Awesome!

Another 133 supporters added in the past 24 hours! Our sincere thanks to every one of you. Today, Chawton House Library took the ill-advised decision to engage us in the social media campaign by publishing the following article on their webpage. I wish to share my response with all our signatories and urge you to promote our cause against this egregious nonsense through their networks. Chawton House Library FAKE NEWS Today CHL published a deceitful, inaccurate and deliberately misleading ‘news item’ on their website: https://chawtonhouse.org/2017/09/update-one-horses-speedy/ Apparently, the report was written by Speedy, one of CHL’s former horses, so we know it comes straight from the horse’s mouth. Speedy appears to be well-read for a horse as he begins with a quote attributed to Socrates “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Speedy believes that he’s quoting the ancient wisdom of Socrates the Greek philosopher, however these words first appeared in print in 1980. The quote is from an American gymnast named Dan Millman in his memoir “Way of the Peaceful Warrior”. He attributes the quote to his trainer who he nicknamed Socrates. By day the trainer was a gas station attendant. You’d have hoped that the custodians of a library would be more diligent about attributing and verifying their sources. Putting aside the dubious anthropomorphic device of having Speedy talk to us, what he says is quite incredible, Apparently, he’s been ploughing and he’s eagerly anticipating ‘logging, harrowing and sledge jobs.’ Is this the same horse that CHL described as ‘not very robust’ as part of their rationale for giving him away? He also says that the new owner ‘couldn’t believe his (sic – Joanna) luck’ when he arrived. That’s certainly true because he was free – given away, like his three former companions, by a charity that has claimed to be in a dire cash flow position. This brazen piece of PR puffery claims that the Shires are better off and living more meaningful lives than they did at CHL. That is an insult to the staff who cared for them and the Shire’s sponsors and admirers. This grubby piece of work has one intention: to persuade the gullible that CHL’s decision to close their stable, fire their staff and evict their horses was the best thing that could ever have happened to them. Not everything that you learn from the horse’s mouth is true! The real Socrates had a saying “When the debate is over slander becomes the tool of the loser.” Perhaps people who work in glass houses, no matter how grand, shouldn’t throw stones?