hello alll hope all is well in the chat room have wandering into something on the web about free range horses being slaughtered and sent over seas for human consumption as a former farm bot this sickens and disgusts me there are places and seaches you can enter easily on the net i wont post any links because i understand its forbidden please to all who get this and read it you will find it its easy its real lets all right our congressmen and put a stop to this vile sickness p.s. may you all have a merry merry and a happy happy :badwords: i just want to strangle those doing this hope you all do as well thanks

well this is disturbing - i am not really a rights advocate - i dont have the heart or stomache for it - :crying:

moved to zoo

This was recently declared illegal, unfortunately. The issue is a lot more complicated than "people killing horses for no reason". The process of slaughter is very inhumane for horses due to the lack of effort put into handling and storing the animals until their time to enter the plant. The process of slaughter itself is NOT inhumane, its the transport and storage that is. With overhaul, slaughter could return to the valuable spot that it has for the industry.

As a side note, slaughter of horses does not solely produce meat to be shipped overseas, it produces a lot of products domestically as well, including MUCH needed "parts" for research that can't be supplied any other way. Equine research, which benefits the horses themselfs DIRECTLY (I'm not talking animal research on horses to benefit humans, cosmetics, etc, this is equine research for equine benefit), needs those varies tissues to learn more about the horse and how we can keep them sounder, longer, heal disease, and breed better and higher proformance animals.

As far as "free range" horses, I'm not sure exactly what you mean... there was a change in the law recently that changes the ownership requirements on wild mustangs. But as far as I know it still was illegal to slaughter (when slaugher was legal) for a year after adoption. (ie the government still owns them for that year so they can't be sold). The POSSIBILITY exsists for the USDA to send them directly to slaughter, but as far as I know they do not, it just is a loophole in the law as written, not something that is actually done. Remember that there is a serious overpopulation of mustangs, many more herds roaming the national parks than the land can support. They are hurting themselves through overpopulation, and adoption is a major tool to keep the numbers down so they can sustain themselves. Along those lines, research again into injectable contraception (the GnRH and Zona vaccines) is trying to find a method of controlling those populations less invasively, but while there are some very exciting products developed, none satisfy the USDA's requirements of 1) REVERSABLE, 2) non-behavior modifying, and 3) effective single dose. Maybe in a few years we'll have the answer, but its out of our grasp at the moment.

This post has been edited by PonyStud08 on Dec 14 2007, 01:05 PM

i am a horse owner and love my horses but the worse thing that happened to the horse industry was banning the slaughter of horses , if you are going to ban horses then you might as well ban cattle, hogs chickens etc. they are the same they are animals they ought to make it legal then regulate it the market for horses is down there are some horses that you just cannot sell,so jump on that people

This sounds so terrible...How can you do this to horses?

Why are they any different than any other animal? Have you ever had a horse that you could not find a home for, and the only option was to send it to an auction house, where at least it might have a chance of going to a good home? Like I said, I support HUMANE slaughter, but the current rules need revising AND ENFORCEMENT to do so. The shipping and handling is MUCH more refined with other species, why can't it be the same with horses?

How come there are so many horses you cannot find a home for ? I mean, if the market is saturated, why do people continue to breed horses ? I don't live in the U.S. so I don't know how it goes there.

There is and always will be a market for high end competitive horses. To get the steller horse, unfortunately, you have to weed through the six non-steller horses that failed to make the grade.

There will ALWAYS be a group of people who breed "sally because she's such a GOOD girl", never mind Sally is constantly lame, hates people, and can't be ridden because of her conformation. Or, worse, the folks "oh, I just would DIE to have a foal mommy!". Well, Kiddo a) realizes that foals are dangerous, nasty buggers who require actual WORK to turn them into the steller individuals you see at the big farms. Or, B) kiddo realizes that boys are cute and much more fun than that stinky mare we bred 10 months ago. Or, c) "oh, I didn't realize if you put mares and stallions in the same paddock they would do THAT". (all real quotes)

Thirdly, horses are and always will be LUXERY items. When the economy drops, hay gets expensive, people sell. And if there is nobody buying, that's a problem. And the people sending animals to slaughter are generally very hardworking people who just can't afford not to... the rancher who's family depends on their income, and the difference between profit and loss is so tiny. The folks who love their horse dearly but can't find a home or a buyer, and can't afford to feed both the family and the horse (kinda like me!). And there are the worst kind of people too, who take advantage, buy cheap and sell to make a profit. Its all kinds of folk, many who are truely good people.

That and horses have a 11 month gestation... meaning the economy might be doing wonderfully when you breed, then take a downturn and be poor 16 months later when you try to sell a weanling, or 24 months when you try to sell a yearling, or 48 months when try to sell a green broke horse.

This post has been edited by PonyStud08 on Dec 15 2007, 01:01 AM

You forgut most of the breeders are now rich and see the horse as a stock. Play and through it away.
They talk of there indoor arenas and how bad the back yard breeder is but sell seamen to anyone with a check.
The old time breeders are gone but they cared not like the idle rich of today.

The only reason they are at the show is to brag and control.
Second place is the first looser these days.

Rus

God damn Ponystud you hit it right on the head. I HATE the idea of horses going to slaughter....It brings tears to my eyes :(

But, here in MD, selling horses for meat recently became illegal. Just as it is in Kentucky. So instead of a humane end to a horses life, they are literally turned loose in the streets. THIS IS HAPPENING NOW FOLKS!!

It sounds great to listen to PETA and types like them. But the hard reality is this....economics, no matter how harsh, will ALWAYS play a role in peoples decision on animals. The "feel goods" of the world (usually the rich) will bitch and complain about horses going to slaughter for dog food. So it becomes illegal. Then what???? The horse is forgotten and quite literally starves to death, or a "horse rescue" (yeah, right) comes along and promotes the animal as a triumph which in turn promotes more "feel good" donations. It doesn't solve the problem!

Rus, I feel your pain (and I _was_ one of those rich breeders btw, so I know the type you refer to....believe me. Being around those people at a show made me wanna fuking _puke_...god damn I hated em)

equineslurp, just out of curiosity, what's the name of the artist who draw your avatar ? I like it.

Sorry for being a little bit off-topic.

I picked up that avatar from a friend of mine. The artist is "Megan Giles" I believe (when she sent it to me the avatar name said MeganGiles.jpg so I think that's the artists name)

That horsie is SO cute isn't he? :P

I just found her gallery on vcl, thank you very much.

Ok I am soft hearted but down here we have rescue services. I give to them and when
a uncle died who spent his life training and breeding horses I made a contribution to them in his memory. It takes so little to find out where these places are and if you can give time or money they appreciate it. They are there so horses that are abused or old don't wind up slaughtered. This one also retrains them for area kids and and charities.
So look around and see what you can do to help.

I'm quite sure there are genuine horse rescue places out there. But one has to be careful.

There is a horse rescue in this area and while all their efforts seem in earnest, they also nose about local horse facilities looking for anything that remotely appears to be abuse (also remember that zoophilia is considered 100% abuse by many people). They then report that farm to the authorities hoping to get the horses away from that farms ownership and into their own. These people are in the business of _selling_ horses. No abuse equals no business for them.

We had a very old gelding on our farm and it was very difficult to keep weight on him. His ribs showed, and he was ill alot. This happens to horses when they get to their late 20's/early 30's sometimes. Our farm was reported by this "rescue" and an animal control officer came out to investigate. He interviewed witnesses, asked the owner for receipts from the vets, even interviewed the vet herself to ascertain if the horse was being neglected. He turned up nothing but it was a scary experience. Had he decided there was abuse/neglect he could have confiscated the horses and shut us down. Needless to say, anyone from a "rescue" sure as hell wasn't allowed on the property ever again.