Horses to slaughter

[adoptedbyachicken]

Now, if I were to loose a herd of Indian Elephants loose in the South

Double dog dare ya!

My that would be an interesting thing to say the least.

Most people don't think back as far as you. They see horses as a big part of the romantic settling of this land by Europeans. They choose not to see the arrival of the Spaniards long before that who did not to take their horses back with them and turned them feral. Thus, Spanish Barb is now the 'Mustang' blood they look for in testing the herds to see which ones are the originals.

 

[michickenwrangler]

I suppose I could always argue that "Indians" ride elepants too.

Aw c'mon, a lot of these people saw "Brother Bear." It came out around the same time as "Spirit."

 

[goodhors]

Unfortunately what most folks see about horse slaughter is the rough handling, non-enforcement of the laws-in-place for haulers. Seeing hurt or damaged animals being loaded by the killer buyer is harsh reality, yet something has to be done with them. And for whatever reason, many folks relate more closely to horses than other livestock going to slaughter. They regard equines more as pets than true livestock, even weighing in at 1000# or more pounds.

And with all USA slaughter plants closed, the killer horses can have a LONG ride to Mexico or Canada where their plants are located. Often the animals are not cared for well while enroute. People see the trucks or trailers at stops with bad looking animals, find out they are slaughter animals, and the visible bad handling/care makes it even worse in their viewpoint.

Laws for handling of the animals headed for slaughter are well-written, just NOT ENFORCED. I have been hauling my horses for years, have NEVER been stopped to check my inter-state Health Certificate, Coggins papers while on the road. Sometimes a show or clinic I am going to will want to see the papers, never any State officials. I know Florida is quite rigid for enforcing stops to check paperwork on animals, in AND out, hay you are carrying. If you do NOT STOP, they will chase you down and send you back! Kentucky will check and stop trailers if there is a KY Health Warning issued for certain states with diseases preventing entry to the State. KY does send those trailers home and not allow them to stay in-State.

Now MI has to have Piroplasmosis paperwork done before importing horses from infected states, including Indiana! That takes a couple weeks to get done, test is only good for 2 weeks!! We just got a horse in from an infected state, almost needed a second test because hauler had a load destination changed when he was going to pick her up! List of states infected keeps getting longer. Are the State Inspectors sitting on the incoming highways? No. Those Auction horses every Friday should NOT be crossing MI to reach Canada without proper State Inspection!! That doesn't happen so far as I know.

So I see lots of the noisiest folks talking about animal rescue who don't have good information. They have no idea of the repercussions that take place when you close down plants. Kind of like "rescuing the PMU horses and foals" a few years ago in Canada. Didn't want the PMU animals going for meat! We were inundated with advertising, force-fed horrible photos of abused animals to gain sympathy, from every horse agency. They hauled HUNDREDS of nasty looking, badly bred animals, newly weaned foals who were too young, a few nice animals, sold them for small amounts (FREE animal for cost of hauling!) to flood the local horse markets across the nation. Helpful folks thought they were "saving" horses from being on the meat lots. Yet then those people couldn't buy NICE local horses because they had no room or money left after feeding and Vetting these sick PMU animals. So the local horses went to Auction instead!!

So mostly what makes me angry is that good laws are ignored, when they should be enforced and the worst, visible problems could be pretty much cleaned up in the slaughter industry.

When wild horses ran free "in the old days" they had much larger ranges to cover without fencing. Even being imported, they fit in the grazing ecology, predators kept them thinned down. Sick and injured ones died as part of the natural cycle of life. They died from health issues like worm damage, infections, injuries of range living. Modern wild horses on the ranges still have these problems, but without predators they increase too fast for their range, need thinning by the BLM. They don't live to be old like pet horses are doing, with their 25+year expectation. 15yrs is OLD for the range animals, they are often worn out physically, without modern Vet care.

 

[michickenwrangler]

For endurance riding, we get a lot of out of state horses coming in (IN for Lope Rides, WI for Yoop rides) and they have to send in their piroplasmosis test with Coggins.

Also, when transporting horses within MI, you are *supposed* to stop at the welcome center in St. Ignace although not many people do. It used to be a huge hassle while they checked everything. The guy who got us last Memorial Day was pretty quick about it and I was only there for about 4 minutes. Checked Coggins vs. Horse, checked to make sure I wasn't transporting any bovids and we were good to go.

Actually goodhors, I read an article about PMU horses in Alberta in Western Horseman back in 2001 or 2002-ish. The writer said that the conditions were not nearly as bad as he was led to believe. He saw that the mares could indeed lay down comfortably with their "bags on." They were in roomy tie stalls (writer pointed out that many working horses are in tie stalls). They were only water 2 per day, but they were allowed to drink their fill (writer pointed out that horses were watered like that for centuries). They were turned out once a day but since it was Alberta in the wintertime, most just hung out on the lee side of the barn. While certainly not as posh as some stables, it sounded like a livable life to me. Yes, the foals do go to slaughter, but why not?

 

[michickenwrangler]

http://www.animallawcoalition.com/horse-slaughter/article/685

Well, it's legal in Montana now!!!

I hated the line at the bottom of the article, "To get in touch with your congressman to revive the sordid practice if horsekilling ... "

Comments are entertaining as well.

 

[goodhors]

I DID READ that article in Western Horseman!! It was a really detailed, thought out, and comparative piece of writing. They visited several farms, and did not think it was an abusive situation. Horses are kept "differently" but all had free access to water, were well fed, in good condition, no holes or sores. Things were CLEAN. Big remarks at the end were about comparing the barning to older, stanchion dairy operation, just not what newer horse folks expect to see for horses. No abuse to be seen!! Excellent journalism on a touchy topic. Horsemen with horse keeping knowledge, viewing a situation for CORRECT information to report. They were not bleeding hearts who whine if a horse doesn't have a 14' x 16' stall with food 3 times a day!

However I don't think many folks saw or read the article, who didn't do western riding!! We bought some horses up in Canada in the mid-90's from a PMU farm. We also had heard "bad stuff" and I was very curious about what we would find. I found it quite like an old dairy barn as well! The manager gave us the tour, explained how things were done. No horses were inside in July, they are out on the range then. I found everything to be pretty nice, easy to clean with power washers for sanitation. Mares were inside for only a few months in winter, and with a choice of -45F outside there, I would go for the barn too! The mare we bought had done time on the line, half TB with great legs, in marvelous shape. Manager said the Company buying urine did spot checks and things had to be perfect. If they quit buying, you were in DEEP trouble with no income!!

I think the deluge/dumping of PMU horses came a few years after article, when the Company said they were cutting back production. Synthetics were taking up more of the Estrogen replacement market, and then the heart problem report came out about dangers of taking Estrogen after menopause. Lots of women just stopped taking anything and the market fell apart!!

Meat buyers in Canada had more horses than they needed to buy, prices dropped to almost nothing. PMU folks who quit taking care of the horses were dumping at auction in the States and then the bleeding hearts uproar started. Of course I felt bad for the roughly treated Canadian animals, but it made me very angry when nice, BROKE animals locally could not be sold with everyone "full up" with PMU animals. Local horses who would have been ENJOYABLE to own and use, went cheap for meat instead of the PMU imports.

There was quite a bit of "no good deed goes unpunished" with the free, UNTRAINED, PMU animals hurting people, damaging property. Many were drafts and draft crosses,young animals turning into BIG horses with no respect for anything. Horses may not have had a purchase price, but they COST in every other aspect of having them around!! We lost potential long-term horse owners. They did not buy replacement animals when they get rid of the PMU animals because of all the problems they had with them. No fun owning such horses for many, huge expenses as well.

Our State of Michigan loses SO MUCH money with non-enforcement of various laws. Seems like there are plenty of enforcers for tiny things, but no one for big stuff like over-loaded semi trucks wrecking our highways, animals with no paperwork being introduced into the State. I would agree with you on organized horse activities following rules, having paperwork in order. But the folks who run down to Shipse on a Friday for the summer horse, don't have needed paperwork and NEVER get corrected, along with the killer buyers running home to Canada after the sale. Everyone just thumbs their nose at the laws and gets away with it. Heard about some out-west sale horses coming thru the Sales in Lansing just COVERED in ticks. New owner had to de-tick them when she got home. Who knows what those ticks had in them? Not inspected anywhere along the route and crossed a LOT of states getting here. Horses were lethargic, not enough blood left in them! Scared me, hearing about this. We got a free tick in alchohol for 4-H study, it was HUGE! And this is just stuff I know about, lots of horse things I would never hear of in other state locations.

 

[LauraM]

My goodness what a refreshingly intelligent, practical and realistic thread on this topic this is!

You wouldn't believe how I've beaten my head against the wall about this with others in other forums. About the only forum that the majority of people (though not all) have the same opinions as here that I've seen is The Mane Street. Very nice to find another group of people who understand the realities and problems of this topic.

 

[michickenwrangler]

My goodness what a refreshingly intelligent, practical and realistic thread on this topic this is!

You wouldn't believe how I've beaten my head against the wall about this with others in other forums. About the only forum that the majority of people (though not all) have the same opinions as here that I've seen is The Mane Street. Very nice to find another group of people who understand the realities and problems of this topic.

I know the feeling. Again, the one on BYC had to be closed since practical vs. let's-save-the-world-because-I-feel-guilty-after-seeing-Hidalgo-and-Spirit was getting quite vociferous.

Again, if you really want to see bleeding heart, check out that link I posted above. People are screaming that they are no longer going to vacation in Montana, they're going to start protesting to get the law changed BACK, etc...

 

[goatgirl4008]

I think the first big hurdle that must be jumped. Is to set up a definition of livestock that is what horses are. I grew up on a dairy farm I had pet calves but they were still livestock. Same with horses. It is a romantic notion of the old west and mustangs running free. But the reallity is its not like that now. There is an over population that needs an outlet. Some responsible owners might not have the finances to put to sleep and properly dispose of a horse that for what ever reason they can't. Take care of what are their options realistically. Sanctuarys are overflowing. This is the reallity. Where are all the bleeding hearts with a solution. This is a very good forum. I have put my 2 cents in and people aren't attacking each other. Thumbs up.

 

[jodief100]

I love horses, I adore them. I had horse posters all over my wall well into my 20s. My aunt had horses and I would muck stalls, haul water, feed, bathe, clean, run them on the hot walker, ANYTHING I could to earn an hour at the end of the day to ride. I would spend Christmas break with them. Every morning I would be at the barn at 5 AM with temperatures in the single digits to mount up and ride up the hills to check on the watering stations for the cows and LOVED every minute.

I HATE horse slaughter. I despise the idea. I also understand that horse slaughter was necessary to support the horse industry. I dont like it, but I know why it has to be so.

I am horrified at the prospect of eating horses. I also realize that other cultures have their own standards of normal and there is nothing WRONG with eating horse just because it does not fit into my world view of normal. Hindus think eating cows is a horrible sin. I dont want others imposing their values on me; I cant impose mine on someone else.

Shutting down the slaughterhouses has done nothing but make a bad situation worse. When something is legal it can be regulated. When it is illegal it goes underground and anything goes. Once again, this is a case where people breaking laws made everyone look bad and instead of enforcing laws already on the books, they just added new ones. This is the typical government reaction. If they would ENFORCE the laws they already have it might fix things. Why do some people never learn? If someone is willing to break law A, than adding laws B, C and D is just going to give them more laws to break.

I have 32 acres and NO horses. I love them and want one badly, but I cant afford one. People around me are giving away decent horses and selling for a few hundred dollars very nice ones but I cant afford them. I cant pay the maintenance. The horse industry is in shambles and it isnt going to be fixed anytime soon. A lot of people are going to lose their livelihoods, a lot of horses are going to suffer and a lot of good quality lines of horses are going to disappear if this continues for much longer.

Too many people who do not fully understand the situation demanding laws be changed to fit what believe is right without thinking through what the impact will be.

The only solution- Educate, inform, speak up and VOTE! With your ballot and your dollars.