THE ACCIDENTAL VEGETARIAN
by Tom Gumbrecht
Originally published in Horse Directory, January
2013
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| Lola's first non-race competition |
That is a
fair reaction. Up until the time that I
made the choice to stop eating meat, there were not many clues in my diet, my
lifestyle, or my way of being that suggested that was a path I would be likely
to pursue. I was, like most of my peers,
a hamburger, steak, chicken, and ribs kind of guy. If the hamburger came with lettuce and tomato,
I would take it off. The joke at family
dinners would be that the only time I would eat something green was if someone
brought a key lime pie for dessert.
 |
| Jessie. My first canine copilot. |
As animals,
my own animals, didn’t really begin entering my life until my mid-forties,
although I always liked them I never had the close relationship with an animal
that would induce reflective thought about their welfare. That all changed in 1996 with Jessie, a
female German Shepherd Dog, and my first pet. Acquired as an eight week old
pup, Jessie came into my life to teach me about love, devotion, loyalty, and
the beauty of silent communication.
Horses came in 1998 through an electrical job I was contracted to do at
a commercial barn through my business, which led to lessons, leases, and
ultimately building my own barn and eventually competing.
A few years
ago, and within a relatively short time frame, two things happened: First was the acquisition of an off-track
Thoroughbred mare named Lola from a kill-buyer auction. Lola required quite a bit of time and TLC to
get her back sound, and as anyone who has worked with rescues knows, the bond
formed can be quite different with these animals. This was definitely so in the case of Lola
and myself, as she acted grateful for every strand of hay, every brush of her
mane, every kind word in her ear, and in fact still does. The fact that this horse may well have ended
up on someone’s dinner plate in another country began to crystallize in my
mind, slowly.
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| Kaeli Kramer competes at Good Shepherd |
The second
event was the tragic death of Kaeli Kramer, a young Long Island equestrian,
whom I had never formally met but whose life was on at least a parallel course
with ours, intersecting only briefly and seemingly coincidentally, but not, I
am convinced, accidentally. Kaeli was a
student at Centenary College, one of the many horsey colleges at which my Samantha
interviewed during our summer of college tours.
Kaeli was a competitor at the Good Shepherd Farm Horse Trials, which was
also one of my first venues as a competitor.
Although we never spoke, we tipped caps as our paths crossed on our way
to the show ring several times. I was
saddened to hear of her death, but the connection was not made until I had the
experience to interview those who knew and loved her and record my impressions
on these pages. I was especially moved
by the generosity with which Kaeli’s parents, Linda and Peter shared her life,
her words and her horses with me, a virtual stranger at that point in
time. And it was in those conversations
that I learned about Kaeli’s thoughts on vegetarianism.
Kaeli’s
viewpoint was simple, yet profound: A
point came in her life that she realized that she could not feel the way she
felt about animals, and eat them. To me
it was a statement that was awe inspiring in its simplicity, and it changed my
life. That was exactly how I felt, but
could never find the right words to express.
It was not judgmental of others and their right to their own choices,
but instead merely a statement of personal choice. I had always put vegetarians and
vegetarianism on a higher moral plane than I thought myself capable of sharing,
so I never tried, even though my core beliefs were pulling me in that
direction. I was conflicted, and didn’t even know it.
I was moved
enough by my experience to explore further.
In an interview with mutual friend Sheila Rodgers of Good Shepherd Farm,
I was introduced to resources that would ultimately clarify my thoughts and allow
me to make an attempt at something that seemed at the time to be radical. It
was two weeks before Kaeli’s memorial service at Good Shepherd, and I decided
to attempt to honor Kaeli’s life by giving up meat for those two weeks. To my surprise as well as others I was able
to do it for two weeks, and I wanted to share my accomplishment and the
inspiration for it with Peter and Linda, although I don’t think I actually
did. Then I completed the story about
Kaeli and awaited its publication, and wanted to present Kaeli’s parents with
copies of it when printed so I felt the need to continue on for those four more
weeks. Then I wanted to continue so far
as to have my first meat free Thanksgiving, to which my now-friends Peter and
Linda sent a tofu turkey and trimmings. Weeks became months, and months became
years and I have now been vegetarian for three and one-half years.
 | |||
| Lola raised my consciousness.. |
Has it been
difficult? No. Challenging?
Occasionally, but mostly not.
Rewarding? By all means. Because in this one area of my life, I am no
longer conflicted. In what I choose to
eat, at least, I am living a life true to my beliefs. And that leaves a better taste in my mouth
than the best steak I had ever eaten..
Archived articles may be accessed at
tcgequine.blogspot.com.
Visit us on Facebook(Tom Gumbrecht) and
Twitter (@tcgelec)
Read about the wonderful work being done for
the welfare of animals by The Kaeli Kramer Foundation at
www.kaelikramerfoundation.org
