Jamaica's Story: An Unlikely Happy Ending to a Horse Slaughter Case
By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
There are few happy endings in animal slaughter cases. America blinds itself to the misery it causes in the animal world. Too few Americans have woken up to the scientifically-proven fact animals have feelings and emotions just as we do. Slaughter for them is no less harrowing than it would be for a human animal in the same situation.
Here, however, is a slaughter story to celebrate.
The United States Equestrian Federation, the national governing body for equestrian sport and a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, has nominated for Horse of the Year Jamaica, a horse rescued from slaughter and now competing at the Olympic level. Full disclosure: I am a USEF member and voted for "Jamaica" as horse of the year.
His incredible story is relayed as follows:

Jamaica 's story started years ago in Europe where as an unwanted animal he was headed for slaughter. Fortunately for Jamaica, he was rescued and trained as a tourist carriage horse. His humble beginnings as a carriage horse were cut short, however, because he wouldn't stand still. Jamaica's antsy attitude didn't bode well for carting tourists from one location to the next—but that attitude would serve him well after (a man named Chester) Weber purchased him. Re-trained as a Four-in-Hand driving horse, Jamaica has become a valuable horse on Weber's world-class team and not only helped Weber capture a Silver Medal at the FEI World Championships but also helped the team win the Four-in-Hand National Championship title—six years in a row. Pretty impressive for a horse originally headed to slaughter.
What Jamaica's story should also stand for is that most horses bound for slaughter could have "jobs" and provide valuable services to human owners if they were kept alive. Most are sold for slaughter because the human animals selling them into slaughter cannot afford to keep them. If over-breeding of horses were banned or better controlled, there would be fewer horses shipped across the Canadian and Mexican borders for slaughter. Even with the end of U.S. slaughterhouses, well more than 100,000 horses are shipped across borders to slaughter each year.
The Humane Society is working with Congress to pass a law banning the shipment of horses for slaughter across borders.
But as long as human greed drives the trade, and breeders over-breed, horses will be brought into this world unnecessarily and suffer horrible endings. The same is true of course for dogs and cats and all manner of animals.
- Read more by Bonnie Erbe.
- Read more from the Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
- Read more about animal cruelty.
Tags: animal cruelty | animals | horses
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Reader Comments
Want to know more
Hi Bonnie,
I am a Canadian writer (5 books to date in a True Horse Stories series + various magazine article) and came across this post while researching for new story ideas. I LOVE the sound of this one... it's a near perfect fit for the type of story I'm needing. I'm wondering if there is any way that I could find out more information from you about this horse - where you heard about him , etc.
Thanks very much in advance for leads you might be able to offer.
Sincerely,
J Andrekson
greed and killing horses
I appreciate so much the column and comments; it is bottom line human behavior including greed which causes so much suffering to all animals. Menopausal women - "can't you be uncomfortable for ten seconds?" Please think about the incredible suffering of equines, or at least please try the plant based HRT - I discussed this with my ob/gyn, and he was aware of premarin's ingredients - one of his assistants thankfully won't let him ignore it!
Stop Slaughter of American Horses
As the owner of one PMU and the rest slaughter bound horses, I am a total advocate for ending slaughter and can attest to the fact that it's all lies that the only horses that go to slaughter are aged, crippled or crazy (the oldest one I have is 8 yrs. and the baby is about 6 months, all healthy, none crazy). Thanks Bonnie for making the story available for people to read. The big breeding barns (at least in Indiana) are responsible for sending loads of horses to the kill auction at Shipshewanna, IN) knowing exactly where they will end up. Irresponsible owners are the other culprits. It's a good feeling when people are made aware of rags to riches stories for these animals. They are the poster kids in this issue. I've seen some horses at the kill auction who should have been on the cover of breed magazines (such as the two paints) and horses that looked like they just came from the show ring (the pretty young palomino) or the matched set of grays, the black horse with the star... all young, healthy and could have had a great life if they had been lucky enough to get a good owner rather than a death sentence in a slaughter house. Let's hope that the select few who blocked the bills to end horse slaughter will be blocked themselves and let's hope that horse slaughter comes to an end this year. Thanks again for posting this article.
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