ITALY-HORSES-AGRICULTURE-MEAT

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ANGUS MACKINNON - Tony Gerardi of the association "L'estancia" which supports the project "Save the Working Horse" leads horses saved from the slaughterhouse during a training in his ranch, on December 16, 2014 in Vigone near Turin. In the last four years, Tony Gerardi and his wife Miky Daidone, a horse-loving couple, have saved around 40 healthy young horses from the butcher's knife by matching them with people who have a use for a working horse and then training them for their new roles. The horses that pass through L'Estancia are bound for a variety of roles: some will simply become riding horses either for families of leisure companies, others are trained to pull carriages in tourist spots and a small number are taken on by health therapists who use horses in their treatment of patients suffering anxiety and other mental problems, including hyperactive children with attention deficit disorder. AFP PHOTO / MARCO BERTORELLO (Photo credit should read MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)