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Why You Might Have Seen A Woman Riding a Horse Down Sunset Boulevard Last Night [UPDATED]
Photo by Emma Gallegos/LAist
Last night we caught an unusual sight: a woman riding on horseback down Sunset Boulevard near the intersection of Gower Street, flanked by two other horses. One of the horses carried a message: "End Commercial Horse Slaughter."
It looks like this woman could be Karin Hauenstein, an animal-lover who made her way all the way down from Lompoc to Los Angeles. Her mission? She says she wants to call attention to federal legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law that legalizes horse slaughter plants on U.S. soil. (The Humane Society of the United States has more information about the spending bill in question.)
Hauenstein wrote this statement on her Facebook page:
"Not only is the meat not safe to eat for people, but the horses being killed can still lead productive lives. We should be using horses to rehabilitate abused and neglected children in communities across this Nation. "Equine Therapy" works for everyone."
She said she was planning to ride on the Pacific Coast Highway down to Los Angeles. We contacted Hauenstein this morning to get an update on where she is now and where she plans to ride around next, but we'd imagine it's hard to wrangle three horses and keep up with e-mails. For now, we're going to imagine how stunning it would have been to see her riding off into last night's ridiculous sunset.
UPDATED 1/26: Hauenstein wrote us back to let us know a little bit about her ride and how she has found some of the "friendliest and most upright people" right here in Hollywood.
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