, this was still Illinois, USA, and we will speak to whomever
we wish regarding whatever we wish!!!!! Talk about trying to force your
beliefs upon someone else!!!!
I am shocked and appalled at the behavior of the HCI. Just when you thought they
could not sink any lower, they find a "new bottom" to their never ending
lies and deception!!!!
No matter what efforts the HCI went to, to try to keep the truth of the horse
slaughter trade from our IL horseman, they were NOT successful in doing so!!!!
We were able to disseminate our information sheet and buttons from both the HAHS
booth and the Illinois Harness Horseman's Association booth. By 3 pm both
booths, had only a handful of buttons remaining and most of the petitions
were gone, as well as the fact sheets.
A special thanks goes to the HAHS and IHHA booth workers, for a fabulous job in
getting nearly ALL of our info out. In fact, unfortunately we will not
have enough buttons for today's fair, as they were so much in demand!!!!! The
response to this issue was OVERWHELMINGLY supportive for a ban on horse
slaughter!!!!!! In the hundreds of people we spoke to, only a very few,
were of the mind, that there is need for this in the horse industry. Even HCI
volunteers were wearing our buttons, until the HCI told them to take them off or
leave the fair!!!!!!!!
In closing, clearly the HCI is terrified that the more horseman in Illinois who
discover the TRUTH about horse slaughter, the more they will stand up and say
NO. If the HCI were truly the "representative" of the horseman of
Illinois, they would want the PEOPLE to know ALL the facts, presented from BOTH
sides of the issue, so they could, each individually, form an EDUCATED
opinion on the issue at hand. The HCI does NOT want the horseman of Illinois to
know both sides, or to have an opinion. The HCI, has their own agenda, and cares
NOTHING about the HORSES OR THE HORSEMAN OF ILLINOIS!!!!!
The HCI is a pure disgrace to our state, and our country. This is NOT
"Mother Russia"
and the horseman of Illinois will not be denied our "say". And from
what we know from the tremendous volume of support both by the professional IL
horse industry and the "little guy" who attended yesterdays horse
fair, we will soundly be successful in passing SB 1921. No matter how much the
HCI tries to trample our rights or squelch our voices, the PEOPLE, the real
HORSEMAN of Illinois will be heard when we pass SB 1921!!!!!!