Marty Irby, a former eight-time world champion equestrian, is the executive director at Animal Wellness Action in Washington, DC. He spoke via email with DAVID ADAMS about his work, faith and what the recognition of Queen Elizabeth II has meant…
Marty Irby, a former eight-time world champion equestrian, is the executive director at Animal Wellness Action in Washington, DC. He spoke via email about his work, faith and what the recognition of Queen Elizabeth II – who honoured him for his work with horses in 2020 – has meant…
What is Animal Wellness Action all about?
“Animal Wellness Action is a 501c-4 non-profit based in Washington, DC, formed in 2018 to help animals by influencing legislation and policy shaping animal protection and welfare laws to ensure better lives for wild and captive animals.”
Marty Irby with foals at his family farm in Shelbyville, Tennessee in 2013. PICTURE: Courtesy of Marty Irby
What specially are you advocating for?
“Currently we are working to ensure strict enforcement of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act in the United States that was signed into law in 2020 and took effect on July 1, 2022. The measure banned race-day doping and created a new national authority, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, to establish and oversee national standards in American horse racing.”
“In addition, we continue to work to stamp out the painful practice of ‘soring’ Tennessee Walking Horses that’s utilised to induce a pain-based artificial high-step known as the ‘Big Lick’ by applying chemicals such mustard oil, diesel fuel, croton oil, and other caustic chemicals and inserting sharp objects in the horses feet. Large, stacked shoes and ankle chains are then placed on the horses’ feet to exacerbate the pain. I’d like[n] it to running over hot coals barefoot. This practice has persisted in the US since the 1950’s.
“Furthermore, we continue to work to end the slaughter of equines all around the globe. Horses from many countries around world are slaughtered and served up as slabs of meat for dinner and we owe these icons [upon] whose backs most of our civilization was built upon. [They deserve] better treatment than to be used up, shipped to slaughter, and shot in the head with a bolt gun to kill them. These are flight animals that are forced to endure terrible conditions in transport and countless ‘kill pens’, they’re kept in to hold until shipped or slaughtered. It’s a terrible injustice.”
IN SHORT – MARTY IRBY
A Scripture that’s special to me…”Psalm 23:4-5 – ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.’ I do not fear much at all because of these verses, and I have lived much of my life afraid of very few things…I am only afraid of not fulfilling my mission, and in that very fear it is that I rely on this Scripture and prayer. God has and will always provide more than enough if we are faithful and believe.”
A person I admire…”Well, that’s an easy one: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and it is because she is truly the greatest horse protector of all time. There has been no one else with her stature and power, but more importantly her love, that has affected more equine lives for the better in our known world history from my view.”
A place where I like to spend time…”I’d like to spend a few days just brushing, riding a horse, and cleaning some horse stalls while I think for a few days, that’s about as good as it can be for the soul, and I rarely have the opportunity these days.”
I understand your advocacy for horses has come at a considerable cost?
“Yes, after speaking out and rallying the breed registry for Tennessee Walking Horses to vote in support of legislation known as the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act that would end the painful practice of soring by banning those large, stacked horse shoes and ankle chains, I was shunned by my own family and most everyone in the horse world I had known since birth. My wife and divorced, I lost my business at the time, was forced to file for bankruptcy, had countless death threats and threats of violence against me, and my father and I didn’t speak for more than five years. I testified about this before the US Congress and met fierce enemies who still threaten me to this very day.
“There are few defining moments in a person’s life, and that was the single most important defining moment of mine. I knew the price I would pay but didn’t realise how vicious the attacks would be. One man, George Lee Lennox, tried to stop this abuse in the 1970’s and he was murdered for it. I do not and have never regretted that decision as it brought me to Washington, DC, where I live today and am fulfilling God’s purpose for my life protecting horses and ending violence in horse training – a purpose Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was very well aware of.”
Where did your love of horses come from?
“That love is something I was born with and is a love that Queen Elizabeth II shared as well. My grandfather was a veterinarian, my father a horse trainer, and the generations of the Irby family before were full of horsemen and women as well. I cannot remember learning how to ride a horse; it’s the same to me as having the ability to walk and talk, and I have never cared or loved anything on this earth more than the horses. I lived through a terrible childhood and the horses saved me, they were my strength, and they healed me and fueled a power within me that I cannot describe. It is my duty and my honour to repay them by helping all horses on this planet.”
Tell us a bit about your personal faith journey.
“I was born in the American Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion and was confirmed in the church at the age of 13. I have been extremely close to God since childhood. I can’t recall a time when I didn’t ‘talk’ to God, and my faith, and relationship with God have been the foundation of everything I do. I have always felt a calling from God to help the horses and have made many major decisions in my life based solely on faith, and God has always, without fail, sustained and carried me through every challenge.”
What role does your faith play in your work with horses?
“Many people have deemed me ‘crazy’ for making many of the decisions I’ve made based solely on faith, especially in helping horses and making the sacrifices I have. I believe that if we are faithful and we honour and follow God’s plan for us then He will see us through and cloak us with a shield of protection to fulfil that plan. And I have seen Him do it first hand in my life. Not long after my personal life collapsed, I was admitted to Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, and attended for one year but ultimately decided that God’s calling was not to be a seminarian, but to fulfill His will in protecting horses, and that has become my ministry. I have been held at gunpoint twice, and have had far too many situations I’ve faced that should have led to my death, but without question I believe God protected me.”
The certificate given to Marty Irby for his work with horses. PICTURE: Courtesy: Animal Wellness Action.
You were honoured in 2020 with a certificate recognition by Queen Elizabeth II for your work with horses – what did the honour mean to you?
“Her Majesty’s recognition has truly been the greatest honour of my life, and kindest gesture any human being has ever shown me. For that to come from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who I consider to be the greatest human being that has lived on this planet over the past century, and for her to recognise me – a nobody who grew up on a farm in Alabama in the US – well, I know that was God’s doing, and there is no other explanation. The story is far too long to tell here, but I wrote it at the request of Monty Roberts, the Queen’s trusted confidant, and Her Majesty read every word of it. That alone, that she read it, and knew my life story validated everything I have done in way that nothing else could. I believe my task to be ordained by God, quite frankly.
“I may not be a knight, but the Queen sure made me feel like one, and I believe she knew my heart. What Queen Elizabeth did for me inspired me to continue my work for as long as I shall live. I believe she planned it that way, and that there was absolute divine intervention amidst her decision.”
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Marty Irby with Monty Roberts and Ashley Avis, director of Disney’s ‘Black Beauty’ film. PICTURE: Courtesy of Marty Irby
You have had a connection with the Queen and her love of horses through your friend Monty Roberts. Tell us a bit about that.
“In 2005, Monty Roberts and his daughter Debbie Loucks came to visit with me and my mentor, William B Johnson, the founder of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, in Shelbyville, Tennessee. They had just left the Queen and brought the principles and concepts Monty teaches [through his organisation Join-Up International] to teach us as Her Majesty had charged Monty to spread these principles around the world. I was 26 and even though I had been a horseman my entire life, I had never seen anything like it. What I saw convinced me that I could help make what many would deem radical, long-lasting change and help to the Tennessee Walking Horses I care so deeply about and it set me on fire. Monty’s demonstrations turned the key to the lock that had imprisoned my mind for my entire life, and it has never been the same since. Seventeen years later, we are doing more than ever to help the horses. The Tennessee Walking Horse has been the most abused horse in America, and I am convinced that we will see that abuse brought to an end because of Queen Elizabeth II and Monty Roberts.”
How did her recent passing impact you and how are you marking it?
“I bet I’ve burst into tears or welled up against them at least three dozen times since Her Majesty’s passing just thinking about it and at least that many more reading so many great stories about her. I do wish I could be in London to pay my respects but since I am unable, I visited the kind people and embassy that represents the Crown in Washington, DC, where I live, and signed the book of condolences on Monday morning following Her Majesty’s death…It was as honor and a privilege to have that opportunity in person, and I hope to join Her Majesty’s service at the National Cathedral here in the US as well. On impact, I am more inspired than I have ever been to execute Her Majesty’s charge and fulfill my life’s purpose in helping horses and humans around the world and will do everything in my power to see her vision of a cruel free world for horses embraced by every breed, discipline, and horseperson on this planet.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The third picture caption has been corrected.
