People that are for horse slaughter please see this! Thanks!

CountryLVR, it is back to the same old point. In an ideal world the horse would be well fed, happy and have the vet come to their pasture and quietly put them down. I am not saying I love the idea of slaughter. HOWEVER, the anti slaughter people have caused a GREAT deal more suffering to the horses they profess to love by closing plants in the US. Can you grant that point at least? (Longer travel time and non-regulated slaughter plants.) So these people go to bed patting themselves on the back as do gooders. In my mind they are the epitome of simple minded selfishness.
In the county where I live a dog license is $10 if the dog is spayed or neutered and $50 if the animal is not. That helps to pay for caring for the gazillion unwanted cats and dogs. Of course, the irresponsible owners probably do not purchase licenses anyway. The point being, anti slaughter activists should be working toward REALISTIC fund raising ideas to take care of as many unwanted horses as possible. Change is slow and takes lots of hard work and well thought out plans.

Great posts SR, Juniper and the like!

I have to say, it cost WAAAAAY more than $60 to put a horse down. Heck,$60 isn't even the vet farm call. And then you have to add in the price of hiring equipment to come bury your horse. That my friend, is also WAAAAAY more than $60.

I would never send one of my horses to slaughter. But, I am not against humane slaughter. Its the circle of life. Everything has to die eventually.

Absolutely correct, Bailee.

When I had to have my beloved gelding put down, it cost me a total of $400.00. And that was CHEAP, because I had my own land where I could bury him.

The vet cost was astronomical, as was the backhoe rental. Thank God I had friends who helped move his body and put him in his grave, otherwise I'd have had to pay someone to do that, too!

So, would you rather GET $60.00-$100.00 or PAY $400.00 (or more) to get a horse off your feed bill?

For someone with little to no money, in financial straits and no other options, I don't see why they shouldn't have the ability to take the first choice.

When I had to put my gelding down in Oct the vet bill alone for putting him down was $362, thats not including emergency farm call that day. I was also very lucky that my brother in law is head hancho at a construction company, so he was able to have a mini escavator out within 2 hours of him passing. I could only imagine what it cost to rent one and have it hauled out.Sorry, totally off subject.

I agree some people need other options. In my honest opinion, I would rather see a horse going off to slaughter than to see it starve to death in someones back yard because they cannot afford to feed it.

I admit I didn't read through this entire thread. 28 pages is a bit much to go through. My point may have been made already.

Rather than commenting whether or not horse slaughter is right/wrong, I would like to point to the cause and a solution.

Unlike cows, chickens or pigs, horses in the US are not raised to be slaughtered. Horse slaughter is necessary because there are too many horses. If you don't like horse slaughter, we need to stop breeding them.

There are too many people that breed a horse simply because they "want a baby horse." I even know of a horse rescue that bred a rescue horse to her own horse! If a rescue doesn't understand the problem with over-population you know things are out of hand.

The same thing happens with dogs and cats, which is why so many meet a sad end at the local shelter.

I do think horse slaughter is a necessary evil. I also think much of it could be avoided by avoiding irresponsible breeding. People and groups opposed to slaughterhouses should be as active in going after the breeder who created the problem in the first place. That solves the problem be eliminating the cause.

Once you have too may animals and not enough people to care for them you have only two choices - put them out of their misery or let them die by starvation.

Exactly.How can people say they are against slaughter, yet they STILL spend thousands on a "papered show horse" when they could be rescuing.I'm sorry but people need to quit living in a fantasy world where every pony is loved and nothing is killed.Wake up and smell the roses...

The papered show horse isn't the problem, generally anyways. The problem is the people who breed because the love their horse even if it has terrible confo, not registered... then they breed to the random stud down the road.

People who breed expensive horses generally put a lot of thought into the foals in order to get the best possible. Which greatly increases the chance that the foal will have a lifelong home... Little Daisy down the street with the straight hocks, ewe neck, long pasterns, long back, and bad attitude from crappy training isn't so lucky. Her value is crap. The well-bred horses tend to keep their value even in a bad market or at least they only lose a little.

the papered show horse is the problem!!!
these back yard breeders you talk about produce a fraction of the unwanted horses in america and most of them are probably papered. that's what makes them worth something. people know unregistered horses aren't worth as much as registered ones. the unregistered can't be shown in sanctioned shows. only open shows. the breed registries encourage people to breed more horses to make them money on the registrations and transfers. have you ever thought about how many horses are bred each year to race??? how about as cutters, reiners, halter, and those walk trot and harness horses??? only a few are good enough to win and the rest are unwanted horses that have to find a new home with a person that just wants a horse. there are 10s of thousands of them out there. lets outlaw horse shows. people on this forum are always talking about rescuing off the track horses. they wouldn't have to rescue them if the horses had much value and there weren't so many of them. now, how about the mustangs??? i've heard that the government spends $1250 per horse per year to keep them alive even though no one wants them. i don't suggest that none of them are wanted, but the excess are unwanted and can't be left on the range to destroy habitat for the rest of the living things out there that are native. the horses are not native to our ranges. they are just animals that city folks want to see on their vacation. much like the bear problems that have developed across america 'cause city folks want to see a bear when the go to country for vacation. the people in the country have to live with a bear they don't want so someone can see it (maybe) some time later.
if you don't want to sell your horse to a meat market, don't. but don't stop others who do from exercising their rights as americans to choose. you'll let them choose to kill babies. are horses more valuable to you than babies???
the horse population in america is a real problem. unwanted horses could fill a need. people food for those who want it. dog food for the rest. it drops the population and horse prices come up so a person can sell the horse they have and buy another.
i have a nice gelding that i want $500 for and a person wants him and i have too many and want to sell him. the other person will only buy him if he can sell his unwanted horse. he can't sell the horse he has and therefore can't buy mine. that's a problem for both of us and would be solved by a drop in the horse population.
turn off your emotions and turn on your brain. why run around trying to raise money to keep 100s of thousands of horses alive until they die of old age when they could be used for good and have value now and make your own horse worth more???
just my 2 cents worth.

It is these type of statements that just really PISS me off. I am not at all against slaughter. I am am against people who breed crap and then expect those of us who do not and show to pick up and fix and/or care for their crap.