Tack for Iraq

An International Mission of Peace

Mission Accomplished!

Updated October 22, 2005

    We wish to take the opportunity to THANK everyone who has participated with us over these last months with their donations of Tack Items, Barn Goods, Veterinary Supplies and Drugs, and the funding which has allowed us to ship these items to the Iraqi Arabians. What you have done has furthered the understanding of Personal Freedom and published the truth that Americans are Compassionate and Caring People, not just in Iraq, but throughout Arabia and the Middle East. You have also helped to strike a highly impactive blow against International Terrorism in a very special and peaceful way. 

    With the Command Changes in Iraq for US Forces, and the establishment of a Constitutional Government in Iraq, the care of the Horses has been handed over to the Iraqi Government and the Horses now have a financial budget. Though our Organization will no longer be receiving Items or Donations to the cause of the Horses, this does not mean that Americans can no longer donate Items of Tack and barn goods to the Iraqis. What it does mean is that our function as intermediaries and "gatherer's" is no longer necessary. As a part of the Transition, a Direct Address for the Horse Facility has been established by the Iraqi Govt. where you will be able to ship directly to the Barn. That Address is:

Baghdad Horse Facility
C/O The Baghdad Zoo
Al Zawra Park
Baghdad, Iraq

There is no ZIP on INTL mail code necessary. Please be aware that some Customs Sanctions still are in effect for Iraq. Please mark all packages "USA Gift Package - Humanitarian Aid"
and fill out the necessary Customs Voucher which is USPS form #2976-A and place it in the special envelope #2976-E --and check the USA Gift box. Customs in Dubai, AE knows us very well, and gets packages with the new address through very quickly. As to forbidden Items, which change, please check with your Local Post Office for the most recent changes. 

    Again, our Heart-felt Thanks for your participation. This project could never have worked without you. Rest assured that we will be monitoring the progress of the Horses through the Iraqi Society for Animal Welfare, and personnel with the Horses and the Baghdad Zoo, and news will be posted on this website regarding current needs, if any, and such news as may be forthcoming regards the Horses and the Herd (like new Foals!). 

Al Salaam as Allahma
Ed Littlefox

Unity in a Common Cause

   It is only rarely in Life that we are presented with the opportunity as Individuals to offer aid directly to a People in such a way as to have a decidedly positive impact on an entire Culture. 

   The Story of this effort, and this Website, spans nearly 2 years of time searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack which began with the Invasion of Iraq. My search ended on October 12, 2004 when I received an email reply to a letter of inquiry sent to a Soldier in the US Army in Iraq. That inquiry was to learn the fate of the Iraqi National Herd of Arabian Horses. This Individual Soldier has hands-on contact with the Horses on a daily basis, and was able to fully inform me regards them and also to put me in direct contact with the Iraqi Officials directly charged with their care and handling. 

   Of the original Herd of 100+ Horses, only 19 remain, the rest having been killed during the bombing of Baghdad when their Facility was struck by a Tomahawk cruise missile. Along with the Horses, the National Herd also lost every piece of equipment and tack necessary to care for these Horses properly. They still have no equipment, as the Human and Infrastructural needs of the Country at this juncture outweigh the needs of the Horses and their caretakers. Yet, regards the Human Need, literally every Humanitarian organization in the Free World is there to help and are doing so and the Human infrastructure is being re-built. 

  There is, outside of this Website and the Soquili Group, and some truly dedicated United States Army Personnel with HQ Company of the 1st Cavalry Division out of Ft. Hood, Texas, no-one helping the Horses or the people tending to their needs. Elements of the 1st Cav. are in the process of helping the Iraqi Government build a new Horse Facility in the form of a 20-stall expandable barn and associated compound. The Iraqi Government has appointed personnel and charged them with the care of the Horses. I am in personal contact with the Barn Manager, Mr. Muaad Omar, and Iraqi Agricultural Engineer, Mr. Abu Marwan, constantly by email. I will add that the need is so great that our own 1st Cav Soldiers have taken money from their own pockets to purchase poor quality equipment on the local economy in order to facilitate hoof-care and basic handling tack for the Horses. All of the members of the 1st Cav's HQ Company are Horsemen and charged with the care of the U.S. Army's Horses and Mules, and the tending of the Caissons and Horses used in State Funerals in the US. It was these men that you saw tending and riding the Horses at the Funeral of Pres. Reagan

  I want you to understand the Cultural Importance of the Iraqi National Herd to the People of Iraq. I am American Indian, and my understanding of the cultural importance of Horses is pretty thorough because of that fact. The People of Iraq are deeply rooted in Tribal Culture, that of the Bedouins, to which the Horse is both vital and integral. It is through the National Herd that All Iraqis are One People, regardless of Sect or Status. Iraq, itself, encompasses the area of the Middle-east which, in the ancient past, was Sumer; the oldest known Civilization on Earth. It is from Sumerian Records, in cuneiform script on clay tablets, that the oldest known records of the selective breeding and domestication of Horses is found. The Iraqi National Herd belongs to no Individual, but to the People of Iraq as a Whole. What we do for the Horses, we do for every Iraqi as the Horses are Integral with the Culture of the People. 

  I have been told by my contacts within the Military in Iraq, and later directly by the Iraqi Barn Manager, that the mere offer of help from a Horseman in America--an ordinary American Citizen--has already had a profound and positive effect on the attitude of Iraqis toward Americans in general. When my first letter was read to them, they could not believe, nor understand why, an American would even care about them, much less their Horses, as the consensus has been that we Hate Iraq and them. We have an opportunity, my friends, not only to help re-grow and restore a Culturally Important Herd of fine Arabian Horses, and correct a tragic mistake, but to help win the Peace in Iraq and change attitudes about Westerners in the Middle-east. 

  To find out More, and how you can help, please click the "Next" Button below. 

  Other Opportunities to Help Horses and their Human Families Worldwide. PLEASE check out:

Society for Protection of Animals Abroad

And read about their fabulous Programs and Work!