People need to be more responsible when they make a choice to breed. They need to take their blinders off and make a point to actually see what they're breeding.

Absolutely not.  The people that cause the problem wouldn't care about the cost of registering animals...I mean grade horses would still be grade, right?

The idea of allowing the AQHA, to deny registration to horses because they aren't pretty is crazy...the organization was not founded on performance standards (nowhere does it state the animal should move freely and carry themselves well, heck look at some halter horses...lame and useless) like the European breeds where inspection and branding are the norms.  Allowing a panel of folks to choose which animals they'll take and which ones they won't for a registry this size would be a logistical nightmare and a political disaster!

FYI, lots of "junk" horses have world champions in their blood.

Are you seeing lots of unwanted horses where you are? Here the slaughter bill has not affected us like I thought it would. But I think I got caught up in the politics of all this myself. After all living 30 miles from the Ft Worth kill  plant has made me realize a few things. The kill buyers and plants want good healthy horses for meat consumption so the kill buyers would really rather not buy a lame unfit horse if they could buy a good healthy horse that would bring them more money. After years of attending the horse sale every Wednesday night I have come to know a few of the kill buyers and they have a budget and are it in it to make a living for their families, with that being said they are not there to rescue the unwanted horse but to make a dollar. I hope didn't step on any toes but that is a fact. Changing the registry will not do anything to the backyard type of breeder.  I think as with all animals this is just something that is always going to be. Here drought and hay shortages have affected the horse market more than the slaughter bill. Horses brought more this Spring than in years past...

We had a recent case here where a guy had four horses he would not feed that had to be rescued and sad thing was he was about two blocks from the sale barn and he would not even walk them over there. These type folks just don't get it!

Touche' Mr. Conley!  I live in SW Missouri where everyone is a "backyard breeder"... I get pretty disgusted with neighbors who leave horses out to pasture with halters grown into their noses, skinny, not cared for or vetted. I wish we could be more thoughtful about all breeding (including human). In my world Quality exceeds Quantity. And, if I were queen, Pierre would starve to death waiting for his pate'. But unfortunately, you just can't fix stupid here.

Sorry but I don't want the gov to limit horse registrations. I don't want a special board of whoever to make choices for the rest of us. I don't want more "enlighten" folks making decisions for me or anyone else. Not all "backyard" breeders are irresponsible boobs....most are good people breeding good horses. There will always be bad apples out there no matter what we do to "fix" the problem which, BTW, is only made worse when there is no other place for horses that can't be sold for riding ( or showing,breeding etc)Once again,politicans came in and fixed a problem based on emotion,only to create yet another.You want those kinds of idiots in charge of who gets to own or breed a horse?

Breed registries depend on registration and transfer fees to fund themselves. For what purpose would it serve to limit those transactions? None.Plus, the value of a horse increases with registration- they hold value over the grade horses. The problem isn't the number of horses,its what to do with horses that have no marketable value. We had the answer to that. Now we have to depend on the market to limit horse production- if you're breeding mares and can't sell the foals ( or at least make money) most sane people will stop breeding those mares. Even the not sane will limit production. Then there is the need to develope new markets. I don't think this is such a serious problem that needs to be addressed with more bureacratic means.

What would raising the cost of registraion do except charge horse owners more money?( money they need to properly care for their horses) Why punish horse owners? Why is the fact AQHA is making money even relevant?

STOP BREEDING!!   Oh this topic just gets me all worked up!  I know so many people who indiscriminately breed mares, just "because".  It really pisses me off.  I can't even get started!

Or how about the sayin "well if she can't be broke to do "XYZ" I'll just breed her". Or I'll keep him a stallion because he is "XYZ" popular color/pattern at the time, but has poor conformation. Both scenarios have long lasting consequences to the gene pool of quality horses that do not pass on good minds and conformation.

AQHA has not learned from the past problems of other over-bred breeds. I was working for a national Arab magazine back in the early 90s when the Arab market crashed after "living art" was no longer in vogue. Economics of supply and demand will correct the QH market over time.

Ponytammy, I was lead to believe the Arab market crashed due to changes in tax laws.

To name AQHA as needing to do anything is just plain wrong...why not blame the foundation QHA.  I've seen more junk breeding because "well this horse has ______ about 15 lines back."  Breeding for color is just as dumb IMO.

There have been some great points in this thread.  I agree with others that have said that we need to be more selective in our breeding.   People need to be educated and be responsible for the horses that they breed.  I don't think the government should be regulating anything, I think we should be regulating ourselves by using good breeding judgement. 

N2ridin, as usual I agree with you.  How often do you see someone breed a mare, with a bad attitude, because that's all they can do with her?   There are plenty of nice mares out there, why would someone breed one with temperment or physical problems?  Of course, there is no guarantee with any breeding, but if you breed two horses with good conformation and temperment, chances are greater that you will end up with a nice trainable baby.

Also, breeders need to make their babies as marketable as possible with training, even if they don't fit into their program.  For example, my vet *had* a client (he fired them as clients), who bred about 12-13 paint mares each year.  With each foal crop they would get a couple breeding stock paints.   They wouldn't even bother halter breaking these babies, they would just put them out in their pasture and forget about them!  Not many people are going to want to take the time to break a big strong 4 year old that is pretty much wild?  The future for these horses looks bleak compared to those that have been handled and are gentle.  In my opinion, if they aren't going to take care of all the foals born, then perhaps they shouldn't be breeding.

It's unfortunate that the lobbyists with "black beauty syndrome" as my husband calls it had a louder voice than we did in Washington D.C.  Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of slaughter, but I just don't know where all these surplus horses are going to go.  Standing forgotten in a stall or pasture isn't much better than the other alternative. 

I think that a lot of non horse owners, who were in favor of the anti slaughter bill, don't understand the expense in supporting a horse, especially one that can no longer work.  My husband and I support our 29 year old gelding, who's been retired for 10 years.  We've kept him in pasture so I figure we've put out about $ 20,000.00 to support him, that's a lot of money and that's just one horse.  He's gotten to the point where he cannot stay in pasture, so now we are paying full board on him.   I just don't know how people think horse owners and rescue orgainizations will be able to support thousands of unwanted horses.