Sandy Bonelli
Sandy Bonelli is a professional horse trainer and competitor in a Western riding event called Cutting. Based in Petaluma, California, her ranch has been home to goats, cows, dogs, donkeys and cats as well as the up to 30 horses who make up her breeding and competing program. In this interview, Sandy shares her experiences with animals in sports, as well as perspectives about animals in food and medical research industries. She looks ahead at the evolving future she sees for herself and the animals at her ranch, and offers some insight into what she sees as the only hope humans have for seeing animals differently.
“I think we’re asking animals to do probably what they don’t want to do. I’m sure I myself have gone too far at times, in my younger days, more driven, more trying for the win. I can look back now and say I wish I hadn’t done it quite like that. I think my industry as well as most of them all need to take a look at how hard we are being on the animals to win money or ribbons or prizes.”
The Interview
Joy
Inside the sport
Utopia
Food
Medical research
A typical day
Disconnect
What we ask
Choices
Education
Uphill battle
The future