Abandoned Horse Epidemic

[CarolU]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1809950,00.html

I hope this is as bad as it ever gets. :frown:

[baileyholc]

CarolU, I started reading it and had to stop. I can't read it. It's like that every were. I hear about it around here. I have also heard of horse owners putting down their older horses because they are afraid if they sell them that the new owner will not take care of them. Some of the boarding stables around here are closing their doors because they are not making enough money to keep up with the price of feed and hey. A round bale around her is now $60 a bale.

[SandyMM]

A round bail around her is now $80 a bail.What was it two years ago?
Ours has gone up to $50/round bale (900#) from $45, but it's equivalent to about 18 square bales @ $5/bale - so we're saving money by feeding rounds and stretching the square bales out for an extra month. I've pushed back my budgeted hay allotment twice in the past two months.... haven't needed it.

I have also switched to buying Platform Performance by the ton (a pallet of 40 bags - 5% bulk discount) which is expensive - except I'm feeding about 25% less and getting better results - which makes it less expensive than the cheaper feed I was feeding before.

[SandyMM]

People should have to 'vote' with their own money when it comes to stuff like this....

[CarolU]

WOw...just heard from some trail riders. They came back to find their trailer full of abandoned horses!!! I already talked to some ranchers here who found horses abandoned on their fields. Five were abandoned in the field behind me.

[baileyholc]

To be honest with you Sandy I really have no idea what a bail of hay was last summer. I just know that this lady I am taken lesson with is paying $60 a bale and she feed it to 17 horse 2 time a day. Along with beet pulp in their feed.

[baileyholc]

What are these people thinking? That horse are like dogs that anybody can afford to take them in. It is so sad.:o

[SandyMM]

Even worse is that with 'humane' transportation, the cost is prohibitive. What we need are _more_ slaughterhouses spread out around the country so that it doesn't cost so much to deliver animals - not just horses. With gas prices soaring, anything that requires transportation is skyrocketing.... I am just one more gas price increase from riding one of my horses to town for groceries and other errands.... Wonder how he'll adapt to carrying a freezer bag.... :v:

[baileyholc]

That is what I keep tell my hubbie. He should have bought a motorcycle with his rebate money. We are going to sink trying to keep two vehicles on the road.

Well yall, how many of you ever said I wish it was like the old days when we rode horses every were?

[Serendipity]

I agree we need more slaughter houses or places like a Shelter/Humane society to be able to drop unwanted horses,is a sad deal but one that is so very much needed.

[SandyMM]

Well yall, how many of you ever said I wish it was like the old days when we rode horses every were?
My dad and his brothers drove an enclosed buggy to their one room school house in NW Ohio for a number of years... I still have the brass bar that they looped the reins over inside the buggy. Pretty cool.... :-) If I can find a safe place to tie up once I get there, I will start riding the 2 miles into town.

[lisa l aka marci]

Even worse is that with 'humane' transportation, the cost is prohibitive. What we need are _more_ slaughterhouses spread out around the country so that it doesn't cost so much to deliver animals - not just horses. With gas prices soaring, anything that requires transportation is skyrocketing.... I am just one more gas price increase from riding one of my horses to town for groceries and other errands.... Wonder how he'll adapt to carrying a freezer bag.... :v:

It's not the freezer bag Sandy - I've been trying to figure out how to keep the EGGS from breaking!

I have large saddlebags - insulated ones - and have seriously thought of using Marci to make short runs down to the Amish where we buy bread and eggs instead of taking the car. It is only a 2 mile or so trip.....

The Country Store is closer to 6 miles, and no place to tie up a horse right now - plus Marci doesn't do well standing tied.

Oh - I don't have the nerve to get one of those 'tag along' saddles to take Tori with me either!

[CarolU]

Many years ago...before the days of snowmobiles, we had a friend who would pack out of his remote Montana ranch once a month in the winter, to get supplies. It was one day to get to Enis where he kept his truck in a garage, then 30 miles to West Yellowstone for groceries. Then back. He'd pack everything on his horses. And I'm pretty sure he included eggs.

We may have to do that. I am 6 miles from 3 big grocery stores. None are set up for horses...nor would I trust mine tied while I shopped (some idiot would let them go, I'm sure).

[SandyMM]

I've been trying to figure out how to keep the EGGS from breaking!
Pssst - we're riding Pasos.... ;) LOLOLOL

I did pack some stuff to a picnic with friends once on a trotter... There's was nothing left that was edible by the time I got to the picnic site.... :mecry:

[Rose Mary Axell]

Not only do you have piles of abandone horses (wich we knew would happen when they shut down the slaughter plants) But becuase of all the horses being shipped to Canada you guys are flooding our market and horse prices in Canada have dropped right off!

[SandyMM]

Yeah - let's see what all the bleeding hearts do now to save the glut of starving, abandoned horses they created...

[Monty]

Carol beat me to it - I popped on to post that article !
I have gone back to what I did when we were first married 38 yrs ago,major shopping and stocking up 2 times a month and only go to "little" store about once a week for milk and bread.
Only way the glut of abandoned horses is going to go away - is open up the slaughterhouses again!
Like the guy said in the article - he wouldn't eat horsemeat - but, millions in the world do !
I would add - who are we to judge ?

[PasoVicki]

Yesterday I spent $4.46 a gallon for REGULAR unleaded. (My husband's truck uses diesel -- and the cost for that was $5.19 per gallon.) We're in Southern California -- so we're on the "leading edge" of the price increases -- but I suspect these prices are going to spread SOON.

I don't drive anywhere I don't have to.

[qltrlori]

[QUOTE=CarolU;187051]WOw...just heard from some trail riders. They came back to find their trailer full of abandoned horses!!! QUOTE]

Do you mean they trailered their horses to a trail ride, took their horses out of the trailer to ride, came back from their ride to find other people's horses in the trailer??? Wow, that took some huevos to pull off. Or the dumpers were REALLY desperate. Very sad.

[Abejita]

ouch gas is just at or just above 4.00 here depending what direction I go..

I expect someday to go out to one of the empty lower pastures and find it full of horses...maybe I should padlock all the gates..would be even worse if they let them into the hay fields before they were cut...Scary..worse yet have them show up in empty stalls...or out with the horse already here We do have a 'rescue' right down the road so maybe it wont come to that around here so quick..but the way they buy horses at auction they will be full up ..(I use the term rescue loosely )

I would rather people just take responsibility and euthanise..if they can afford it..Its kinda a no win situation..if ya cant afford to feed 'em you cant afford to put 'em down...
We need SLAUGHTER again..

[CarolU]

OUCH Vicki! Those fuel prices are horrible! The last time I filled my truck, gas was $3.43/gallon. I cry as I watch the needle go down! :mecry:

I just read that some State parks are counting horses going in/out of trail heads. Apparently an epidemic of people turning horses loose in the parks.

Someone else took there horses and sold them at auction. They came out and found their trailer full of horses again. :confused:

[reuben T]

so what's it gonna take for those people to start using their horses instead of disposing of them. complete elimination of gas? I know, society has gotten so reved up on motor vehicles it won't even consider the alternative. Horses worked fine when farmers used them to grew their own food and went to town once a month, but we got so accustomed to going to town every day and it's hard to readjust.
If ya wanna know where this world is headed, here's a description.
http://www.4hispeople.com/standfast.html

[Carol Nelson]

Hey, now....there was an excerpt on the news last night about high school students here in Texas riding their horses to school to save money on gas!!
That's what I said....we need to go back to the original horsepower....;)

[baileyholc]

I agree with Carol Nelson. We need to go back to riding horses.

[britzlove]

How about, open slaughter houses with clean regulation, and volunteer sopt inspections and charge a minimal fee for disposal?

How about, I don't create worthless horses, or subquality low market dime a dozen horses, and I have a problem with compensating people for abuse and neglect.

I have no problem with horses going to Canada. I just have a problem with allowing the white trash that have accumulated horses around my part of the country to have an out that doesn't make it extremely painful for them to get rid of the horses.

And rescues, could absorb the throw aways, if only they would stop providing expensive surgeries for horses that will always be pasture ortaments, and euthanizing all unadoptable animals.

This crap about can't afford to euthanize is so old, buy a bullet, ask a friend, or pony up the 200$ because if you don't have that you don't need a horse, you probably shouldn't own a dog either for that matter.

[Abejita]

This crap about can't afford to euthanize is so old, buy a bullet, ask a friend, or pony up the 200$ because if you don't have that you don't need a horse, you probably shouldn't own a dog either for that matter

well Britz..only 200 dollars where you are?? That would get the horse hauled away ( illegal to bury large animal carcasses here ) and plus about another 200 or more ) to put it down by a vet..we dont all own or know someone who owns a gun..and I will not ( especially in this economy) pass judgement if someone doesnt have the money to feed or euthanize their horse without knowing all the details.. so to put it nicely ...dont be so judgemental..your situation doesnt apply to every horse owner

[britzlove]

Well, if you are heading toward such tough times you won't spend 400, you do not deserve to make 50 abandoning your responsibility at the local sale, and you really out to prepare for unexpected expenses and situations. I can pass judgement on whomever I chose to and as a person who isn't loaded, I wouldn't have horses if I couldn't find a better way than getting paid for cruelty.

Interestingly, people who are caught perpetuating cruelty and are prosecuted, somehow they generally find the money to get bailed out, or to pay the fine in leiu of jail time.

If your horse is undersaddle, you can probably find a place for him, and there are plenty of homes for riding horses. You might actually have to invest a few hours, but they are there. If you have one of the over flow unregistered, unattractive, unworked, wild, unruly horses, you might need to consider finding a way to remove them from the market. This can mean, finding a student to ride your horse, for not so much money, or, gasp, getting off the couch and doing it yourself, or finding a way to euthanize them.

Or, if there were a system of disposal for unwanted horses that wasn't compensatory towards humans behaving badly, and the fee were reasonable, and the facilities were American owned, and thus any money went to the facility maybe we could begin to improve the situation. What we had was an unregulated, inappropriate manner to kill them, and the people who profited we're the people behaving badly and dumping animals, breeding indescriminately, and the kill buyers and horse traders that fed off the system and the Belgian corporations which owned the plants. The workers were underpaid, and victims as well of a bad system.

So, if you can judge people like me as bleeding heart, which I am not obviously as I have zero problem removing unwanted horses in an ethical, educated manner, then I can judge people as complete, total trash, for being unwilling to investigate the requirements of responsible horse ownership.

Interestingly, it's already happening that good horse people are still selling good horses even in this troubled economy. If you can't sell your horse for a reasonable price in this economy, there's a reason other than, the close of slaughter plants. Or, hang to your horse, people seem to conviently forget that economies are cyclical.

Good horse people will actually benefit from current times, as the weeds will be rooted out, because the people who can afford to stay in horses can weather the storm. People who should never have owned horses in the first place, will have been removed from the buyers market. Prices for good animals will go up. Don't look for feed costs to significantly drop any time soon, they will but it will take longer. If you can't afford to feed and keep your horses now, you don't need horses now. I do not feel sorry for the person who wants a horse because they love horses, but do not love them enough to get a second job, quit smoking, quit drinking, eat only blue box mac n cheese or like me live in a crappy house that is not the envy of the neighborhood.

[Cindy]

"Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapenos.
What you do today, might burn your butt tomorrow"

[Mellifluous]

Dyn-o-mite!:p

[Mo.D]

What Mel said!

[Jasfino]

:smileywavey: What Britz said...

[Terry Wallace]

Its the same story here CarolU.

Horse prices were up slightly at last Saturday horse auction....but ONLY for riders and not for killer horses.
We bought a gorgeous pony we could not bear to leave there...only one guy bid against me...

About 12 went to the kill buyer...the rest got new homes...somewhere around 40 head. The horses bound for slaughter were mostly lame, hurt or really old. They were the horses nobody else would buy.

I totally agree that these "horse rescues" neeed to STOP providing surgeries and exorbitant veterinary care for horses that are not useable. It only keeps a space for a more worthy horse from being available.

IMO...the horse needs to be worthy of such costs. I don't buy auction horses that have no future... I buy the ones that have a future.

BTW...you won't get any horse euthanized and hauled away here for $200...you better double that amount.
The number of horses being abandoned out here will atest to the fact that people are trying to fill their tanks, and buy groceries and don't have it to spend on euthanizations.
Nope..I won't pass judgement on them because they are not well off enough to "do the right thing" and survive too.

Who could have known that fuel would jump .20 a week for weeks on end...and that groceries, especially staple items would jump up & up in price?

To me..IMO...the era of "the horse" is on shakey ground and will be for some time. I'm just thankful I can provide for my own horses.

Yes..it IS time to limit breeding, it is time to take a step back and see what is happening...and yes it is time to understand that people who may have wanted to become horse owners...will not be able to do so. As well as people who already own hrses will not be able to keep owning them...

I was very sad to learn yesterday that one of my favorite feed stores (one I have been using for 12 years) is going to drop all their Purina bagged feed and go strictly with hay sales. The reason is people have stopped buying grain and its no longer profitable for them to remain Purina dealers....

As for riding horses to work...might be a do-able deal for people back east...but it sure wouldn't be for me....I'm 21 miles from town and many people here live way out from town where they are employed. A 20 mile commute is nothing for a person west of the middle of the USA....
I sure have not seen any employers setting up day-holding corrals for horses! Nor do I expect to see them....

What a dream come true if they would erect horse holding facilities...but then, in comparison....I'm sure employers would not consider it worth while to build these for the one or maybe two people they employ that would actually ride to town! Lets face it....horse owners are far the minority when it comes to commuters... JMO

[motorgypsy]

It's probably time to buy stocks in companies who do a lot of selling on the internet because it's a lot more economical for one company to do many deliveries to places in the same geographic location than it is for each of us to climb in our vehicles and go to the store. When I was a kid there was a milkman and a breadman who delivered to everyone in the neighborhood. I can now see a groceryperson delivering.

And by the way - people in the west are not the only ones who have long commutes. My dad used to do a 2 hour commute in the 40's to Chicago and back every day and we did a 200 miles round trip commute daily to work for six months in South Carolina. This is one reason so many people have moved to smaller cities - especially in the southeast - lower heating costs and a much shorter commute to work. We bought our home expressly because it was 10 minutes to work and we've always advised our son to do the same. LIVE close to work. Then you can afford to travel for fun. For those on farms I see a lot of internet work and virtual networking in the future. It's just too expensive to have to drive to work and it's very time inefficient.

The paso fino is the horse of the future - less food, less hay, less poop, less land, cheaper to haul. How long before people realize that just because one has a BIG BUTT one doesn't need to ride a 2000 pound horse. Even a 225 pound person can ride a 1000 pound horse - especially one that is gaited.;)

I do agree that a horse that is purchased so that a person can go out for 15 minutes once a month and pretend they are a cowboy is not the horse of the future. Only serious horse lovers will be willing to invest the time and money. That may not be a bad thing. And hopefully those who think they are going to make money breeding Nellybelle to the next door neighbors Dobbin will realize that this is far from the truth. And the contraction in horse production will be where it belongs - in over breeding to chase the almighty blue ribbon, the almighty dollar, the winning racehorse and to make a few bucks selling a who knows what from a couple of mutt horses.

What I'd like to see would be local packing houses who would be willing to pick up a horse after it is humanely euthanized free to be used for animal feed or fertilizer locally. It would be a free service for someone whose horse was too lame or ill to be saved. The company would use a local vet and pay the vet for the service with the profit they make. They could even donate part of their profit to a rescue to help people who own horses and have had a financial setback. Since the horse owner would not make money on the deal this would not encourage breeding for slaughter. This would be no different from using the meat of a deer that is hit by a car. You hate to see it happen but it's going to. I would far prefer this to the horse dumping that is going to happen until things stabilize.

Something else I'd like to see is someone who will catalogue the age, breed, condition, training level and even gender of the horses put through auctions. Are they proportional to breed statistics or are certain ones showing up a lot more???