1. That when you see a horse lying down in a pasture or field, he or she is likely napping or resting in the dirt or mud (which they love) and are not starving, abused or dead?

2. That elephant trainers and handlers in circuses are considered by veterinarians and other people in the circus to be the sweetest, most devoted and gentlest people in the animal world? That they love their elephants dearly and are devastated at the thought they will be separated from them. And did you know, while we are at it, that the Asian elephants have been working with and for people for thousands of years, are domesticated, and have nowhere on the earth to go once they have been driven from their circuses, where they have entertained and uplifted people for centuries?

And also this: elephant people write the sweetest messages I have ever received. And lately, the saddest.

3. That domesticated animals – horses, elephants, donkeys, dogs – become as powerfully attached to the people who care for them as they do for their mates? And that they are traumatized by being separated from them?

4. That domesticated animals cannot be returned to the wild, a/because most of them never lived in the wild, b/because the wild is the most dangerous and least healthy place there is for animals, and c/there is no wild any longer.

5. That carriage horses in New York have no respiratory disease, live longer than horses in small farms and rescue preserves, receive the best medical care available and have workloads  pulling light carriages that are one-third of what their body weight and strength can handle, according to veterinarians?

6. That horses are not “sad” or “depressed” when they hang their heads or cock a rear leg? It means they feel safe and relaxed.

7. That the stated goal of the modern-day  animal rights movement is the removal of all animals – even chickens –  from human ownership, farms, work, control or co-habitation. This includes working dogs and cats and pet dogs and cats.

8. That no court ever found Ringling Bros. guilty of abusing or mistreating their elephants. To the contrary, Ringling Bros. won every legal battle they fought against the people who said they abused their elephants. In the end, they just gave up.

9. That everything you see or read on the Internet regarding the abuse of animals is not true. On one animal rights website in New York there is a photo of a carriage horse who dropped dead in Arizona from heart failure under the heading: “Stop Horse Abuse in New York City.” The image is rumored to be a champion money-maker.

10. That much – sometimes all or most – of the money you send to organizations help the starved and abused animals you see online goes to politicians, political campaigns, lobbyists, fund-raisers, publicists and marketers? Check it out, they have to tell you. Ask for a list of animals who have been saved. Do not hold your breath.

11. That farm animals like horses, donkeys and sheep do not need heated barns, that they are, in fact, very dangerous due to fire, and that it is not healthy for most animals to breath heated and enclosed air?

12. That people who work with animals generally do so because they love them, and that their lives and way of life are shattered when they are taken away? Is it humane to take people away from the work and lives they love?

13. That half of the animals in the world have disappeared since 1970, according to the World Wildlife Federation? And that climate change and the animal rights movement are working on the other half?

14. That many of the 12 million dogs languishing in crates in animal shelters could be adopted if the elderly, the poor, working people, and people who work long hours or do not have money for tall fences were allowed adopt them?

15. That life on rescue farms is not better for carriage horses than life in stables, where they have always lived? On rescue farms they will have little space, no pasture, no stimulation. Their bodies and psyches need regular work, for which they have been bred, they atrophy and decline when given nothing to do, their lives shorten. Famed horse trainer Buck Brannaman  – the model for the “Horse Whisperer” – says the lucky horses are the carriage horses, the ones that need saving are the ones with nothing to do.

16. That unless someone’s animals are visibly bleeding, grieviously injured, starving or dead, their care is none of your business.

17. That animal abuse is a crime, not an opinion on Facebook? It means the neglect of an animal to the point of extreme suffering, injury or death.