What are your thoughts on....

I personally hate the idea of a horse going to slaughter, but I guess if they are being put through worse conditions elsewhere, I would support it if it was tightly regulated.

I found this article in the news section:
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle....267&source=rss

I can see where this could possibly help reduce the number of unwanted horses. What are your thoughts?

ohhhhh that could open up a whole can of worms.
hmmmm

I'm not even sure how I really feel about it yet. In regards to slaughter, I was focusing on the following statement:

"..it would appear to be more efficient to produce the gender of choice rather than to overproduce in hopes of getting the gender desired."

yeah, because humans do so well at playing God.....oye.

I am not pro-slaughter for sure......It's a matter of realism for me. Until people learn not to over breed, and can be responsible, then slaughter is a necessary evil imo - otherwise you just trade one form of abuse (the horrible slaughter experience) for another....a slow death through untreated medical issues or starvation. There are not enough qualifies homes for rescues - nor enough openings at the rescues that are open now. And some of those rescues are really no better than the situations they were pulled from. So I would rather well regulated slaughter be available, than not at this point. It would be nice if it could be handled how the overpopulation of cats and dogs is currently being handled.....but since humane societies don't have enough budget for what they currently do....I doubt we will see that anytime soon.

I aso would like to add that in France, if we abolish slaughters, horses would have to travel through France and in Poland or Italia to be killed.

This means longer travels, more pain.


About the genetic thing, choose the gender cool. But the breeding is not really based on the gender of the horse, but on the performance. Yes it can help, but you can chose to have a stalion, if this one doesn't perform, whatever the sex, it will get out of the circuit.

You can chose the best stallion, and the best mare, chose the two ones which will complete well each other..you can have all the good, as you can have all the bad too.

Is breeding was juste about chosing the best horses, it would be easy...but hazard of genetic makes it not so easy.


We have to keep this hazard. If we could chose the exact horse we want, there would not have no more surprise in competition, stallions and mares would be reduce to the best ones, and there would be some inbreeding, which is dangerous for the breed, and also for humans.

Where would be the pleasure of breeding if we would not have surprise anymore? It would all be about money, and we know where money leads things: destruction...

if we choose too much the whole darwin theory goes to waste and the miricales wont happen. little surprises of specialness will disapear.



(omg my spelling just sucks. sigh)

This thread has me impressed with this board due to it not immediately degenerating into a screaming match on such a touchy topic.

Although I wonder why it's in Gaited Horses.

The idea of horse slaughter is naturally repulsive to folks (like most of us) who have an emotional attachment to the noble beasts. But the only ethical objection would be to inhumane conditions in the transport and handling of the animals prior to stunning, which is not necessarily inherent to slaughter operations.

Many people, including a lot of non-horsemen, who rallied against horse slaughter fail to balance the imagined horrors of the killers against the real horrors of a world without them... Without the killers there to guarantee a bottom price, more and more people can't even be bothered to haul their horses to the sale.

I watch my local Craig's List... And it's full of old or otherwise futureless horses being given away or sold for next to nothing. There's almost no chance of these animals getting a decent home. And, if they do, they'll be taking the space of a horse who might have had a future. Many wind-up pretty much abandoned in old cow pastures until they die slowly of neglect. A less humane fate than the slaughterhouse.

I feel that owners should either provide a comfortable retirement for their horses or put them down (as per The Horse's Prayer)... Not try to foist their responsibility off on someone else. But there will always be horseowners who don't live up to their final duty to their horses, and the slaughter business gave them a way out that was far preferable to the alternative of essentially dumping the horses somewhere.

Wow I see that everyone has some great thoughts on it and I didnt mean to post it in gaited horses...I was new to the site and got confused sorry

Originally Posted by Dave_Millwater_RMF

This thread has me impressed with this board due to it not immediately degenerating into a screaming match on such a touchy topic.

One of the many reasons I love this forum. The calm and civility are so refreshing.

I also agree with your analysis of the reality of slaughter and think you put it very well. It's certainly not a glamorous or pretty part of the equine world but it does serve a purpose.

i, too, am pro slaughter. i'm not a horse hater, abuser, etc. i simply believe, like other people on here that as long as the equine economy is like it is, its a necessary evil. i think that slaughter houses should be reopened with regulations placed and ENFORCED! our country's government has problems sometimes enforcing the laws they make. i, too, think breeders should have to be liscensed. it's rediculous that peta would rather them be abused, starved, or neglected than have regulations put on slaughter so they won't suffer. our rescues are overrun with unwanted horses as it is. banning slaughter didn't do anything other than increase numbers of abuse cases and unwanted horses.