Another question was "What is the Welfare Issues of New Horses?"

Among the answers: owners inability to care for horses, abuse or neglect from legal seizures, old, sick with ongoing health problems, retraining or rehabilatation. CANTER reported many horses requried vet assistance before adopting out.

Many causes, many reasons. It was reported that the numbers are increasing over the past 5-10 years depending on how long these operations have been around.

I bet those paint mares and foals would mow the governors lawn and work 24/7.  Heck, they won't even ask for paid vacations and government retirement!

Gemm, that foster home thing is exactly as you predicted.  It's a way to get horse into care and have someone pay the bills and fall in love, I almost did this with a group active in North Texas but wisely decided against it.  I thought my lawyers were going to have a seizure when I told them about fostering.  I bet some really good cases start with well, I was just keeping this (large dangerous) animal for a friend...

     I've looked into fostering, but for what I'm expected to spend out of pocket with no help it is cheaper for me to go to the auction and buy the horse myself.  At least that way once the horse was healthy if it wouldn't work for my family I could sell it and make up some of the cost. 

     I've got one right now that we got for free and have spent thousands on (or so it seems) that we can never sell.  I don't know anyone else that would take the time, effort and patience it has taken to get this mare to EAT.    I guess it's a good thing shes such a wonderful childs horse.  My 5yr old rides her.

I'd love to be part of the "solution" by fostering (keeping?) a rescue horse or burro. Right now we have a pony that a divorced friend couldn't afford, so we've got him for at least a while, but he's great with the kids. Then the hubby's appy is 33yo and needs lots of care, feed, supplements. If/when they go I'd be in a better position to consider helping out. The time's just not right.

There was a local rescue group who accepted donations of feed at the feed store. It was easy to order an extra bale when I got mine. I think it worked well for them too. Kinda like when you go to PetSmart and add $1 to your overall purchase for pet welfare.

I don't know what is right or wrong on this issue. I could not even begin to imagine ever letting one of my horses goto slaughter. When I thought I was going to lose my 31yo horse to an impaction colic this spring I was even having issues at having a renderer come for him. This horse and I have been through a lot in the last 21 years. Thankfully he made it through.

Breeding is part of the issue, but as long as we have people that treat horses as disposable like everything else in America, the breeders, both good and bad, will keep breeding them like there is no tomorrow. Here's a futurity that states futurity barrel horses must be 5 years old or younger. No minimum age is set. http://www.nlfuturity.com/  If I remember right there was a time where barrel horses had to be a minimum of 5 years old to enter the speed events. But ya know, why feed them that long, just use them until they fall apart, take them to auction and get another youngster to ruin. That way you won't have to cry when the horse you've had for 20 or 30 years passes to the other side as you've detached yourself of any emotional involvement by getting rid of them regularly. Anyway, just because you can teach a horse something at a younger age, doesn't mean they should be doing it. I like the relationships I develop with my horses over the years.

I think they didn't fight the Texas slaughterhouse closings as much as the Illinois one as it has to do with shipping them to Mexico was a viable option for them. They are fighting to keep Cavel open as that increases the expense of shipping to Canada and Mexico greatly from the mid sections of the USA.

 As for picking up a rescue at an auction, it may not be without risk, but can be well worth it sometimes. Though the horse pictured below was supposed to goto a rescue, I really needed a third horse like a hole in the head, but they got wishy washy and well, my friends joke me that he did goto a rescue, that would be me.  

Guy (Freezout) at the auction I bought him at.

This was taken this spring, so he still had some winter fuzz, but it's amazing what you can find at an auction if you give them a chance.

We were able to intercept a horse a day before he was headed to the Ill. slaughter. Turned out to be a great guy and has now gone on to a good new home. Right now we have 2 other rescued geldings that we're working with, putting weight on and seeing if they'll fit into our program. We will probably be taking in at least another 1 or 2 by the end of the year, depending on how the allmighty dollar goes. There are some great horses out there that no one wants. Just a sad situation for such magnificent creatures.

http://www.l5youthranch.org/page/page/4842046.htm

Thanks, I think he's cute too. Not that any horse belongs at an auction (and we're not talking Keeneland here) or should goto slaughter, but Guy definitely did not belong on a slaughter trailer. If you like Thoroughbreds, Fairmount Park in southern Illinois, near St Louis, is having their end of year dispersal auction next weekend, the 29th. Although some of the horses may have some kind of leg issue, the greater portion of the horses in the sale are just not fast enough and they don't want to feed them through the winter. Being OTTB's, they are not for the casual rider, but someone looking for an eventer, jumper or dressage prospect might be happy with what they find there. OK, I can even add trail horse. Not the auction I got my Zen horse at, but he was a trained at Fairmount and I did get him at an auction as well. Note grey ears in my picture to the left, but they can make good trail horses with time and a confident rider.

Well, Texas closed their slaughter houses first, they had two. Granted it was easy enough for them to outsource and send the southern slaughter horses to Mexico, so not a big deal for them. I don't see any of the other lower 48 states saying, Hey build Cavel here! We'd love to have you so the horses don't have to travel to so far to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered. When is New Mexico planning to open their horse slaughter plant? Yep, it's a lot easier when it's not in your backyard. Perhaps you should lobby your politicians to try to smooze the horse slaughter industry into moving down there. The larger problem most people I know have had with the horse slaughter industry has been the way the horses are treated and cared for between auction and slaughter house. Horses that are sold at auctions that should have been put down before going to an auction. Horses so foundered they can barely walk, horses with broken legs, torn tendons, etc. Those horses should have been euthanized, not taken to an auction to save the owner a few bucks, but keeping the horse in agony for days, a week or more instead. Horses that were healthy enough getting on the slaughter trailer only to have a ribs, legs etc broken by being forced into a trailer with strange horses that kick at them as they enter and ride in the cramped quarters. Not to mention horses put on the top deck of cattle trailers where some of the horses have to crouch as their withers are too high for the trailer, or worst the bottom of the trailer that does not have a level floor. No water or hay provided during the trip, which for some can be a long trip. Which bytheway is counter productive if you are wanting good meat to sell the foreign countries that seem to like taking their chances on our horse meat. Not knowing when the last time the horse was medicated before arriving at the slaughter house. These are the things that have driven the emotions more than the actual slaughter of the horse itself. Of course that hasn't gone away as the horses are still being shipped to Canada and Mexico. Though I believe Canada has more humane laws for slaughter horses heading over their boarder than Mexico. The larger issue for me has been the fact that the slaughter industry has never, ever made an effort to try to identify stolen horses and return them ALIVE to their owners. Never, from all reports from insiders in the industry horses thought to be stolen get put in the front of the line, but they will keep the hides for a while so the owner might identify the horse that way should they show up after the fact. Mighty nice of them, huh? Oh, they'll even offer to pay them what the meat was worth as well. How generous. Nope, if they had made a larger effort of identifying stolen horses and returning them to their owners alive, I think a lot of people would have been more apathetic to the issue. Apparently keeping the meat as cheap as possible outweighed any moral obligations. Anyway, until I hear of another state stepping up to the plate to open a horse slaughter house, I really don't want to hear how it's Illinois fault that they can't get as much for the horse they should probably be having their vet put down.

As for good riding horses and show horses, the prices are pretty much where they've always been as far as I can see. It's only the slaughter horses and untrained horses that seem to have devalued the most at auction. I've not yet seen a significant correlation between slaughter prices and the prices of a good usable horse at auction. The prices of the untrained horses has gone down more due to the costs of hay, feed, etc. going up, then anything to do with the slaughter issue.

And no I can't save them all, but I can take responsibility for the ones that I have chosen to take into my care.

Hay, I have a question, how does the cattle industry feel, or do they feel they can sell more beef overseas if there is less horse meat to sell? You know, get rid of the competition? I only ask as it seems Texas and everyone had less of an issue closing their two plants than the one in Illinois. And yes, I've speculated that a lot of that could be due to their proximity to Mexico and their slaughter plants, but was wondering if perhaps there was an ulterior motive as well?

I'll agree with SOME of your post. 

It has been illegal for quite a while to ship horses in a double decker cattle trailer and it is illegal to ship horses out of country for the purpose of slaughter.  I am sure that there are people that ignore the rules, there always are.  And as far as TX "closing their plants easiest" I have relatives that lived near one of the plants and nothing about it was easy.  People were fighting to keep the plants open if for no other reason than to help people keep their jobs.  I lived in Tx when the plants were closed, I've been in NM for just over a year and if they wanted (and were allowed to do so) to build a slaughter plant here I wouldn't have a problem with it.  The only difference between horse and cattle slaughter is the "pet" status many of us give our horses.    I personally wouldn't eat a horse (or deer/elk or rabbit) unless I was starving but who am I to tell someone else they are wrong and evil for doing it? 

You can rant at me all you want, I don't care.  I don't think the plants should have been closed.

I'm looking for a new horse trailer and as I was looking through the ads for a trailer, I noticed this forum, and as I was looking through the forum, I saw this thread.  I have been searching other websites for a horse trailer and I happened across an article that made some sense in regards to this issue so I thought you might like to know about it.  You can view the article at:

http://www.equestnetwork.com/equest_life_publication_view.php?id=178

There are other interesting articles listed on the home page, as well at:

www.equestnetwork.com

Ummmm, one or two? After all, no one wants government handouts, right? RLOL

We once owned a well-bred foxtrotter gelding that went blind.I had sold his mother to buy him.After the blindness (he was not completely blind,but,unable to focus from the good eye,the other was blind) we tried  to donate him to several handicapped riding facilities in our state.He was ridable in a controlled environment,but it was winter and no takers.We donated him to a foster rescue facility and they still have him,and take excellent care of him there.They depend on donations and care donated from vets,farriers,ect.

This was a horse that we DID not wish to see go to "killers".And because of this facility,he did not go.We were most grateful.