R.T. Fitch
R.T. Fitch’s life has been anything but ordinary. Straight out of high school, he joined the U.S. Air Force Band during the Vietnam era, and while stationed in Hawaii, he spent weekends at Sea Life Park training penguins, sea lions, and whales. His path through life has taken many unexpected turns—including more than a few lessons in love—until meeting his wife, Terry, brought a lasting partnership and a shared passion for animals.
Over the course of his adult career, R.T. worked internationally in multiple countries, gaining a broad, global perspective that colors both his worldview and his writing. Now rooted in Texas, he and Terry live on a small farm surrounded by four-legged companions with paws, claws, and hooves. Together, they have devoted years to equine rescue and wild horse protection.
An ordained volunteer chaplain and professional Santa Claus for a local historical society—with Terry by his side as Mrs. Claus—R.T. brings warmth, wisdom, and joy to every season. His work reflects a life of service, wonder, and connection to both people and animals.
He is the author of Straight from the Horse’s Heart, a moving collection of true rescue stories and spiritual reflections, and Fangs of Light, a supernatural tale steeped in symbolic and metaphorical storytelling. The first in a planned trilogy, Fangs of Light blends myth and mystery to explore themes of identity, redemption, and the power of empathy—offering readers not only suspense and intrigue but a deeper look at the light and shadow within us all.
In our last post we shared with you a letter from an astounding 14 year old young lady, Cheyenne Little, who is actually educated enough and adequately enlightened to the point that she “gets it” when it comes to the cruelty and inhumanity that is at the heart of bloody, predatory horse slaughter. I was both motivated and enthralled when I read what she had written as it was years beyond her time and several levels above the tripe that you get out of the public ramblings on the Horse-Eaters side, I had to pinch myself to remember that this was a fourteen year old speaking out, hats off to Cheyenne; we sure hope that there are a ton more of young folks like you out there as our fight is for you.
My name is Cheyenne Little, I’m a 14-year-old girl who lives in Grass Valley. You might remember me as the kid who wrote the “More than a little help” article a few months back. My horse China’s doing great, I’m doing great. But there’s one thing that’s not so great. And I’m asking for the help and support of my community to change that status. I recently started a petition against the reopening of equine slaughter in the U.S. Before equine slaughter was made illegal in 2007, over 25,000 horses each year were being processed and shipped out of the country for human consumption.
“In this day, people don’t have exposure, they don’t have interaction with horses. I hope this movie [War Horse] makes people appreciate the innate and natural intelligence of horses. And I also hope this movie brings an aware- ness to the plight of horses both after World War I and the plight today in a very sad turn of events in which the slaughtering of horses is being permitted for food as a renewed export industry, which makes us all very sad.”
– Steven Spielberg
As of late it has been a difficult ride for the horses of the United States of American, both domestic and wild. From the gaff of language being stripped from an Ag bill that defunded horse slaughter plant inspections and then signed by the President to the rapid, cruel and possibly unlawful trapping and removal of protected wild horses and burros from public lands by Obama’s BLM; things have been bleak and looked like they were heading south, until…enter stage left, Steven Spielberg with his latest epic film War Horse. If ever the American public needed to be informed on the plight of the American horse it is now and Mr. Spielberg just opened up that conversation on Christmas Day.
Video by John Holland ~ President of the Equine Welfare Alliance The Video that Started it All
Christmas Commentary by R.T. Fitch ~ President Wild Horse Freedom Federation The Horses Thank All of You for Who and What You Are For the safety and security of my wife, Terry, and our ranch I rarely divulge my location, travel plans or activities. But being that it […]
As I have done twice a day 365 days a year for most of my adult life, I am on my way to take care of the barn people. Tonight is special because it is Christmas Eve. As I make my way along the two lane country roads that lead to the barn, the darkness and silence of the cold southwestern Pennsylvania night is interrupted only briefly by the Christmas lights on barns and homes scattered throughout the open fields.
by Vicki Tobin and R.T. Fitch, Illustration by Kerry Kelly of the Houston Chronicle ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and All through the land…. Twas the night before Christmas on our public land, Not a Mustang was stirring, knowing what was at hand. They huddled in fear hoping […]
Animal advocacy groups are calling for a ban on the sale of horse meat after disturbing video emerged from a Quebec slaughterhouse showing horses being knocked unconscious before they are butchered.
One of the videos, shot with a hidden camera in Les Viandes de la Petite Nation in western Quebec, shows an agitated-looking horse standing in a small stall.
A worker from the facility near Montbello, Que. walks up to the animal, pets it briefly, then shoots it in the head with what is known as a captive bolt pistol.
Lobbyist Charlie Stenholm has been working hard since before Thanksgiving. First, there was his Opinion piece in The Washington Times blasting proposed legislation protecting circus elephants, tigers and zebras from abuse—something that would hurt his client, Ringling Brothers.
Then, there was the push to get horse slaughter inspection bans reversed, which was accomplished a week later by three U.S. lawmakers who quietly revised a long-overdue spending bill behind closed doors.
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
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