“These plates can only be used on soft ground, you don’t use these on hard ground, so they’re strictly for race horses,” Sommers says. “These horses are race horses.
That’s a definitive statement, not a belief, as you suggest. 

Point #2: Starving a horse (or dumping it, or sending it to slaughter) is big among people who view horses (or other livestock) as what makes you money, not costs you money. You can’t tell them to euthanize their horses; they’ll always tell you they can’t afford it.  

I listened to a speech by a prominent “horse industry” guy, who described how his dad’s favorite cow pony got old, but rather than “chicken it,” he simply put it out in a pasture. The horse, predictably, collapsed, starving, under a tree, where birds pecked at its eyes. The guy making the speech recalled discovering the old horse, now blind, unable to get up. The point he wanted to make with this story is that they should instead have sent the horse to slaughter. Euthanasia was too expensive. Removing the body? Also too expensive. Slaughter was the humane choice to starving this loyal old horse. Or, as happened in El Paso, shooting it in the head and leaving it on someone else’s property.

When 26,600 Thoroughbreds go to slaughter, which represents 19% of the total and is the equivalent of killing 70% of the annual foal crop; when thousands are starved and abandoned, it’s time for some deep self-reflection in the racing community about what their “love of horses” amounts to. Over the last two days, I’ve heard so many complain about the negative attention coming their way, because of what happened with the cancellation of “Luck.”

So much denial out there. 

 My mother said the other day that she hopes there is a special place in Hell for anyone that abuses animals.  Neglect is abuse.  Can’t afford eventual euthanasia or body disposal?  Then don’t own a horse.  And prayers for that poor cow pony.  You wonder who is worse–the people who do these things, or the people who know about what they’re doing and stand by and do nothing.  It makes me sick. 

I’m REALLY missing something.  I will never understand how anyone thinks the kindest thing to do to their favorite old horse is to starve it to death, leaving it to the mercy of wild animals and birds along the way.  What on earth kind of sick mentality is that?  The people who shoot them look compassionate by comparison.

I’d be less concerned with how it looks than which is quicker and produces the least pain and anxiety. Given that choice the bullet wins. But as long as it is done humanely and we are in the US, then it is the owner who gets to choose, not their neighbors or well intentioned people on chat boards.

thats exactly right- this is a known “dumping ground” for the mexican slaughterhouse rejects. So don’t say slaughterhouses are the answer, because in this area, they are the root of the problem. 

 It is easy when frustrated or angry to blame one person. Makes life a lot simpler, but life is complicated and the president does not have the power to destroy the economy. Historically, you need to go back through the last 3 or 4 presidents and Congress who loosened the regulations on the financial industry. They destroyed our economy and unfortunately, the regulations are not in place and or enforced to keep it from happening again. When the financial market collapsed, it took down other parts of the economy. I know first hand. So Obama is not responsible for the horses being shot. That is another issue entirely. Owning horses is expensive and should not be done carelessly. Horses are overbreed as well.

Let’s not stray too far from the point of this article: shooting your own horse on public land (illegal). I would say terrible, too. Reveals a lot about how these horses were viewed, which is not too different than the guy who doesn’t want to “chicken” his horse and would rather slaughter it instead. All about money. 

Is mother nature cruel for allowing the old and infirm to die slowly? Should we take to the woods and have the vets chemically euthanize all the old and infirm animals so they don’t die an undignified death? You can’t demand that horse owners kill their horses in the fashion that you decide although you seem to think that you should be able to do just that. Death is what it is….slaughter may have been a better option than slow starvation, maybe the bullet would have been quicker or better, but for some reason, you seem to want it mandated that everybody must choose the method you deem best. I think that is absurd. As long as horses are property, then their owners will be able to decide their fate.
And it probably is about money…but it’s about money for the vets too. How many of them do you hear of performing free euthanasia?

Didn’t miss the point of anything, darlin.  You’re not the only one who gets it.

dammit…that “like” was accidental…meant to hit “reply”

yes…the industry was great prior 2 2008

rotflmao

as 2 the main point vis-a-vis horseracing

just cuz they had racing shoes is doesn’t mean they were t-breds
it means, perhaps, at least, local-yokels were racing them somewhere

and if u find that place i bet u find PLENTY more bodies

You are expecting free vet care? What planet do you live on?

 aren’t u that la blogger with an admitted agenda?

that is rhetorical…

 so every1 PLEASE stop replying to “vicky” until u read her “blog”

Nope. 

What’s with the threat, Merasmag? You really that irritated over the suggestion that horse industry people starve and abuse their horses rather than euthanize them? Anyway, the guy whose dad let his beloved cowpony get its eyes pecked out is head of a public lands commission who represents ranchers. And PS: they claim to love their horses, just like other industry people who abuse them do.

Love that! More traffic. Thanks, M!

 and if u finda rich jewish/christian/muslim/whatever guy send him to weed street 3/31

 better to expose u and the **** u brought with u now…

2 bad u were not so disingenuous from the start

but keep digging upwards about your true, publicly stated, agenda

 don’t U DARE tell me what i MAY think

(that is knot a threat)

u really have absolutely LESS than 0 credibility…less than rh10, christiantimmay, and somerfrost combined

Thanks for clarifying, Vickery.
Changing the focus a little…I used to be pro horse slaughter in the US ONLY because I believed that unwanted horses were better off NOT transported to Mexico for slaughter, for obvious reasons. But I just read that the slaughter plant in Missouri (?) was to include a breeding facility for horses solely for slaughter. Does that mean horses would be bread for slaughter, and the unwanted…well, still end up being deserted, shot, etc, because they mostly are too thin for slaugher anyway? …this is all SO DISGUSTING!!!

I am a person that strongly believes in caring for my animals forever. If I have watched them loose their sight, and or their hearing and or their balance or rear-end etc…..at that point I have them euthanized. How thankful I am that I can affort to do that. I have no excuses or sympathy for people that raise animals to make money and can’t make money and still feed their animals so some just choose not to feed and keep reproducing, hoping to get something they can make money on. These people need to be held responsible for what they produce and the problems that come along with producing too much. But when a poor family has taken on a pet (of any size) and then finds it can not properly care for this animal and as no other good home for him & they really do not have the money to euthanize then I’d  rathr have them take it out and shoot it then any of the other chicken crap ways people choose to get out of bad situation. Slaughter and just not feeding are so horribly horrifying. Shooting them (properly) is easier on the animal then eunanizations. The only way I could ever do this is if I was down to eatting dirt myself but for many that do not have a true deep love for animals/pets some sort of humane means of managing this situation has got to be has got to be set up and inforced. Shooting properly is instantaneous, proper euthanization is easier on the human and relatively ok on the animal but slaughter has such compounded cruelties involved, it just can not be legalized. And I wonder how often these poor unwanted horses are coming from ‘home situations’ rather then mass breeding businesses.  I’m in a hurry and might not have stated this well but I hope i’ve expressed myself fairly well. Slaughter is ‘cruelty to animals”!  Humans need some heart & integrity! 

Understood, but just to clarify: the story that was reported at the top of this discussion thread is not about conscientious people who shoot their own horse on their own land in the most humane was possible because they don’t have other options. It is about people who anonymously take horses and shoot them on public lands, creating a dumping ground, as an ongoing disposal strategy. I don’t think anyone here thinks that’s an OK thing to do, but it’s a little hard to tell as that point seems to have been lost in the discussion.

I agree, though I can’t really see that happening. Here in Wyoming, it’s all about ranching. Anything standing in its way is pushed out, whether its wolves or the mustang. While we are pushing to raise awareness and make changes, wolves are hunted down and killed, and mustangs are rounded up to send to feedlots, and they are the ones ultimately suffering.
Unless things change, and change fast, there will be nothing but cattle left to destroy the land.

 I agree this is what there doing and then they say see people have to shoot them it would be more humane to send them to slaughter.  Wrong.  I agree with you…we can’t miss the point.