Ban Horse Slaughter in US

Not to mention the issue of body disposal once the horse is euthanized. It's hundreds of dollars for just one horse. You would need millions of dollars to euthanize and destroy all the horses that go through slaughter every year.

I was actually refering to horse owners euthanizing their own horses. To me, it is part of being a responsible horse owner.... if a horse owner cannot afford medical care or euthanasia for their horses, maybe they shouldn't have so many horses.

Wow why not? Let's get more government control over our daily lives to the point of eventually being told where we can live, what our jobs will be and how many children we can have. Once upon a time this country was based on freedoms not restrictions.

I personally think we are over governed enough at this time and really don't want them licensing me any more than they already do.

The average rancher in the western US would be pretty pissed if told he needed to register with the government to raise his own horses. And the folks I've met in government dealing with horses (local county zoning) are so painfully STUPID about horses that I wouldn't want anyone in government making rules for horses.

Have you ever seen a zoning official tell a cowboy "I need to conceptualize what you mean by 'barbed wire fence'...what does it look like in my mind's eye?"

That was a quote from a Pima County official I overheard while trying to convince them to let me build a corral without first getting my land resurveyed.

So its your right and freedom to breed poor quality animals with health problems, not take care of them and then complain when "all teh prettie horsehs" go to the slaughter house. Yep, very American ideology.. anyone with a conscious that thinks before they breed, 95% of horse owners, is contributing to 5% of the equine population boom. It's the 5% of people who's mares 'need a foal' that are 95% of the issue. Any decent legislation would not affect the 95% of responsible horse owners.
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Anebel, we are normally pretty close to the same wavelength, but I have to disagree with you here. Even if I wasn't against the govt sticking their nose even farther into my business...

Who would they get to enforce the licensing and make sure that only licensed breeders were breeding? The cops already have their hands full and overflowing with the laws already in effect. Create more jobs to employ people to strictly monitor breeding? Where will the revenue come from to pay their salaries? Increase the taxes of people who don't even have horses? Will it come from the licensing fee of those who actually do go through the trouble of getting licensed? Will there be a tax of some sort for each mare bred or each stallion breeding? After all, the initial licensing fee, unless it was up in the thousands of dollars for each breeder and was an annual fee, wouldn't go far in paying even one salary.

I'm sure that someone could come along and re-structure the entire govt budget and find the money to do it...but if they go to that much trouble, I'm sure they could find about a million other places to spend the money that are more practical and need it more...like the foster care system or the school system or the health care system.

Here's a thought! If all the decent horse owners boycotted buying horses from the crappy BYB, maybe they'd stop breeding crappy ill conformed, sick or unwanted horses? I mean honestly, there's some stupid people in this world, but some of this breeding is SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

My horse Kiera was bred to be a "sports horse"...this was no stallion jumping the fence. Just a lady with a bunch of quarter horse mares and a black Perch stallion. She was so broke that she traded Kiera and her dam to the woman *I* bought her from as payment for some sort of services rendered, and they accepted since they figured they wouldn't get paid otherwise.
Fact of the matter is, that lady probably wouldn't have bred my horse if she didn't think there was a market for "Sports Horses"....

Or we could just walk up to the owners of these operations and give them an all-american punch in the face....or better yet, our stern disapproval (and subsequent withholding of the money). XD

ETS: I bought my horse from the second "owner"....I was unaware at the time of all the horse overpopulation/slaughter issues, but I guess I should have known given the state of cats and dogs in this economy. Even so, I'm glad that lady bred at least my fugly baby...but I'd never breed her!

I guess I'm missing where I complained about "when "all teh prettie horsehs" go to the slaughter house". And most of the ranch horses I've met have been fine. Two of my three horses have ranch time, and both seem uncommonly sound - more so than some $10,000 purebreds I've met.

Why, thank you!

How else do you see an end to the overpopulation problem, without slaughter then? China did it with people to control their population.
I think it would mostly be up to stallion owners to only breed to approved mares, and with an online system for registered horses all you would need is a registry number to get your certificate for that year (heck maybe registries would even deal with that) and then an application process for unregistered horses. For ranches and breeding farms (legitimately businesses) maybe a once every 5 years for all horses application. Policing would be restricted to unregistered stallions, however hopefully with a really good ad campaign a lot of stigma for backyard breeders could be created (think goveg.com type "shock value" posters).

Just a thought though... of course its not just going to be one idea that ends equine overpopulation.
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None if that post is in any way in reference to reputable legitimate businesses, like a ranch. It's about the thousands of Janes, Sallys and Susans who think their grade nags need a pretty baby and then it grows up to be a chronic reared because it was "cute" as a baby and now what does society do?

You're welcome. I'm sick of people in this nation not realizing that sometimes we have to make personal sacrifices for the greater good. If people refuse to self regulate (the way capitalism ideally works) then yes, it is in the scope of the government to regulate a business. Capitalism doesn't work perfectly in the real world because you can't fix stupid... I think getting rid of welfare might help that though...
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