Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We watched "Secretariat" on TV last night, and I was reminded of how social horses are, and how much our own horse needed to be with other horses, and luckily, my neighbor and friend let her graze in her field with her own horse in the summers.  A few years ago, at a retreat at my Zen teacher's place, when I did walking meditation or was out on the back property I could see a lone horse next door.  I finally spoke to my teacher about it, and she said she would talk to the owners.  They found a home for the horse that was not so isolated.  And yesterday, at the Pet Shop with our grandson, I was struck again by how responsive the birds were to our voices and presence.  I love seeing the birds, but when I think of them not flying and being in a cage, it seems so cruel and unnatural.  I could never own one.  In Chincoteague, we got to see the wild ponies in their harems and how important it was that they socialized and stayed in their protected groups.  They can run with no fence to stop them.  How few horses in the world there are who are not imprisoned and lonely.  They turn to us for company and we sell them, betray them in every way.  For our entertainment and sport.  They want to be friends, but we don't seem to know how to be, except in rare cases.