Advice RE: Help! Our school is planning pony rides!

October 27, 2009

Hi Sarah,

Well, now you've received several comments from different people in the group. I realize that I wrote about the experience but did not yet offer you any suggestions. I would like to do that now.

First, I would echo what others, particularly Ajay, have said. Get the contact information for whoever provides the pony rides. Call them, go visit them, talk with them, get to know them a bit. Ask them where the horses came from. Ask them about how they care for the ponies. Ask them how profitable their business is (or is not). Just go with a clean slate, an open mind, and a bunch of questions. Give yourself the gift of expressing your own curiosity and of fulfilling your own desire to know and to connect with others.

Second, I encourage you to look inward. What inside you drives your apparent distaste for others who might make a living caring for and working with animals? Do you really feel repelled at the thought of anyone who would set up some program where people interact with animals and charge money for providing this service? Is this really so bad? I mean, I agree with Ajay, there are costs to maintain animals. And what Ajay did not say is that there are costs to maintain the people who maintain the animals. They need a home, car, food, and whatnot, just as the rest of us do.

You write that "feel that most animals that are used for the financial benefit of others are abused." But in such a matter, is it really best to inform yourself only on the basis of your own, generalized feelings that are likely rooted in past experiences? I suggest not. I mean, you may be correct, 99% of those who work with animals may indeed be the evil money mongers you imagine. But do you really wish to lock yourself into a position, such that you miss the other 1%? I'm guessing that you do not so wish.

Under American law, all nonprofits are commercial businesses. Therefore, almost all churches, synagogues, mosques, ashrams, and the like are commercial businesses. So are almost all schools, colleges, universities, seminaries, relief organizations, and the like. Shall we summarily suspect the motivations of the people in every single one of these organizations, simply because they are commercial in nature? I mean, if they sell books, then someone chopped down a tree or two. If they sell food, and it's not organically grown, then someone sprayed pesticide, herbicide, fungicide, or whatever. And a farm worker or two was probably hired at what you would consider a low rate of pay. And so forth. Shall we suspect all such people, all such organizations? I cannot imagine so.

A constructive alternative is to return to the idea of one-on-one interaction. Take the time and energy you are expending resisting these people, whom you do not know, and go get to know them a bit. You might be pleasantly surprised, even delighted. And if you are not, then you will have sound, first-hand information with which to approach others in the school community, a rational, considered basis for choosing another activity instead of the pony rides. You will come across to your own peers and to others in your own community as a thoughtful, reasonable person, rather than as a fanatic of some sort. And honestly, I have a feeling that's your real concern ... finding a way to talk with the others around you in a way that comes of feeling constructive, thoughtful, and well-reasoned from their point of view. And that, of course, has nothing at all to do with pony rides.

Best,

Elchanan

Sarah Fuhs

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 10:34 AM

Cc:

Re: Help! Our school is planning pony rides!

Hi,

Ajay, I completely agree that children should be exposed to animals, and that it helps build compassion. My concern come in when people profit - quite literally - off the backs of animals. I think generally people who do so consider their animals as a commodity rather than a pet, and therefore are more concerned about capitalizing off of them than their health and well being.

Elchanan, I do see your perspective, however I have considered it and feel that most animals that are used for the financial benefit of others are abused. There are many, many cases of such a thing happening with pony entertainers. You are right - one on one, for someone who owns, cares for, and connects with an animal is not exploitation. A commercial business is not likely to be in line with this, however.

Thank you so much to those who spoke to the posed question.

Sarah