With every new media piece that shows the benefits of therapeutic riding, I hope that another youngster will benefit from a similar program. My lovely niece has Downs syndrome and riding has given her numerous gains and pure joy . . . a combination which she'd likely never have experienced otherwise. The positive delivery via a youngster's interactions with a nearly thousand-pound animal is irreplaceable! However, I call on all therapeutic riding programs, as well as riding barns, and Plainridge and Suffolk racetracks to actively condemn horse slaughter for human consumption, and rehome these willing servants to a successive career. Suffolk's 'no tolerance' policy for trainers who ship a horse to slaughter is a good start. Plainridge's silence on horse slaughter is indefensible. All sectors of the horse world would gain the public's confidence by practicing responsibility, and by condemning horse slaughter for human consumption by putting their support behind state and federal bills banning horse slaughter.