Anyone who has read my blog before knows that I am, mostly, pro-slaughter in as much as I understand the need for a real option for horses that are otherwise unsellable and unusable. If you've read that, you've also read that I strongly favor a cooling off period at the feedlots prior to slaughter, a last-chance for rescues and private buyers to be able to pull directly from the doors of the plant.
Saturday night, I was a firsthand witness to men who profit from the slaughter industry and excel in making horses disappear without a whisper.
Triple J Ranch out of Williston, Florida arrived at the little Alexandria Horse & Mule sale barn around 7pm Saturday. It was a horse sale night, but when someone asked the driver if these horses would be going through the sale, he said no and did not wait around for more questions. The truck and trailer were nice, newer models and the trailer proudly proclaimed the farm name.
The horses had been on the stock-style (open, no dividers) trailer since midnight the night before. There were 12-15 thoroughbreds and 2 quarter horses, halterless, run off the trailer and into a small corral, probably 40x40 with a roll of hay in the center and water troughs to one side. They were obviously race-fit, mares and geldings (I did not notice any colts). Sorrels, bays. Shiny, slick-coated, muscled up, young and healthy. One big mare, at least 17 hands, ran everything else into a corner as she ate hay.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. If these race-fit horses were still racing, they'd have been at least haltered and stalled, not to mentioned overnighted at some nice facility - not hauled into a rinky-dink, dimly lit little sale barn with 2 pens and 12 stalls, a gravel drive and unlit parking area, 30 minutes from anywhere.
Florida to Tennessee to Texas to the border. They are being well fed along the way.
A load of unwanted, throwaway, not fast enough racehorses disappears without a whisper and no one cares.
As one lady loudly said, "Don't they know we don't ride them things here?"
Of course they do. That's precisely why they can bring them in here en route to disposing of them quietly and without complaint.
Terry Blair - owner of the sale barn - is mentioned in this article as having purchased 20 horses at a kill sale in Kentucky. (Just for your information). The article doesn't mention that he runs a small sale in the middle of nowhere, not-far-off-the-interstate, Tennessee. Perfect for picking up some extra money along the way. Perfect for making unwanted horses disappear.
On the flip side, it is neither Blair, nor Triple J's "fault" - but the unscrupulous racehorse owners don't follow track code of ethics enacted to try to prevent slaughter. Owners don't want to fund aftercare or follow through on finding homes for their horses once they are no longer winning money on the track. Breeders breed dozens - sometimes hundreds - of thoroughbreds a year hoping to end up with that one horse that is special, but they don't have the time, resources or money to take in animals they've bred after their shot at glory has come and gone. Therefore, disposing of these "problems" is now a lucrative business, just as shipping any other commodity is.
I didn't say anything, other than to casually ask if they were off the track. I doubt this was a one-time occurance. I don't have the current resources to pull even one. But, now I know where to check when I do. And, maybe, armed with the knowledge that it's happening nearby, a few quiet and committed people can tip the scales in favor of the horses. I hope the little bay with the snip on his nose finds his way off the truck, but back in the real world, I'm sure he won't.
