My essay on Horse Slaughter

Great example, Ladytrails.

My husband likes to tell the story of a city person who retired to the country in his home county and thought he'd like a few ponies to keep the grass eaten down around his pond. This is in farm country, where just about everybody had a grade spotted pony in the back pasture that the kids used to ride. He thought it was great when someone dropped off the first couple. When it got to 25+ he had to padlock his gate.

At least their being dropped off alive. We've had several horses dumped on private property with bullet holes in their heads. It's ranch property without a full time resident and without fail, every summer we go up we are hauling off dead horses. Never had dead horses dumped out there before the US slaughter plants closed. Dead cows and sheep sure but not horses... until lately. It's pretty sad.

You just aren't listening people. Wayne Pascal of the HSUS has told Congress and everyone else that will listen that there is NO unwanted horse problem. He tells his gullible followers (and donors) that the only reason horses are going to Mexico to be slaughtered is because evil killer buyers are outbidding rescues and individual people who really wanted to buy the horses.

The Sale down the road has over 100 head go straight to Mexico from almost every sale. Most of these horses had no one else that bid on them other than the killer buyers. They are also the only bidders on many of the green-broke registered horses that go through the auction. Both of the biggest killer buyers that come to this sale will have kids that work for them that try them out and if they ride at all, they will try to sell them for saddle horses. They are worth $100.00 to $200.00 more that way than in Mexico. The main killer buyer at this sale buys under the company name of B and R. When they are going on a semi Tuesday morning straight to Mexico, they get penned off to 'B & R straight'. The better registered horses he buys are penned to 'B & R 4'. The ones he takes home to try out are 'B & R 5'. It is not unusual for him to buy the highest selling horses at the sale -- particularly cutting breds and reining breds along with the cheapest slaughter-bound horses. It is not uncommon for him to buy more than half of the horses at this sale. Between him and George Baker from Stroud OK, 3/4 of the horses at the sales have been going to them. But, they sell everything they can privately for more money. The ones they don't get sold will finally go to the slaughter house. These buyers are traders, order buyers and killer buyers.

The last 3 or 4 sales, saddle horses have come up significantly and a lot more of them are going back out into the country. It is looking more hopeful. There are plenty of people at every sale. 'Good' horses are always high. Decent horses usually get a home. The rest -- no one else bids on them or wants them.

If there are no other bidders, they are truly 'unwanted'. If the killer buyers were not at every sale, I really do not know what would happen to all of the horses that no one else bids on. The sale owners said he will close the sale down. If that is the case, the 2500 to 5000 horses that go straight to Mexico from this sale every year will end up starved or abandoned. There will be NO PLACE for them to go.

And as for Ladytrails story -- we have run into several people that have put pipe gates up over their cattle guards because they kept coming home to find horses in their pasture. Of course, the HSUS thinks they are all lying because there are no unwanted horses. Yeah -- right!

They need to bring back the slaughter houses in the USA .I don't like the idea but it is better than the pain these horses go thought going to Mexico

They'd end up in other people's pastures or trailers, running loose, or neglected in their homes.

Tempest: I love your display photo. It makes me giggle :)

Everyone else: check out this months Horse & Rider; there is an article in it that deals with the unwanted horses issue. Also, I am writing 2 papers on this for my final projects in two classes. One is an argument paper presenting both sides of the debate; the other is a paper on the new slaughter ban bill being reviewed by Congress. These papers are going to be LOONG but if it is possible (I haven't checked yet) I will upload a pdf if I can so people can clearly read and understand both sides of the issue from peer reviewed sources and factual data.

There is no way to control the breeding of horses as everyone is intitled to earn money. There are thousands of young race horses going to slaughter because of permanent injury or not fast enough. The lucky ones find homes but the horses greatly outnumber the buyers. Close the horse racing industry and a lot of people are out of work. The best way is education. Back yard breeders who feel the need to breed Precious in hopes of having a clone, also contribute greatly to the numbers of unwanted. Unless a person is willing to make a life time commitment my feeling is Precious shouldn't be bred. With the rapidly changing economy a life time commitment is nigh to impossible.

Cherie, you've nailed it. Most kill buyers have a pretty good sense of the horse market and as you say many of the horses go back to their ranches for assessment. Many are sold privately as there is more money in it. They are well fed. Years ago, one could go to the dog food plant and if there was a horse in their corrals that you liked, you could by it, by the pound.

When I was just starting out in the training business in 1960, I bought many prospects from the 'Columbine Packing Company' on the East outskirts of Denver. They killed every Monday and Wed thru Fri you could go through the pens and buy any horse they had for 'cost plus $10.00.' I remember buying a tattooed TB (with no papers) for $77.00 (too slow I guess as he was sound but a bolting, runaway son-of-a-gun) and sold him for $1200.00 to H/J barn after riding him for 3 months. Some made good horses and others had to go back because they were not sound and one was 'locoed'.

At that time, there were 3 slaughter houses in Colorado processing horses and a really huge one (the Crown Prince Dog Food Company) in Nebraska.

Cherie, a friend when to the dog food plant and picked up a wild little appaloosa about 14.3 for cheap. This little guy was a scrapper but soon blossomed as a gaming horse. The fellow was 6'3 so sold him to his girlfriend. Within a year no one could beat this little guy in barrels, especially if it was muddy. His years running wild had given him a keen sense of dealing with all conditions. He was always kept barefoot. When he was older he was the best uncle when a mare foaled and the best baby sitter going. Had Art not gone to have a look-see, the app would have been dog food.