Menu

Subscribe Now

Unlimited access >

Menu

Unbelievable! From FHI to slaughter rescue!!

Eventing
#41

Respectfully: the overbreeding stuff is nonsense. You can’t tell people what to do with their horses. We don’t overbreed. There’s no data proving this. And our sporthorses and racehorses are the tip of a large iceburg of horses in this country, 70 percent are backyard and pleasure. Discussing overbreeding is like bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon. It’s not the reason for the slaughter problem. Two decades ago studies identified the major cause of slaughter - bound horses; training issues.

More likely: people sell horses every day to others who promise a good home. A horse can change hands several times in a week and end up at auction. I’m not defending a “dumpee” but pointing out the fact that any can be completely innocent of the knowledge that a horse they sold ended up at auction.

And completely possible: I am certain some horse I have had pass through my hands ended up there at some point, and I daresay – probably unknowingly – a few horse owners on this board may also have had a horse connected with them in the past that they sold on, eventually end up there. It’s not unlikely. There are what 250,000 US horses slaughtered yearly out of a population of 7-8 million horses in the US? Hey math whizzes does that give every horse what sort of chances – is it one chance in 16 of ending up slaughtered? Conceiveably for every 16th horse owning member of this board, one of their horses went for meat. Sorry if I got the math wrong but do you see the point – you cannot condemn people if you do not know the exact circumstances, and the slaughter situation is a volume business completely apart from our side of the horse world. “There but for the Grace of God, go I.”

We can “have feelings” about it all we want but the people who are walking those aisles every Monday morning sticking up their hands saving horses are the REAL HEROS.
JMO! Flame suit on!

#42

Why does every post have to turn into an argument? we shouldn’t need a “Flame suit”!And personally, One chance in 16 that my horse will get slaughtered is ONE TOO MANY.

#43

I just assume event riders would be rescuing horses from the kill pen, not adding more to it…

#44

Here is a great article debunking the overbreeding issue…
http://www.saplonline.org/Legislation/ahspa/where_would_all_the_horses_go.htm

#45

This is very sad, but don’t we see the rumblings of this everyday on these boards. Someone has a horse that is being difficult, even dangerous - FOR THAT RIDER, and the rider is so convinced that they are the best rider in the world, or their trainer is the best in the world, that if THEY can’t make it into a good citizen, no one can. AND everyone on the board tells them they are doing the right thing to put it down, (ok, no one is saying send to slaughter, but…) and not let it hurt someone else.

Most bad horses are made by bad riding, yes, even that phenominal trainer may be ruining a sweet, easy horse. The horse may be turned around fairly quickly by someone that is a better match for him.

Most of the horses we hear about that need to be rescued are OTTBs. I wish the race breeders had to finance 90 days in a training/sales barn before taking a horse to an auction. Or maybe had to create an account for a horse’s career end (re-training account) when first taken to the track, to give it the best chance of finding a home.

Any horse that I have bred and sold can be sent back here rather than be sent to meat. I will find it a good placement, or if needed, make the decision to put it down. I hope by breeding talented horses with good minds, they will find their way into good homes, but I do realize that is not always the case. It is why I take what I breed very seriously.

#46

This is such a sad story to read about. That woman aught to be shot. I didn’t read the whole thread, but will come back later tonight to read it.

Working right now with some friends from COTH to prevent that from happening to a nice horse once owned by us. Current owners (total idiots) are going on two years trying to sell, he’s regressed in his training and in his health, and he was never an easy horse to ride in the first place. He is a sweetheart on the ground, and we would never like to see him go that direction. The problem is the sellers want more than they paid for him almost 4 years ago, when in reality his current status puts him at less than 1/4 that. It is a long story, and this would be the worse case scenario, but a very real possibility if he falls into the wrong hands.

#47

Please reread my post.

I said some of the responsibility for slaughter lies with

Many horses who end up on the way to the killers are training problems or they are chronically lame. Perhaps I should have used the words “inappropriate” breeding, instead of overbreeding for this scenario. But I also believe the racing industry breeds horses that have no place to go after the track and that they end up at the killers. I will have to take some time to follow your math. But wouldn’t the laws of supply and demand say that if there were more demand for horses than supply, even training problems would be able to find homes.

#48

Valid side issues, but the crux is this

Thank you, Beverly, mostly for taking action :yes: but secondly for posting about this petulant adult-infant who apparently with calculation is said to have sought to have her horse carved up as food for the French and dogs, merely because the poor creature had disappointed her at a show.

This purported action seems to me particularly perverse for someone who evidently managed, however briefly and tenuously, to forge a sufficiently strong partnership with the maligned creature as to perform creditably together in dressage, which suggests that at some point the rider had successfully been taught within that tradition to know better. Responsible human beings do not send close friends to certain death simply because the friend has experienced a bad day under trying circumstances.

After sharing the story with others, while we were cheered by the so-far happy ending, we were and remain outraged [a term now used so trivially that the savor is lost, but used here as understood 20 years ago] that any nominal adult in a fit of pique could conceivably carry out such a spiteful, vicious act.

Of course we all agree with Erin that absent photographs, witnesses, affadavits and a bloody smoking gun, the identity of the alleged owner purportedly responsible ought not to be named in a public forum.

While acting in such a way would be lawful (and, offensive as this irresponsible behavior is, should remain lawful – horse ownership licenses are yet one more bureaucratic pit America whose time never will come), such conduct for the transient and trivial reasons named would be unambiguously evil.

After having done such a thing, how could anyone ever turn up again and seek to compete in any activity involving horses?

Anyone who actually would indulge herself in such a tantrum – barring certifiable insanity in defense – in simple justice should be vilified and condemned from one coast to the other, forever viewed as tainted in any horse-related endeavor, and barred from membership in, or expelled from, any equestrian organization that asserts even minimal standards of horsemanlike ethical conduct within its membership.

One hopes any such hypothetical offender would, in a just world, be held accountable and sanctioned, and if not officially, at minimum in the eyes of any who claim to be horsewomen or horsemen. Turning a blind eye to such an act would be moral cowardice.

Now after having quietly sketched out some some of my abstract thoughts on this hypothetical possible situation, ask me how I really feel.

#49

right on, adamantane

Well and cuttingly said, Adamantane. And within the parameters of the BB rules.

I rode in that HT that day, so for some reason I feel that much more sick to my stomach about this story, if true. On a day when I had my most successful and enjoyable equine outing ever, another rider was so callously indulging a fit of pique and disappointment against the horse who did them the favor of carting their semi-educated a$$ around those lovely grounds. Truly sickening.

#50

I would say this action shows a lack of compassion. Isn’t that on the road to being a Jeffrey Dahmer type? Scary. Needs professional help.

#51

Just a note… this horse will NEVER have to worry about disappointing someone again. I am currently trying to schedule transportation and he is heading south. If anyone has any info whatsoever about the horse… good, bad or otherwise… I would love to have a PM from you. It will give me the best chance of giving the horse what he needs. Health and soundness info, racing career (name), time off, competition behavior… anything would be useful. Right now I have an age and color :smiley: (and while there are some that consider that to be THE most important things, :winkgrin: )

Thank you so much, Beverly (and Kate at Aikendale Farm), for rescuing this guy… and all the others that you have helped! Hopefully this will open a stall for another horse to fit into!

1 Like
#52

Sounds like slavery days down south.

Whenever a slave was a problem or disappointed “Massa”, the threat was to “sell him south”.

“Selling him south” meant a one way trip to the sugar plantations in Louisiana or some such even more godawful miserable place than the original plantation.

This girl sold him south for daring to displease her…what a mentality.

#53

It’s not going to be THAT bad for him down here… the South has evolved SOMEWHAT :smiley: Besides, I am a displaced YANKEE… so he stands a good chance of staying out of the Cotton Fields with me :yes:

#54

Good going bounce!

It’s great to hear that this poor horse will have a wonderful home!:slight_smile:

#55

In theory, if I had a horse that wasn’t working out for me, and most likely wouldn’t work out for someone else (dangerous rearer perhaps) and I couldn’t just retire him to my pasture, rather than sending to slaughter, I’d have the vet out to put him down. Give him a bunch of treats first, pamper him up a bit and then say goodbye. The last days/hours of a horses life on the way to slaughter would just be horrible, I couldn’t stand to send even the most evil horse in the world to that fate.

I had a mare once that was what I called stubborn to the point of being dangerous. She’d be good 95% of the time and then every once and a while would just give me the big finger. Depending on the circumstances we’d end up standing on hind legs in the bushes or landing in the middle of an oxer. My trainer said it was my fault, so I had a couple of more experienced riders school her over a period of several months, one was the trainer’s assistant, the other a solid, brave junior, and she would do the same thing with every person. 95% angel, 5% pure stubborn evil. Then I was advised to sell, but I just couldn’t, because I saw that as the first step down a one-way path to the knackers.

I ended up moving her to another barn, more low key, and bonding with her a little better. She still had occasional fits, but when I got to know her better I could tell when it was coming and lower the pressure until she backed down, then ask the question differently. Never met the goals I originally had with that horse but learned a lot and she got a decent enough life out of it.

#56

Yeah, this “Pie” has a home now!!! So I hope the moderators will see that a lot of good came out of this thread and it’s good they didn’t shut it down. Thank you for that. Now this horsey will have a new home with an educated rider who sounds kind. Yeah!!! I think this type of story hits a nerve with good horsepeople and so anger and tone appear in posts that just result from frustration. It’s just good old fashioned emotions rearing their ugly heads. And maybe some more good will come out of this thread too if the previous “owner” of this particular horse realizes that her behavior was cold, callous, and angry and could possibly benefit from talking to someone about why that is. We can all make improvements in ourselves if only we could face our inadequacies.

#57

So glad to hear that this horse now has a new home.
Just out of curiosity how would everyone feel about a breeder sending a horse to the hounds. Here in NZ horses are sent for slaughter for dog/food but some are given to the local hunt club to be shot and fed to the hounds instead of PTS and buried on the owners property even though many have the land to bury them on but want to save a few $$'s. Often the reason for disposing of the horse often a broodmare is that she has a health problem yet I know of several cases where the problem could have been managed with medication but the breeders did not want to put the money into the mare as she was no longer breedable so they chose this option. They always claim that they don’t want the mare to suffer yet she is not got rid of until the foal is weaned and she has suited their purpose so was she not feeling pain up until that point…one has to wonder?
I can’t remember when I was in the USA hearing anyone sending their horses to the hounds but I assume it might happen.

#58

Yes, I know of one horse sent to the hounds in this immediate area. If I know of one, there have been others. It broke its leg & the hunt came & slaughtered him at the stable & cut him up immediately, so he didn’t suffer long, just until they got there, which was quick.

It was a bit shocking as this was a boarding stable with lots of little kids in lesson programs & they took the horse a couple feet out the door into the front parking lot & shot him & bled him right there. I was not there when it was done but saw the aftermath a little later when I got to the barn in question to pick up my daughter.

#59

Yea Bounce

This horse will be safe and well cared for by Bounce, for sure. I can’t help but think that the original owner may have fallen prey to the predator that claims “I’ll find him a good home.” It happens all the time. If she did send him “down the road” (as opposed to South, which in this case is good!) then shame on her.

If she sent him there, then Bounce, I hope someday you end up in her division with the lowest score ever. That would truly be horse karma at work.

Nancy

1 Like
#60

As much as I hate hearing about any horse put down when it wasn’t needed, at least in this case:
a) it’s quick and humane
b) there’s no long transport without food/water/terror

I don’t think this is at all the same as slaughter as we generally know it! Although, Evalee Hunter, it probably could have been handled with more discretion in your situation!

Get your Digital Subscription here - only $21.95 / year

Subscribe here
See gift options

Sign up to our monthly newsletter!

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.

Copyright © 2023 The Chronicle of the Horse