His name is Royal with Speed, he is a grandson of Secretariat.
In January 2012, PETA undercover investigators rescued him just hours before he was due to
be trucked to a slaughterhouse.
At this livestock auction in Kalona, Iowa having a famous pedigree doesn't matter.
Horses here are valued only for their body weight.
They will be transported into foreign slaughterhouses to be killed and cut up into meat primarily
for human consumption in France, Russia, Canada, and Japan.
At the Kalona auction frightened horses of all breeds from thorough breads to Belgium
draft horses are packed into waiting pens.
The terrified horses are prodded through a hydraulic gate that often slams shut on their
heads and necks as they enter the auction ring.
Royal with Speed will own his owners $127,000 on the racetrack was bought by a kill buyer
for just $350.
PETA investigators were able to rescue him just hours before he was scheduled to be hauled
to Canada for slaughter.
They later identified him by researching the number tattooed on his lip.
He is not only the grandson of Secretariat on his maternal side but also the son of breeder's
cup classic champion Skip Away.
Like many horses at this action Royal with Speed had contracted some of the illnesses
that run rapid at the crowded and filthy conditions.
He was diagnosed with Strangles, a highly infectious disease of the lymph nodes.
After weeks of care and rest he is now recovered and lives in a safe and permanent new home.
Most of the other horses at the auction were not as fortunate.
The 33 horses aboard this truck, mostly standard breads, were made to endure an eleven-hundred
mile ride to the slaughterhouse.
An investigator rode on the truck and others followed the truck from Iowa to the slaughterhouse
in Quebec, Canada.
The horses suffered through sub-freezing temperatures and were never unloaded or given food or water
throughout the entire 36 hour ordeal.
Because the trucks are sealed shut at customs by Canadian officials the drivers are not
permitted to help the horses for any reason even if they are seriously ill or injured
or they have fallen for the remaining 500 miles to the slaughterhouse.
America's dirty little secret is that since horse slaughter houses were closed in the
US several years ago.
More than 133,000 horses are still being killed each year.
The same numbers before the US closures but now the horses are also subjected to these
additional grueling cross over trips to Canada and Mexico.
Instead of exporting horse meat, America now exports live horses exacerbating their suffering.
At this slaughterhouse in Quebec the horses face a terrifying and excruciating death.
Undercover footage taken at this same facility in 2011 showed cruel treatment and ineffective
methods.
This slaughterhouse worker needlessly slams the captive bolt pistol into the horses head
then sarcastically waves goodbye to the dying horse.
This incompetent worker who is required to administer instant death inflicted 11 captive
bolt shots to this horse's head before the horse finally collapse.
And this slaughterer mockingly tells a horse "I love you too" when the horse withies after
being shot.