I know some people refuse to see what is really happening in today’s world. To be surrounded by only the good, to notice only the roses. Or maybe just to push it under the rug and fall back on your happy ending while some horses live at the mercy of the slaughter houses, the kill buyers. I know this blog is about Ink and Errika, but I try to bring up other important topics as well. It’s my duty to my horses to defend their species, because I love them, that is when topics such as this come into play. Although I have just scratched the surfuce in my understanding of horse slaughter, I do know that ignoring this or feeling that it’s not our problem to deal with as horse “lovers,” is a dis-honest service to our equine companions. If you have a horse that is dear to you, would you have the heart to tell them that you know the fate of some of their own, but it’s not ‘your problem’? What if you had room at your place and took a step out of the showing world, to give a neglected horse the love and good care it deserved? Do you have the heart to say that if a mare you bred gave birth to a foal that didn’t live up to your expectations for whatever reason, didn’t deserve the same care and treatment of those who did?
It is bitter-sweet to me. Today I was greeted by my family over at the paddock where the foaling happens. The mare that was over-due, finally had her baby. A cute dark bay, leggy thing and it was hard not to fall in love with the innocent foal as it layed on the ground catching some rays. It’s exciting to see a new addition, I will not lie, but I got mixed feelings. Of course it’s not this little guy’s fault. He was bred by pure luxury and human choice. But in his place I saw the faces of the sad and neglected. All the pictures on the internet of horses going to meet a horrible end, or painfully waiting for their time to come, it’s just hard to watch another horse be brought into the world, out of luxury. All the horses Joe rescues and we say we don’t have room for them, but we have room to breed more? Horse lovers, but not horse rescuers?
I could understand the continuation of excellent lineage, no wait, I’m lying I don’t understand that concept in it’s full, I guess for the better of the breed, yes. But for every horse person wishing to bring quality, well taken-care of, additions to their lineage, there are countless ones that breed because they can. I’m not just talking about the ones that breed for no reason once-so-ever, I’m talking about the ones that breed more and more and more horses saying, “oh its a hollywooddunityankeedocthisathat.” “Isn’t it just a nice looking horse, with a nice pedigree of over-bred, un-proven horses?” “But hey it came out of zippodunhollamollayea!, his great-great-great-great-…….grandsire!” Not the best example, but you get my drift. So what happens to them if they don’t live up to their pedigree? Not everyone has an answer for that. Isn’t it true that none of Seabiscuit’s babies ever lived up to their sire? I know there are some responsible owners that said, “hey let’s see what he WANTS to put his heart into,” when they don’t live up to what they were bred for, instead of, “hey if he doesn’t do what we brought him in this world to do he’s useless, lets send him off to auction.” Do you have a plan to stick with your creation is something happens to it? Anything is possible, you may not be able to 100% prepare, but by understanding that when you create this animal and bring it into this world, it’s your job to ensure it’s safety and care. Here is a prefect example, Guns & White Roses. Luckily the horse found a better home that it probably came from, but what would you do? You doing the creating, start doing the answering.
“I provide a service. People are revolted when I tell them I process horses for a living, but without me there would be thousands of starving horses living on our streets. On that girlie website of yours you wrote how I exploit horses. Wrong. I exploit alcohol. I exploit Burger King. But with horses I provide a service. I mop up. I clean up the mess left by morons who just have to breed their mare. A few years later no one wants the baby anymore, so I come in to mop up. How come you never write about those morons who just have to breed their mare? Every spring I send dozens of mares and new foals to the meat plant. And every spring there are idiots breeding more babies. All of your do right for horses cause they built America is crap. The only way to do right for horses is to stop breeding them.” - Horse Killer Manny Phelps. Posted on Joe’s blog April 10th.
A horse killer even recognizes the wrong in which the horse people themselves are contributing to.
At one point when I was younger and before I knew Errika was as old as she was, I thought about breeding her. Although I know that I would do my best to make sure that foal was well loved and taken care of, I knew that there was no point other than my own feelings for creating another horse. Though Errika would probably love to have a foal again. I don’t know how many times she’s been bred in the past before I owned her, maybe 2? I’m sure Errika would love it just as much, if not more, if I went out a rescued an un-registered, $250 auction horse. At this point, with the surplus of slaughter bound equines, it’s more than that. It’s more than breeding because you “might” have a winner, or you want to have a foal, or you think your mare would like being a mommy for the 10th time. Take your money, take you time and save the species you love so dearly.
“I got a gelding with a tattoo and he is 8. He has one shoe and he needs at least 100 pounds. A lady in Vacaville gave him to me. What a witch. She has all these horses, and when her little boy came to say hi she screamed and cussed him out. Told him to quit bothering everybody. I am going to give you this gelding Joe. He is sweet. You just have to cover transportation costs from Vallejo. Call Maggie, and she will have him ready at the south gate.” - Brent Sanchez, Horse Killer. Posted on Joe’s blog, April 10th 2008.
I’m not putting all breeders into this category. There are good breeders who wish to better the breed in which they are contributing to, and take FULL responsibility for their foal creations. Not leaving it behind when it can’t live up to it’s expectations or when something awful happens to it and then throws it into some-elses hands to do the clean up.
“As a breeder of Arabian horses I am faced with a unique problem. Over 60% of the registered Arabian horses are in their late teens or older. Breedings are declining each year. While that may seem good to the rest of the horse lovers, from the point of science it is bad.
According to genetists, the Arabian horse has the most closed gene pool of any breed, The smaller the gene pool gets, the more dangerous it is for the presevation of the breed.
So when I make the decision not to breed mares with valuable bloodlines, I am affecting not only my farm but even the future of the breed. ” - Comment from Mikael - Arabian Horses
If you managed to read this post through, thank you. Please leave a comment with your opinion and why you breed or what your thoughts are on this subject.
This is the photo eloquent pic of the week. Titled "Velvet." Errika!
Kudos to yo for tackling a very difficult and touchy subject with in the horse industry. The more we true horse lovers discuss this in a calm rational manner, the farther the word will spread. Maybe, just maybe, someone will save a life after reading this. Maybe, just maybe, someone will choose to NOT breed their mare. Including quotes from TB Friends spoken by the kill buyers is chilling. But people NEED to hear them.
Again- great job straying away from the topic you normally choose. And a pat on the back from the Southland for doing it quite well!
I have bred two horses, and they are both for more own personal use. The second one I’m extremely grateful as she is the only offspring of my exceptional first hack who died 2 years later, with her foal being all I have left.
The problem with overpopulation is not as intense as in America, and there is very little slaughter for human consumption, so the breeding guilt isn’t as prevalent. It’s not all breeding hat is the problem though. There will always be a market for top bred horses, its the excessive breeding of paints, QHs and crossbreds that no one wants. A person that would bred a top end dressage foal say, is not going to not bred the foal and instead use a horse off of a Backyard breeder, becuase they are breeding horses that are very limited in the jobs they can do.
I can’t stand to see pasture pets having foals every spring. On my drive to the barn I pass horse after horse with little foals by their sides. These horses sit all year long…no one rides them, no one plays with them and where do they go when hay gets expensive or a vet call costs some money? On craigslist and then on the road to Canada. After years of thought about the issue, for me I finally have come to a point of excepting slaughter as a viable use of horses that are un-usable or unwanted. My problem with slaughter is that it is currently is not humane. It is a horrific end for these horses. That needs to change. Really people…no more back yard breeding. If you want a foal..go rescue one through the Animali Farm or go to an auction, go to the track and get a two year old with no outs….there are many places to find horses that are already here. I thought about “taxing” new foals at one point as a way to end this senseless breeding….maybe it isn’t such a bad idea.
You have already heard from me on this issue but there’s a ton more I have to say. I will just touch on a couple of them here.
I would like to see the breed registries keep track of who’s breeding large numbers of horses but only registering a few. That would expose those big farms who are breeding tons of mares looking for super stars, anything that doesn’t qualify as such, they send off to auction with no papers. Those breeders need to be stopped. If the breed registries would make those peope accountable for this disgusting practice that would sure help this problem.
Also there are the first time horse owners who buy a horse they have no clue how to take care of. They get hurt, tired of all the work or whatever and can’t sell the horse because they’ve spoiled it rotten and now the poor horse is in the category of unwanted. I’d love to see there be some way to deal with these people. And to deal with the irresponsible sellers who only worried about money so they sold this horse knowing it would never work. Many, many of the unwanted horses out there come from situations like this.
Obviously we don’t want the government involved in fixing this, so we horse people need to figure out some answers. Just harping at people about not breeding isn’t going to fix the problem. The source of these unwanted horses needs to be dealt with and first they must be identified.
Wow I dont know where to start. I do belive that there are good breeders out there doing the right thing and making sure they are responsible. Both Abu and Tonka are products of the other kind of breeders. Abu was a mistake where a 2 year old was allowed to breed to a 25 year old mare and having Abu cost that mare her life.The woman I bought Abu from got involved and was given Abu just to get the baby off the property of the owner after the mare was put down, I am grateful for him but I know a good breeder would not have allowed this to happen. Tonka was rescued by a man with more heart than means from the Woodburn Auction Yard, he could only afford to save the 2 babies (tonka and his sister) and had to let the mare go. He saved Tonka and we found him and gave him a great life. For this man of modest means I am grateful.
I have a great amount of disdain when I hear people say they are having a foal, puppy or kitten so there kids can witness the miracle of life. That is the pennacle of stupidity. These animals end up in the auction yards and pounds. I personally belive that we as humans make a commitment to take care of these animals when we bring them into our lives.
Perhaps if the different breed groups had a way to monitor breeding it would help, I am not sure as to what that looks like but I am sure as a horse community we could come up with something.
As for the folks that just sell willy nilly I have some anger towrds these folks. They are more concerned with getting thier pocket lined with silver than the well fare of the the 3 year old they just loaded on some ones trailer. Shame on them.
Thanks for the post, and for focusing attention on an issue that is really not black and white. It is absolutely our responsibility as owners and horse advocates to think about what we’re doing, to think about what really makes a good horse. Is it just in the bloodlines? I doubt it.
Horse slaughter is not the answer to the problem, but neither is tying a horse to a fence and letting it starve to death slowly because no one wants it, has time for it, can afford it, etc. And this kind of thing is happening with increasing frequency right now.
I love my mare, Lena, but I will probably never breed her because as much as I love her, as much as I’d love to work with a foal she had, there are way too many horses out there that need good homes.
Like my boy Calabar, for example.
Where could he have ended up if we hadn’t taken a chance on him? Probably fine, but my life has certainly been enhanced by owning a horse that some folks would have rejected out of hand for any number of reasons.