David Gilet, Byron Bay
Like most Australians, I think that racehorses are beautiful graceful creatures and I was appalled at the recently revealed extent of their commodification and the conditions of their slaughter.
I also found appalling the gross ingratitude of owners condemning to death horses who have won substantial prizemoney for them, because they are no longer regarded as useful.
Because of our love of horses, our view has become highly sentimentalised. In comparison, think of the fate of a dairy cow – at five or six years old it is carted off to an abattoir, has a bolt shot into its brain and becomes literally mincemeat, despite producing tons of milk for the farmer during its lifetime. But the reality is that if farmers retired their cows it would erode their already meagre profit margins. In fact, we have a blind spot to the commodification of most farm animals and regard it as their natural fate. Just a thought.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
