Horse lover gains ally in bid to save lives
Article published Thursday, December 21, 2006

Documentary maker Reid Nicholls, left, films Craig Lundgren with one of his horses on his Bowling Green farm. Mr. Nicholls, a recent BGSU graduate, is working on a video that he says describes how thousands of horses are slaughtered each year in the United States for sale and consumption in Europe. ( THE BLADE/LORI KING )

Craig Lundgren has devoted his life to stopping what he calls the "cruel slaughter of horses in America."

Reid Nicholls has dedicated the last several months to filming Mr. Lundgren's quest.

Mr. Lundgren, 36, is a co-owner of Hobbie Horse Stables in Bowling Green who recently formed a partnership with the nonprofit organization, Speak Up For Horses, Inc. He said the goal behind forming the partnership was to educate the public about, and ultimately stop, the slaughter of horses in the United States for human consumption in Europe.

The idea sounded interesting enough to Mr. Nicholls for him to remain in Bowling Green past his August graduation from Bowling Green State University and continue chronicling Mr. Lundgren's efforts on film.

Mr. Nicholls, 23, a visual communications and technology education major at BGSU, said he learned of Mr. Lundgren's cause at a bar he and his friends frequented. Mr. Lundgren is a part-time bartender at the Bowling Green establishment, and he often discusses the mistreatment of horses with the clientele.

Mr. Nicholls filmed a 30-minute documentary on Mr. Lundgren as part of his senior independent study but decided there was more to the story.

Craig Lundgren gets a kiss for his efforts from one of his rescued horses inside his barn in Bowling Green. ( THE BLADE/LORI KING )

"At first I thought it was cool that someone would devote his life toward saving horses, but then the project kept growing," Mr. Nicholls said. "You begin to realize horses are being killed for human consumption, and all of a sudden it turns into an awareness video."

Mr. Lundgren's argument is this: Over 90,000 horses were slaughtered at three foreign-owned slaughter houses in the United States last year. Many were healthy. Some were stolen, and others were sold for as little as $30. Most of them were killed so their meat could be sold for food in several European countries.

Mr. Nicholls said the documentary he is working on now, The Last Ride, allows him and Mr. Lundgren to expose how the horse trade and slaughter circuit works. He said the two have traveled to the slaughterhouses and trade shows, sneaking cameras in to get what he described as sometimes "sickening" footage.

"We go where this stuff is actually happening," Mr. Nicholls said. "The whole thing is pretty interesting. It's appalling, really."

Mr. Nicholls said there is no budget for his documentary, which he said could run for up to 90 minutes. He's had to borrow cameras from friends, and had to stop shooting for more than a month because no camera was available.

Mr. Nicholls hopes to release The Last Ride within the next few months, and is accepting odd jobs to pay the rent until it's finished.

"I don't know what's going to happen because I've never made a movie like this before," Mr. Nicholls said. "But I felt like if I had left [after graduation] I would've been leaving it unfinished."

Mr. Lundgren said his work with Mr. Nicholls is providing another venue for him to get his message out.

Mr. Lundgren and Speak Up For Horses, a group made up of three other horse enthusiasts from southern Ohio and Kentucky, are trying to end horse slaughter by educating the public about it. They are currently involved in a book drive aimed at providing literature to schools and libraries focusing on animal care, safety, and rescue.