Why does this still continue

I work at an animal sanctuary and week after week I see horses coming in horses with great potential that people couldn't be bother with I don't understand why these people leave these horses to die and make excuses when they are caught because clearly most of them tend to be lies I have seen horses with ribs prutruding the back end looking like a cows and back has dropped in had so much muscle loss there heart has been effected why can people not understand if you get a horse it's not acceptable to let it get to such a state that it can barely hold itself up. Races horses come in imported from America worth hunderds of thousands of pound bred by amazing racehorses for example Secretariat it disgust me!
*BIG RANT*

Unfortunatley everything is down to finance, but I think if I was ever in that position,i,d make the effort to get them a home whilst they were still healthy and fit

As much as I feel the same as you I know it will never end and there will always be abuse of animals...I wish there was a way to wrap your mind around it but some people just don't have a conscience. Sometimes I hug my own pets and pray that all of the unwanted starving scared abused animals might feel it for one moment...

Jimmy makes a good point.
I also work at a rescue and sanctuary and I am always asking myself this same question.
Unfortunately, it's just how people are and there's nothing much we can do but take in the horses that need the proper care and try and find them new homes.

This is so sad. I fear we have not seen the worst yet.

Thanks to those who work so hard in animal rescue and rehab, for giving these animals a second chance!!

Kristine

Yes I know it's the peopl ohh the make me so angry!
I fear that if I haven't seen the worst what the worst is horses literally 2 or 3 days from death skins in such bad condition.
I'm so close to finiding these people are doing the same to them see how they feel they deserve to be hurt >:(

When there were slaughter houses for horses in the U.S. And the price was better people had incentive to get thier unwanted horses to the auction where people could buy them. Now alot of places charge for selling horses because they don't bring enough money to cover the cost of selling them. If there was a potential to get three or four hundred dollars out of the horse they would get rid of them a little faster.

+1. You can thank your friendly neighborhood tree hugger for the slaughter houses being shut down several years ago. Until I learned that horse slaughter is NECESSARY to a good market for quality horses, I thought that it was a disgusting thing to do. Now I think otherwise, and I also hear that horse meat is actually quite good. We're one of few countries that does not consume horse meat on a pretty regular basis.

I see horses in the same condition very often and it's awful. This happens because some people see horses like a machine. Owning a horse is like owning a tractor for them. If the horse gets injured or if they don't have food for him they abandon him. For example in winter the number of abandoned horses is very big because the owners don't have what to give them to eat so they abandon the poor animal. There are cases when they work horses 'till they drop. I saw a case with a mare that was forced to pull a heavy cart until she couldn't stand on her feet. It was brought to us and we put her down because she couldn't make it.
So the problem is that some people don't see horses like a being, they see them like a mere thing. When it's not useful they just dispose themselves of it.
Slaughter is useful sometimes, I prefer to see a horse sent to slaughter than let to starve.

When all that about shutting the slaughter houses down began I knew that it would be like this. The market is now flooded with low grade horses and the better grade horses have felt some impact too. I've been going to stock auctions a long time and I know for a fact that when a horse was injured or sick people would auction them off for meat rather than pay the vet bills. I know its horrible but that's how alot of people think..... now these horses are left standing in barns or fields with no care and no help. At least they were put out of misery before and now theres no end for them utill they slowly deteriate and die. Most auctions in my area will no longer sale horses at all due to people unloading them and just leaving. Strangles runs rampant due to over crowding and shuffling horses from one place to another. Even the horses that get bought are in for misery, because they go so cheap poeple are buying them that have no experience with horses and so those poor horses are in for misery ahead and usually end up right back at the auction worse off than before. Not to mention the people who buy these malnourished or ill horses soon decide from experience from them that they never want another horse. Its bad for horse related economy on many levels.
Of course not everything that comes out of these auctions are bad....I bought my dearest equine companion out of compassion at one of these stock auctions, got her for a song. She had bounced around many places before I came along and she has a life long home with me. I have bought several of these horses ad rehabilatated them, it takes several months of grocerys and patience to get them anywhere near right again, and I know in one instance when I rehomed a certain old stallion he wound up right back in the same condition with his new owner that he was in when I found him.At this time I don't know where he is.So be careful when selling your horses. People sometimes seem knowledgable and caring but when they get over the novilty of a new horse they often sell it again or stop caring for it.
When you buy a horse you buy a 30 + year commitment.
Another thing that burdens my mind is the fact of the large outcry about the slaughter houses being closed.... yet people don't seem to care about the fact of millions starving every day,or abortion, or homeless people standing on our very own street corners. Yes it is sad that horses sometimes meet a bad end. But its even sadder that so many people are more concerned about horses than humans.