The founders of Speak Up For Horses are life-long horse owners and enthusiasts who met after the 2004 wreck of a double decker cattle truck full of horses on nearby Route 1 in southeast Indiana.
"If we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop and we do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt". Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, 1877 For the next two years we not only researched the plight of thousands of local horses bought by horse slaughter house kill buyers by attending tri-state auctions, but we also rescued a few slaughter-bound horses. Those personal experiences fueled our efforts to help pass federal legislation to end horse slaughter and to restore the protection for the American Wild Horse during the 109th session of Congress.
One person in our group who is a commercial truck driver educated us in the failure of of both the USDA and some law enforcement to enforce trucking regulations as they pertain to the commercial hauling of horses. These are laws which not only ensure the safety of our highways and all of us traveling those roads, but also humanely protect those unfortunate slaughter-bound horses.
We decided in early 2006 to found a 501c3 registered non profit with the primary mission to educate the public on the plight caused by an unknowing public, by inadequate horse welfare laws, and by the woeful enforcement of existing laws at the federal, state, and local levels.
Our name says it all: Speak Up For Horses!
Speak Up for Horses in the News!
Our activities on behalf of horses have garnered significant media attention. Read what's been written about us.
Secret Slaughter
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http://www.citybeat.com/2007-01-10/news2.shtml )
Women speak up to save horses (The Cincinnati Enquirer)
http://www.speakupforhorses.org/womenspeak.lasso Heroes 4 Horses
http://www.fund4horses.org/info.php?id=978 Speak Up for Horses created (Kentucky.com)
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/state/16086741.htm Horse lover gains ally in bid to save lives
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006612200347 Women speak up to save horses (Associated Press)
http://www.whas11.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8LJ5CS80.html