Last week you were introduced to Woody, who had no choice in what happened to him. His story is similar to those of thousands of animals whose owners failed to make a simple choice of their own that could have helped them. Like my children, my two horses, two cats, and two dogs are provided for in case fate makes a choice for me over which I, like Woody, have no control.   That is not the case for many animals who end up needing rescue. At Equamore Sanctuary alone, we have Woody whose owner had a stroke that left her unable to care for the two horses she loved. We have Chance, who was left uncared for when his owner slipped into senility and didn’t recognize that he and his friend Sassy were starving to death. We have Bader, Star, Sara, and Finn whose breeder/owner chose addiction over competence, leaving her four Arabs caged and unfed until animal control intervened.

These horses—like all adandoned animals—are not responsible for what happened to them, for animals in captivity have no choices. They cannot run away; they cannot get a job; they cannot find new, more caring owners. Like Dilsey, they can only endure. It is we, who took on the responsibility of animal ownership, who can do all those things that cats and dogs and horses cannot. Those of us who choose animal ownership must understand that we have made a life-long commitment to our animals. And we must understand that our own lifetimes can be changed in an instant by the loss of income, by illness, by accident, by death itself. If we don’t understand this basic fact, we leave our beloved animals in constant jeopardy of becoming another sad story of an animal in need of rescue.

People always have choices. Their animals do not. That’s why I’ve chosen to contribute to the few existing animal charities, like Equamore Foundation, than to any of the thousands of charities that help people. And that’s why I’ve secured the future of my animals, especially my horses, before accident or illness make it impossible for me to do so. Think of how much better it could have been for Woody and the other horses who finally found sanctuary with Equamore Foundation if their owners had chosen to take that simple step.