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[RC] ethics of slaughter-Dancer - donna asher

I agree with you Spottedracer. It would be nice if there were places for all these horses, but our country doesn't even do a good job of taking care of all the excess cats and dogs and horses are much more of burden financially. I would hate for horses to be affordable to only those who can commit to keeping a horse his entire life. That is the only real solution. To any of you who have ever sold a horse or had a horse adopted, there is no guarantee what happened to that animal some time down the road and don't fool yourself into thinking that your decision to part with that animal isn't part of this whole debate. A dog lives 15 years and provides companionship to his owners. A horse can get injured early in life and may be a commitment for 30 years. And we all know the additional cost of keeping a horse vs. a dog or cat. I grew up on a farm and I understand the economics of animal slaughter. And I know a lot of good people out there, keeping a couple of horses for pleasure, but barely making ends meet that simply can't make such a commitment. I would never condemn them because they might not be able to care for that horse the way I might be able to or how some of you want them to, but they are good people. They should have options.

Blamming the breeders, either backyard or professionals doesn't cut it either. You can have two spectacular horses and get a very average or below average colt. By the same token you can have two very average horses and get a quality animal. This board is full of information about what makes a good distance horse and there are simply some horses people on this board wouldn't buy because it wouldn't suit their needs althought it might be a perfectly good horse for a pleasure rider. Every riding discipline has different types of horses that suits that need. Some horses are destined to be good old pleasure horses. And I have seen a few bad apples that are truly dangerous even under the care of a competent experienced trainer that are simply too dangerous to own. Breeders are going to breed a large number of animals hoping to get that one with a special spark that will win in the show ring, or on the track or in our case, on the trail. Lots of the horses bred every year simply aren't going to measure up even though they come through a competent and well-thought-out breeding program. And we are all familiar with some backyard bred animal that turned out great. I bet there are a number of you on this board that owns one or two of these backyard wonders.

My father was a lineman who ran a small dairy and later beef operation to support his horse habit which he loved dearly. He got up every morning, milked his cows, went to his physically demanding day job, came home and milked cows, doing all the other chores such as haying on the weekends all so he and his kids could have horses. He had some very good horses and he gave that wonderful gift to his children as best he could afford. Occassionally he sold young horses to individuals who wanted a good horse. The horses that we kept, when these horses got old and injured he sold them. Even though I didn't always like it I understood the economics of how and why he had to do that. Believe me he didn't let us kids abuse or override these horses so that they were injured early in their careers, most of them were in their twenties. My pony lived to be 37 before we had to put her down and we had her since she was three. But keeping that one pony wasn't the same as keeping the various horses that had crossed our paths over the years.

I control the destiny of the horses I own now and have been fortunate enough to have purchased a few and raised a few colts over the years. I have never sold a horse because I can't control the destiny of any horse that I sell even if I were to sell a horse to a good owner. Just like I have never given away a dog that I either purchased or that was dumped on my property. I hope that they can be with me for life, but I would never have that expectation of any one else because everyone's situation is different. While I may not want my personal horses going to France for food I don't have a problem with that being the destiny of the many horses that are out there. I would like to see the energies going to making the slaughter houses more humane and available so horses wouldn't have to be shipped long distances. The worst destiny would be to have horses starving to death when they could be used as food, either for human or other animal consumption, before they reach such a state. I eat meat but just because I don't chose to eat horses or dogs--well I certainly don't condemn cultures that do.

I had to have three elderly horses put down in the last two years, one was already down, but thrashed quite some time before he died, one went fairly peacefully, and one really struggled. It wasn't anything that the vet did, it was just different deaths. I believe a bullet would have been quicker and better for the one horse that struggled so, but I don't know where to shoot the horse nor do I have the stomach to do it myself. And of course I had the vet out to see if we could save her. I have seen dogs and cats put down and seen various reactions from fairly mild to struggling and I can't say that the shot is all that humane. By the way it cost over $250 to put a horse down and have the dead animal people come to take the body away, not an option for some people and I understand that. I have two more horses in their twenties, both not rideable, that I will be having to face their final crossing in the next few years. I would like an option of having them taken to a zoo for meat when that time comes, but I will spend the $500 to have the vet out and the rendering plant truck to take away the bodies. But I am lucky to have the pasture and money to do so. I hope that I will always have that option but I know things can change and I could lose what I have. One catastrophic illness could take everything.

Just my two cents.

da

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