by Mandy Froelich
As if you need another reason to love Willie Nelson, news has recently surfaced that the musician and marijuana activist is also a horse lover. He’s so fond of them that he rescued 70 horses from being slaughtered. They now roam on his 700-acre ranch in Texas.
The country musician spends most of his time at Luck Ranch when he’s not on the road. The ranch is home to him and the name “Luck” suits in more ways than one. Nelson told Paul Venema from KSAT 12 News, “When you’re here, you’re in Luck, and when you’re not, you’re out of Luck.”
The horses are undoubtedly lucky, too and Nelson agrees. He told Venema: "“My horses are probably the luckiest horses in the world. They get hand-fed twice a day, and they were just ready to go to slaughter is probably the last thing they remembered, so they’re happy horses.”
As The Epoch Times reports, Nelson has long held a love for horses. His song Ride Me Back Home, for instance, attests to his love for the animal. Nelson also won an award in 2015 for the video to his song The Love of Horses. The video shows Nelson meeting members of Habitats for Horses who were trying to end the slaughter of horses by working to get new legislation passed.
A love for horses runs in the family. Nelson’s son, Lukas, supports Saving America’s Horses as well as Habitat for Horses. And the younger Nelson’s band, Lukas Nelson & Promise, have likewise sung praise for horses.
Nelson, who is nearly 90-years-old, shows no signs of slowing down or staying silent about issues he feels passionately about. (Remember his album against Monsanto?)
When asked about retirement, Nelson simply stated: “I retire after every show. I say, ‘That’s it, I’m not goin’ no more,’ but then we hang out awhile and people [the band] feel like playing, and so we go play again.”
This article originally appeared in the Mind Unleashed and is published here with permsission. Find more interesting stories in our section on Retire & Rehome.
