Posts Tagged ‘slaughter’
Pulling the trigger, so to speak
I was recently made aware of a news article wherein a rescue saved three horses from auction that were assuredly going to slaughter.
Apparently this rescue has formed a symbiotic relationship with an auction house to receive tips when horses come through that are ‘saveable’. They’ve been operating in this manner for over 15 years. In 2011 alone they saved approximately 80 horses from slaughter, 60 of which were rehomed. The article didn’t mention what happened to the other 20 horses, nor are they listed on the rescue’s website. Fortunately though, nothing I’ve learned about this rescue sets off any hoarder red flags so perhaps they’re being fostered or maybe the article was incorrect.
Of the three most recently rescued horses, one was a 19 year old Standardbred mare. Shortly after rescuing her, she colicked. Unfortunately she required surgery and was given (at best) a 60% chance of survival. After her surgery, this horse stayed at the veterinary hospital for about a week and brought home with her over $10,000 in vet bills – and that’s after the rescue received a discount. One of the articles covering this rescue goes on to quote them as saying they have enough feed for another two months and then they’re out.
I don’t want to condemn this rescue for making the decision to save this horse. On one hand, I think it’s great that after so many years saving horses they aren’t so jaded as to say “19? Colic? 60%? No.” And then move on to the next horse. Unfortunately, on the other hand, maybe that’s what they should have done.
Since JG and I started writing Snarky Rider and more recently, FHOTD, we’ve had the opportunity to develop a number of relationships with different rescues and have started to learn a few things – astounding, I know. It seems to me that, to be successful, a rescue needs to be run similar to a business. And here I’m defining “successful” as being able to support their rescued horses without being in a desperate scramble each month to pay the necessary and inescapable bills. It’s having a contingency fund for emergencies, having a plan and setting parameters for when to save a horse and when to let them go. Think Corporate Triage.
Let me be the first one to state that it must be next to impossible to make that life or death decision. I imagine it would be a type of hell with the potential to haunt you for the rest of your life. However, when you make the decision to start a rescue, do you not willingly take on that responsibility?
I freely admit that I don’t have any direct experience with running a rescue. (I’d like to, eventually, but I think for that to happen I need to figure out how to keep myself alive first.) This entire post and any opinions it expresses come from outside observation and what I’ve read about and discussed with rescuers. Although, I think most of Fugly’s readers are in the same boat as I am – with a few exceptions. It’ll be very interesting to get the opinions of rescue organizations and what, if anything, they would have done differently.
From all other accounts this organization is a good quality rescue that truly has the horse’s best interests at heart. The issue is: do they perhaps care too much? So much so that the objectivity required to save the ‘saveable’ horses has perhaps been compromised? Did they save one horse potentially at the expense of others already in their care? Was their decision to save this horse made with too much heart, or is that an essential component of rescuing horses that, in these hard economic times, is sometimes forgotten?
The Slaughter Debate rages on
And now for the counter point article in the guest blogger mini-series on slaughter.
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Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association Issues Illogical Pro-Slaughter Missive
Those of you who know me from other sites or in real life (and I assume that’s anyone reading this blog, since I don’t promote it outside my other online profiles) know that I own a Thoroughbred gelding and an Arabian mare, both rescued from slaughter, and that they’re one reason I call myself a cowgirl.
I define “cowboy” or “cowgirl” pretty narrowly: A person who lives a lifestyle that includes owning and/or enjoying horses; appreciating wide open spaces; supporting an independent, traditionally “western” lifestyle; and believing in the humane treatment of animals, including those used for food, work, and other purposes. I proudly wear my “cowgirl” label because, to many of those who share my passions and beliefs, it conveys a great deal. It’s also my way of showing respect to the men and women in the equestrian community who have mentored and influenced me throughout my lifetime.
I’ve met some wonderful people who support equine slaughter. I’ve heard some rational arguments in favor, from people I gladly count as fellow cowgirls or as cowboys.
The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association does not, apparently, employ any real cowgirls/boys in its policy or PR departments. Instead of iterating any reasonable arguments in favor of slaughter, they recently put out an email release giving some of the worst reasons for equine slaughter I’ve heard. The quoted portions are from their email, as posted here. The other bits are my comments.
Dear Friends,
The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association voted, with unanimous approval, to thank the AHA Board for continuing your support for the re-opening of the equine terminal marketplace, and to join with the AHA in support of the reinstatement of equine processing in the United States.
Weasel words like “equine terminal marketplace” reek of doublespeak.
While we appreciate that this subject can be a sensitive one to those who are not intimately involved in the horse industry,
I’m the owner of an AHA registered Arabian horse, who is the third such animal I’ve owned. I’ve been riding since my eighth birthday. I spent eight years volunteering at least twice a week for a horse rescue, including a little more than two years on its Board of Directors. I worked for five years for various equestrian businesses, and my dollars support a boarding stable, trainers, registries, farriers, and equestrian supply companies. I’d say I’m intimately involved, and yet, equine slaughter is a touchy subject for me.
there is no question that it is an integral component for the continuation of the horse’s survival into the 21st century, as well as to any and all breed associations.
If one asserts that there is “no question” that something is true, the statement being so staunchly supported should be connected to a source. I have personally found that my horses, who live in the 21st century, are most apt to survive when they are not killed and eaten.
The simple fact of the matter is that for the horse to continue to survive and contribute to mankind, as it has done for the last 5000 years, the equine terminal marketplace must be reestablished in the United States. Equine slaughter for rendering and consumption is a necessity in the equine livestock industry, in order to allow horses at the bottom of the pyramid a humane, dignified, and contributing end. The bold words are the important points of this referendum, not the emotionally exploited ones of slaughter, rendering, or human consumption. Without a terminal marketplace, horses today are left trying to survive, for the first time ever, after their usefulness as a work-mate to man has passed. Regardless of whether you like the idea of equine slaughter, the vast, documented increase in equine suffering throughout the US since the close of the slaughter houses should be enough in and of itself for all people who truly care about horses to stand up and demand that those of us who have invested our lives in horses be the ones responsible for making the decisions about the marketplace that surrounds them.
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. A short list of unsourced claims from APAHA in this paragraph:
- Slaughter is “necessary” for equine survival. What studies suggest that Equus ferus callus will become extinct if it is not slaughtered for human consumption?
- Horses sent to slaughter are at the “bottom of the pyramid.” What pyramid? By whose definition?
- Slaughter is “humane” and “dignified.” Concerns about the lack of a humane slaughter process for equines are central to arguments against equine slaughter, and cannot be pithily dismissed simply because an industry association declares slaughter “humane.”
- Horses have never survived past their usefulness to man in the past. Please provide me with citations that invalidate the eight years I spent caring for rescued horses who, by and large, were not especially useful to mankind.
- “Vast, documented increase in equine suffering” — again, source? Studies? Numbers? Definition of the subjective “suffering?”
Some people were affronted when the AHA stepped up last year to support the reopening of the equine processing plants. We contend that as breeders and current caretakers of the world’s oldest breed of horse, we have an obligation to our Arabian horses to support the reopening as well. It affects breeders and the breed in a singularly unassailable way; simply, that the free and low price market for the “pet quality” horses, if you will, is simply no longer available. The bottom tier of every breed and breeder’s marketplace, that for family riding horses, has been eaten up by the “rehoming” of over 300,000 horses since 2007, many of whom have huge medical issues, training issues, psychological issues, and on and on. Often, the people who take on these horses are novice horse lovers whose heart-strings have been played by emotional, fact-less advertising paid for by lobbying groups that never invest in shelters and rehoming at all. Once saddled with an adopted horse that by contract cannot be sold or bred, these horse lovers find the difficulty of dealing with the myriad of issues draining financially and mentally. Needless to say, these experiences are not good at building repeat, long-term business for the horse industry.
I’ve made my point about this email’s use of the logical fallacy “appeal to authority” as a substitute for scholarly citations, so I won’t go through this paragraph and point out the same. However, it’s important to note the registry’s condescending tone toward “novice” horse lovers whose “heart-strings” motivate them to care for horses. If you were a first-time horse owner reading this paragraph, would you describe the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association as welcoming to novices?
We spoke recently with four different breed associations in order to research registrations since the ban, and discovered that every one is down by over one third in new registrations from 2006 to 2010. Quarter Horse registrations dropped from 150,000 in 2006 to less than 90,000 last year. Paints fell from 39,357 in 2006 to 17,835 in 2010. The Morgan Horse Association registered 3461 horses in 2006, with only 1835 in 2010. We are all aware of our own registration decline, from 10,311 in 2006 to 6660 in 2010. All these breeds weathered a similar economic downturn in the ‘80′s without this kind of drop in registrations, and rebounded accordingly, the difference being that when economically strapped owners could no longer afford feed for their horses, they had a way to reduce numbers until the economy changed, after which their breeding business could rebound.
Here’s the only fully transparent part of this message. Forget “humane” and “dignified.” The problem with a reduction in slaughter, for the AHA and other registries, is that it leads to a drop in registrations. Registries make their money from registrations and from show fees paid only by the owners of registered horses competing in registry-sanctioned events. If the slaughter pipeline contracts, people breed (and register) fewer horses, lacking an easy disposal method for unwanted horses.
But let’s think about that for a moment: APAHA itself points out that an economic downturn in the 1980s did not lead to the same drop in registration. However, they consider only one variable–ease of slaughtering unwanted horses–in comparing the two downturns. After 30 years, a few other things have changed:
- Animal adoption is a much more popular option for pet parents; this has trickled down to the horse world in that many people now seek to give an unwanted animal a home rather than purchasing a registered animal from a breeder.
- It is more expensive to keep a horse. Fewer people can or choose to make that expenditure.
- The AHA has spent 30 years promoting halter competitions that produce pretty horses who are, by and large, of no use for pleasure and performance riding.
- The AHA has developed a reputation for condoning the abuse of horses, particularly in the halter ring.
- The Arabian horse has developed a serious PR problem.
- The APAHA is too busy looking down its nose at soft-hearted first time owners to welcome them into the equestrian world, acknowledge their needs, and envelop them in a warm, supportive Arabian horse community that would inspire them to purchase, register, and exhibit Arabian horses.
By reopening the equine processing plants, we are simply restoring to horse owners and breeders the option that all other livestock breeders and owners have, and that horse owners and breeders had until the last four years. We will still retain the option to care for our horses after their usefulness is done, and we will still retain the option to rescue horses from the terminal marketplace. And people will still have the option to make horse meat available to some of the 25,000 people on earth per day who are dying of starvation, allowing horses a chance to give back and be useful to humans, as they have done for centuries, even after they have passed.
Let’s be real here: Nobody is proposing feeding starving children with horsemeat. If they were, it would be dismaying, since horsemeat from American companion and performance horses is loaded with drugs like “bute” that are labeled “not for use in animals intended for human consumption.” But they’re not. There is no nonprofit organization volunteering to construct and operate an equine slaughterhouse that would exist exclusively to donate horsemeat to the hungry. If our goal is to feed the starving, the grain our horses eat would be a more efficient donation.
Secondly, did anyone bother to ask the horses if they want to “give back” by being killed and eaten? No, we don’t ask that question of cattle or poultry, but nobody is using the desire of steer or hens to “be useful to humans” as an argument in favor of eating them. Mostly, we just argue that they’re pretty delicious.
There are issues to address, certainly, and many different options available to improve the terminal marketplace, among them mobile slaughter units and live web monitoring of plants. As horsemen, breeders, and horse lovers, we are the ones responsible for dealing with these issues, making sure that the terminal marketplace becomes ever more humane, with a quick and dignified passing, without undue stress, and where the horse can go on to be useful to man after his demise, just as he has been for the last 5000 years. This is not a job for politicians, lobbyists and animal rights people to define; it’s a job for us, so that the horse that has brought so much to our lives will survive and evolve to bring much needed help to the people coming after us.
In closing, APAHA would again like to commend the board of AHA for joining horse-industry leaders in the fight to protect the future of the Arabian horse breed and the horse in general.Sincerely,
The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association Board of Directors
Oh, there are issues to address, all right, APAHABoD. There are definitely issues.
Let’s start with why you think that my registered Arabian mare would be more useful to an organization promoting the Arabian horse had she been killed and eaten–as she would have been before I had a chance to save her, had her death not been delayed by the necessity of exporting her to Mexico for “processing”– than as a living ambassador for the breed who will, after recovering from her ordeal, have a career either as a performance horse, therapy animal, pet, or breeding animal.
Let’s start with why you think my “heart-strings” make me a novice, because I choose to rescue horses in need rather than buy horses produced by the equine equivalent of puppy mills, the breeders with hundreds of horses who keep you in registration fees while causing immense suffering by flooding a contracted market with a supply for which there is currently little demand.
Perhaps, before you complain about your financial decline and blame it on too few horses being killed and eaten, you should consider how communications like this affect experienced amateur owners as they choose where to show, which horses to purchase, and which organizations to support.
Give the doublespeak a rest and try looking inward for solutions to your decline. If you don’t, your best case scenario is one in which more Arabian horses are slaughtered as registrations continue to drop year after year after year.
PS. I’ll share pictures of my horses in another post sometime soon. Didn’t put them here because they’re cute and fuzzy and obviously nobody wants to kill cute, fuzzy horses. That’s not what this is about. This is about an organization that is supposed to represent Arabian horse owners wasting their time and money spewing logical fallacies and condescension at their own clientele.
PPS. To reiterate: I love my rescued horses, but if you are a horse person who is pro-slaughter, I do not dislike you or consider that opinion invalid. I do, however, hope that you are able to do a better job than the APAHA of making a fact-based argument to support that opinion. Since, you know, most avocados could do a better job of that than the APAHA.
The Slaughter Debate
Going through the many, many submissions for the FHOTD writer’s job, a theme very quickly became apparent. Horse slaughter and the recent change in US law are very popular topics (forgive us, but; duh). It’s funny, because before we even started going through all the emails, we were making big plans for our first post. We wanted to address something topical and a little controversial, something that would really fire up a good debate. We wanted a topic that we felt strongly about. You guessed it – we were going to write about horse slaughter!
Since reading all the submissions, instead we’re going to throw this one out to the other writers who were hoping to contribute to Fugly. There were a lot of well written articles submitted. From those we’ve chosen two that we feel took an original approach to the topic.
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This first piece is by The Naughty Tobiano.
The Black Market Horse Meat Industry—Could Domestic Slaughter STOP this Atrocity?
While the debate of should horses be slaughtered has been a very hot, hot topic since the late 1990s; and it’s heating up even more with Obama’s signing of a bill that would repeal the ban on USDA inspectors essentially making it legal to slaughter horses again the U.S. except for in CA and IL. Both sides are vehemently arguing their points.
The anti-slaughter side argues that slaughtering a horse is inhumane and cruel as horses have souls and feelings; and that they should be considered pets or companion animals—not livestock. They point fingers at the breeding industry, back yard breeders, incentive programs offered by registries, and the money hungry horse dealers who only see $$$$$. They demand more laws, in some cases suggesting restrictions on who gets to own a horse is the answer. Others state a “foal tax” is the answer.
However, many of the horses standing in kill pens waiting to die are in the prime of their life: 8-15 yr olds, born BEFORE the ban on USDA inspectors went into effect. It is this point as well as some of the suffering slaughter bound horses face that have many pro-slaughter advocates suggesting Obama’s signature was a good thing. They argue the horses are suffering in Canadian and Mexican slaughter houses where the method of slaughter is NOT regulated. Evidence suggests horses’ throats are slit and the butchering begins before they are dead. The pro-slaughter side argues they want to lessen the suffering of horses that are presently bound for slaughter by tightly controlling the manner in which horses are treated at the new “equine processing plants” and ensure the slaughter is humane. They further cite how re-opening slaughter will reduce the unwanted horse population and restore the once lucrative economic market that the horse industry brought to all parts of the U.S.
Some people worry about the BLM mustangs. Some people worry about the race horses.
There is another argument that has little to do with the welfare of horses but instead focuses on the human consumption element of horse slaughter.
One anti-slaughter argument points to repeated European bans on U.S. horse meat (http://www.pennsylvaniaequestrian.com/news/EU-ban-1009.php ; http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Quality-Safety/Tainted-US-horse-meat-puts-world-consumers-at-risk-welfare-body ) and state that it is ethically wrong for the U.S. to slaughter horses and export the meat when many American horses have been treated with medicines that clearly state on the label “not intended for use in horses for human consumption”. On the flip side, reports are showing there is little evidence that bute , ivemectrin, pyrantel, and other equine drugs stay in the horse’s system long enough to cause harm to humans. The paleo diet movement actually encourages horse meat, stating that humans were meant to eat horse: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/horse-meat/
But there is a much, much darker side to the unavailability of domestically processed and inspected meat: the black market for horse meat.
The following links are actual news stories concerning a growing problem in Southern Florida. Horses are being STOLEN and butchered on the side of the road, often while still alive, to supply meat for the black horsemeat market.
WARNING…….The videos are graphic and photos horrific.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61rD3rBC2L4&feature=related
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6478115
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7VMcna1PAE
Though presently focused on a trend in Florida only, is black market horse meat reaching other ethnic communities around the U.S.? Though it appears the killers for this market are sticking to a small locality of Florida, what makes people think the horse meat is not traveling through the underground market to other states with heavy populations of Hispanic communities. Furthermore, is the desire for horsemeat reserved for the Hispanic culture or are other ethnic groups also feeding the greed of the black market.
Having said that, is it reasonable to believe that if the USDA began offering inspected, legal, domestic horse meat would the black market disappear?
This same argument has been made for the legalization of marijuana.
But….it was also made long before that in another still heated Pro Vs. Anti fight: Abortion. Prior to the legalization of abortion, thousands of women died while having an illegal abortion. But, once legalized, the back alley, black market diminished and women could safely make the choice concerning their own body.
Could this rationale not be applied to the black market for horse meat? Is it not reasonable to assume that IF people who wanted to eat horse meat due to their culture or their own personal health beliefs had access to a safe, legal source the black market would essentially disappear?
Obviously the current situation is grim as there are repeated reports of horses being stolen and simply disappearing. The anti-slaughter side points their fingers to the current “kill buyers” but I sincerely have my doubts that the dealers who sell to the feed lots are all running around Southern Florida snatching up family’s beloved horses? Why would they when there is a myriad of FREE ones on craigslist just a short trailer ride from many auction houses and feed lots.
So…..would the black market crumble if horse meat were domestically available? No matter how many videos of a captive bolt coming down on a horse I see, I cannot compare it to the terror and pain a horse like Geronimo suffered at the hands of the butchers who took him from his barn and tortured him just a half a mile from his family.
It may be a very distasteful thing to think about; but, under tightly regulated USDA supervised situations, could humane slaughter stop this atrocity?
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Check back tomorrow for another submission on this issue.
Bad Pennies
“The Truck Is Coming!” This ominous phrase was used often and well, by Columbia Basin Equine Rescue (CBER) President Samantha Milbredt Panayiotopoulos and KB, Chuck Walker owner of Gary Seal Livestock, Inc. in Zillah WA.
Sam Milbredt
Cathy Atkinson, the originator of this blog waged a long, hard campaign to raise public awareness of these scumbags and their horse flipping business, which they successfully hid under the guise of a legitimate horse rescue for many years.
The intention behind “The Truck is Coming!” and many other scare tactics was to push potential, well-intentioned, marks, I mean buyers, into rushing to “rescue”
a horse from CBER, which would otherwise end up Mexico bound. In reality, the horses had usually been picked up at the auction for pennies, and then offered up as an urgent rescue, at a much higher price of course, sometimes within hours of purchase.
As Cathy eventually proved, Milbredt (affectionately known as $am) used CBER as a sales barn of the worst kind.
$am was known to sell unsound, ill horses to trusting buyers who thought they were helping CBER continue to rescue, not stuffing her pockets. These animals were advertised as healthy riding animals and when complaints came back to CBER from adopters she would replace the horse and immediately send them to slaughter. She took donations for horses she no longer owned and didn’t worry herself about feed, or veterinarian and hoof care.
Horses were adopted out to buyers without background checks, site checks or contracts. All they needed was to pay her inflated prices, sometimes more than once. In other words, she proved herself to be nothing more than a scum sucking equine KB.
She had a notorious liaison with convicted animal hoarder, Dean Solomon, which ended up with a lot of screaming, finger pointing and the eventual demise of CBER. At one point in time, the pair was fighting each other, FHOTD and local authorities all at the same time.
While hrowing threats of lawsuits hither and yon, they were hiding horses in every available place they could find. Since word of their unsavory business practices was spreading rapidly, it was becoming difficult to find volunteers to take on the unhealthy, neglected animals.
$am decided to give ten head to Mandy Strothers, who with minimum research by Cathy, turned up on an Internet
bestiality site. Either $am was continuing her practice of doing absolutely no research on prospective
horse owners, or she was OK with Mandy’s particular tastes.
Between this little tidbit of information and written reports from former CBER volunteers stating $am had admitted to eating horsemeat and didn’t see a problem with it, the supposed no-kill rescue had used up its credibility…
Cathy legally documented this information on FHOTD, and the story of their self-destruction was detailed as well. You would hope that would be the end of
it.
Unfortunately, an alert reader wrote to tell me Sam has slithered out of the snake pit yet again, this time on Horses for the Soul (http://horsesforthesoul.org/horse-rescue-network/).
The sharp cookie that spotted $am’s trademark sales pitch wrote, “Too many red flags went off and I found photos with the watermark ‘Samantha Milbredt’ on
it… I’m in California, got two horses from $AM and CBER back in 2006…still have one of them. I have no issues with the horses, but I do with $AM. I found the photos and enclosed the link at the bottom of this email.”
$am is now a horse photographer (www.hotshotz.biz). I’ve got to hand it to her, it’s a great way to scout out potential victims, both human and equine. She
is selling the horses she calls rescues through Another Sunshine Equine Network on Facebook.
Several horses were listed with her name and phone # as the seller.
Here are some of her “hurry and adopt, pay me quick and don’t look too close,” phrases:
“12 new photos to the album Toppenish Kill Pen Horses (Slaughter Bound Mexico), this group has until Sunday the 6th.
“We are fundraising in an attempt to save some of these slaughter bound horses. They are scheduled to ship to slaughter soon.
Donations needed now or it will be too late to make arrangements for them.
“PLEASE help if you can and share this information with anyone else you know who may be able to donate or purchase one of these…horses themselves. Any horses we are able to purchase will be placed in suitable homes or foster situations if we are lucky enough to receive the funding necessary to purchase them.”
It seems hoarder Dean is pretty much out of the picture, but a crazy hoarder is not as cold and calculating as a horse dealer who cares nothing for the damage she causes to good-hearted people and the horses they are trying to help.
The best way to fight a sneaky snake like $am? Keep her in the public eye. If she is outed every time she crawls out of her hole she will have to give up eventually, won’t she?
Totally Predictable Outcome but…Just Add Drama!
Texas Prison Horses May be on One Way Trip to the Mexican Border
I just want to make sure you are all sitting down now, because I know you are all going to be shocked and stunned that a bunch of grade Quarter Horse-Percheron mixes just went to kill. In fact, allow me to put on my Madame Cleo hat and psychically determine that they weren’t ridden through the auction. I am gonna bet you the “culls” were halter broke at best and presented themselves pretty much like a herd of wild, fugly buffalo at the auction. And they went to kill…NO SHIT, REALLY??? OMG! What will happen next, Lindsey Lohan getting caught with drugs or something???
This is, seriously, one of the dumbest horse-related articles I’ve ever read. They brag about the horses’ bloodlines dating back to the 1800′s. Dude, every single horse’s bloodlines date back to fifty million years ago or so when Eohippus walked the earth. So what? Mere age or a recording of pedigree does not make bloodlines valuable. THEY’RE NOT WINE!
If anyone had done two minutes of research online, they’d have realized:
1) There was no need to breed draft crosses for prison guards to ride. AMERICA IS FULL OF THEM thanks to our overpopulation of douchebag “sport horse” breeders who think every mix between a light horse and a draft horse purchased at the local auction is Olympic bound, despite the fact that their horses’ primary skill is knocking their breeder ass-over-teakettle when s/he tries to walk through the pasture carrying a bucket.
2) Although, while we’re on the subject, why are all your prison guards 300 lbs.? It is time for Weight Watchers at Work, not bigger horses.
3) If you are sending 100 culls to auction every year, guess what, MOST are going to kill. Again, allow me to guess that you are not “culling” the ones that are rideable and usable. You’re sending off stuff you thought wasn’t good enough to train, or stuff you couldn’t get trained. Why the dramz now? Is this the first time someone noticed? Uh-oh buuuuusted. Sort of plays hell with your P.R. that this is some sort of genetically perfect herd. Puhleeese. It is a herd of a whole lot of Nothing Special. Some of them may become well broke enough to have a value as riding horses for larger people or hunting pack horses, but without the training (which, again, I doubt you put on the ones you dump at auction), they are worth about sixty cents a pound.
You need to get your heads out of your butts and look beyond the razor wire at the real world once in a while. There is no need whatsoever to produce a ton of supersized grade QH crosses. You could easily mount your guards on draft crosses from RESCUES. Truly, it is not that hard to find untrained brick shithouses with short backs and no withers if that is your ideal. I really doubt any of your inmates are that desperately in need of any lessons about the miracle of life from watching mares foal; most of them are probably way behind on their own child support. So why don’t you set a good example and STOP BREEDING GRADE CRAP instead of acting all traumatized and stunned when the low end of your grade crap breeding program very predictably winds up on the double-decker to Hell? I mean, what was wrong with making license plates…if you made too many of THOSE, nobody got hurt!
P.S. Texas taxpayers…so this is what you’re stuck funding, a backyard breeding program to produce unwanted horses that wind up going to kill? Um…I’d be pissed!
For those of you who love grays, check out this lovely young mare at Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue in Maryland!
