It never ceases to amaze me how a certain "rabid contingent" of pro/anti people come out of the woodwork any time there's a whiff of a story - be it a cruelty case or an accident, such as the one that occurred outside Nashville early this week, where a single-deck semi-trailer hauling 30+ horses overturned on I-40. There are conflicting news reports; Channel 5 has this story, while Channel 4 reports contradict much of the original report.
If nothing else, folks, the video from both stations disprove so much of the argument the anti-slaughter crowd tries to use. Both stations did fly-overs of the farm from which the horses originated. None of the horses on this farm look the least bit thin; in fact, the multiple hay rolls look to be pretty good quality. And of course they aren't (and of course they are fed well) - if you are a dealer who ships to kill, you only want fat, worth more-per-pound horses. They aren't buying the old, sick, skinny horses; they are buying young, healthy stock for next to nothing and making several hundred dollars per head.
I've covered several times, that if you are giving a horse away -- or selling through a sale -- you should not expect a flower-and-butterflies ending. Traders like this guy make a living off people who sell through sales, breed too many, don't train anything they own, dump a horse every time it learns a bad behavior, give horses away every fall to avoid feeding through the winter -- the excuses are endless, but the end result is the same. The traders/kill buyers are making a living off horse owner laziness and apathy.
I'm going to share a story of two geldings. The first was a middle-aged, easy keeper, unregistered appaloosa gelding. He was very lazy under saddle, like to crow-hop if his rider asked him to move faster than a trot, and was visited by the farrier and dewormed exactly once per year, when the vet visited to do his annual vaccinations. His owner divorced and didn't feel like fooling with him (or anything that reminded her of married life, for that matter), so she sold him to the local trader for $200. Where did he end up? Probably a slaughterhouse. Does she care? Not about that; she cares that she doesn't have a board bill every month.
The second gelding was a young prospect with nice papers and a bucking habit that his newest owner hoped was a result of on-again, off-again, inconsistent handling during his first three years of life. New owner finishes gelding's training and works with his quirks, but just before their first show, they have an incident on a ride that leads to a bucking fit that leads to an intermittent hind leg lameness and sore hip. Several hundred dollars of vet and chiropractic treatment later, it is general consensus that gelding will never be completely safe and sound under saddle. His injury is chronic; the result of an injury most likely sustained as a 2 year old or maybe even as a baby playing in the field. This owner makes the decision to put her gelding on complete pasture rest for a year with a hope in the back of her mind that he might come back sound; and if not, he will be a big, pretty pet living on 200 acres for the rest of his life, as long as he is comfortable.
Two different owners - two different outlooks. But also, two different situations, and two different means of being financially and emotionally able to keep their horses. Who's right? Who's wrong? And what would you do in their shoes?
If you are quick to judge -- I challenge you to visit your local sale and "pull" one of the $50, run-through, unhandled 4 or 5 year olds that come through, then train it up through "solid citizen" status and find it a good, safe, forever home.
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