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‘We have to save as many horses as we can’

John Hettinger used to say he never met a horse he didn’t like. And that it was “much more than he could say about people.” That affection touched all facets of his racehorse breeding business, which managed to factor horse welfare into the bottom line, and galvanized him to become a leading anti-slaughter advocate. So determined was Hettinger to keep his racehorses safe from slaughter that he wouldn’t sell one of his Thoroughbreds without including a clause in the bill of sale guaranteeing that when their usefulness on the track was over, they could come home to him. He guaranteed […]