Horse neglect has been on the rise for the last few years. The majority of neglect cases are actually ignorance rather than true neglect. Many experts in the Horse Welfare community are of the opinion that it is not the closing of the slaughter plants that have increased the number of neglect cases. Rather the financial status of horse owners and the economy’s effect on their status are causing the problems with the ability to feed, shelter and care for the horses in their care.

So now what do you do if you believe a horse or group of horses are being neglected? Experts say do NOT do 2 things – 1 do not confront the owner and 2 do not feed the horses. I know this may seem contradictory to what is actually best for the horses, but when you read the reasons you will see that you will need to curtail your natural tendencies for the health of the horse.

Check out the reasons here at The Horse – Horse Neglect: What to Do?

Horse slaughter is an issue that really gets people going and it is back in the news yet again.

Our friends over at Veterinarians for Equine Welfare (http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org) have issued a press release yesterday with some very interesting detective work. Here is a portion of the Press Release -

“The AVMA is part of a coalition misleadingly called the Horse Welfare Coalition,” stated veterinarian Dr. Nena Winand, another founding member of VEW who went to Washington, DC. “The coalition isn’t about horse welfare, not a single welfare organization is involved. It’s about making money at the expense of our horses and its members include many agribusiness trade industry groups like the American Meat Institute and the Kansas Pork Association. In fact, the coalition’s associated website, commonhorsesense.com, was originally purchased by a lawyer for two of the domestic horse slaughter plants and counts among its spokespeople Charlie Stenholm, former Member of Congress and current lobbyist for the slaughterhouses. While the AVMA and others decry the export of American horses to Mexico for slaughter they are partnering with the very companies that are actively buying and shipping horses to Mexican slaughter plants.”

Very politically scathing comments with conspiracy theory undertones. If true this really damages the reputation of the Horse Welfare Coalition and also the AVMAs position of being unbiased and only looking out for the welfare of the horse. You can read the rest of the press release on their website at —> http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/vew_on_hill.php

My position for the record is that I feel horse slaughter methods be changed and if not then abolished; however if abolished, the unwanted horses that may occur need to be taken care of, which is why I support the Unwanted Horse Coalition – http://www.unwantedhorsecoalition.org/

So what does the Horse Slaughter Bill and the High Gas Prices have to do with one another? Unwanted Horses!

The Anti-slaughter Horse Bill is one of those topics I like to stay away from, it has passionate people on both sides of the fence and it seems much more FOR the anti-slaughter bill than against and although it has a lot to do with horse welfare it doesn’t really pertain to health, but since when has that stopped me…LOL

Pretty much I agree that horses are companion animals and should not be slaughtered for meat; however it is a free country so if it is legal, I feel that it should be done in the most humane way possible. However, according to the accounts of the people supporting the anti-slaughter bill this is not the case.

Now it has been proposed by the opponents of the anti-slaughter bill that if it were to pass there would be a large increase in numbers of unwanted horses – approximately 90,000 a year, as that is the number being slaughtered here in the US each year. I am not convinced completely of that argument as we have had ever decreasing numbers in horse slaughter over the past 20 years without a huge influx of unwanted horses coming from that decrease.

But wait now lets add in some money! The increase in fuel costs is now leading to a big surge in alternative fuels and the one that is at the forefront right now is the use of ethanol made from corn. What is happening is interesting. The price of corn has increased so horse feed made from corn (which I advise against feeding) has increased in price and not only that but many hay fields are becoming corn fields this year! That’s right, there is an expected hay shortage coming this year due to lower production because people wanting to get on the high price of corn for use in making ethanol! This will really drive the cost of feeding horses up.

Now lets add to this the decrease in prices at horse sales, whether it is from the perception that there is an over abundance of horses or the economy is slowing down and people are just not wanting to buy horses or whatever, the price for horses is dropping.

All this adds up to unwanted horses. Unwanted horses have no where to go. Now supporters of the Anti-slaughter bill are claiming that there is no unwanted horse problem and that there will not be. Unfortunately, I think they are wrong and there is evidence already in Illinois. Shawnee National Forest now has a wild horse herd. Now I have not seen this herd I have only heard about it from a client, so I went and did a little research on the net and here is a statement from Jim Fraley, Illinois Farm Bureau commodity livestock program manager (now I know his viewpoint may be a little biased as he is an opponent of the Illinois bill)

We’ve already seen first-hand accounts of people who have ‘turned loose’ unwanted horses in the Shawnee Forest. I’m sure we will see more of these types of abandoned animal stories in the future. Simply saying that these horses will be adopted out is looking at the issue through rose-colored glasses. It simply is not viable.

This quote is from the Prairie Farmer dated May 9, 2007 – Horse Slaughter Ban Puts Animal Agriculture on Guard by Cherry Brieser-Stout. This does not suggest that there is a herd there but I certainly can see that it is a possibility.

So although I think morally and ethically the Anti-slaughter bill is a good law to have I believe there are problems with this legislation that will have to be addressed that the supporters are either ignoring or are just not realizing the reality of the situation. These issues will have to be dealt with, so I am hoping that these proactive people who have a desire to stop the inhumane treatment of horses due to slaughter will continue their mission when the bill becomes law and creates another inhumane condition for horses. Although if I were a horse I certainly would like to live in the Shawnee Forest, but with that said, I certainly would not like to see a large herd develop there or anywhere were a population of people are… I have hit a deer with my car before and did some damage, I can only imagine the kind of damage that can be done by a horse that weighs several hundred pounds more.