Letizia Reato or Zia trains wild or feral horses. In this conversation, she demonstrates the complexity of addressing the problem of feral horses in the United States. As much as she loves horses, she understands that the solutions to these problems are full of paradoxes. She has come to understand that to save these horses she must take their freedom. Although she loves horses, she thinks that part of the solution could be that some horses would need to be euthanized while others can be put to work in practical ways.
Throughout this conversation, Zia explains the complex problem of feral horses in the United States. Her work sits at the intersection of these polarized groups. From her account, there approximately 49000 feral horses that are held holding pens. Some people want to manage the horse numbers by killing them, while animal lovers want to save all the horses. Zia thinks that both these approaches are part of the solution. She would love to save all the horses but thinks there are too many. One of the ideas she puts forward in our conversation is to rethink the ways in which these horses can be used throughout the United States. In her work, she trains horses so they can be used in a variety of ways. For example, feral horses could be used by police and other government agencies. Not only is her argument that we need to rethink what type of horses we use throughout the United States.
Zia hopes to reduce the number of horses in holding facilitates and my conversation with her was very informative. She is passionate about what she does and has an admirable passion for a unique problem in the world. Hope you enjoy this episode of Disruptive Conversation with Zia.
Zia’s website: http://www.speak-horse.com/
Healing with horses in Trinidad and Tobago: http://www.healing-with-horses.org/
Part 1
Part 2