This took my breath away...must see.

[Miakoda]

I love Friesians. They are beautiful horses.

With that said, I have seen some better Friesians than the one in the video. I'm not trying to be negative. But as someone in the "horse world", I see that it is almost in as much trouble as the canine world thanks to bybs breeding for "pretty" and "nice" and a "pretty pedigree". The Friesian was originally to be a light draft horse and has since become a saddle horse. Even more recently, it has turned into a breed left to halter classes and to be ooo'd and ahhhh'd over. What happens when you quit breeding for those traits that made it a great working horse? Nothing good.

I used to own a Clydesdale named Bulldog. Times got tough and at the same time I wasn't doing anything with him. Sure he was happy grazing and playing with the other horses, but that's all he was doing. Anyway, to make a long story short, I sold him to an amazing guy with an amazing family who uses Bulldog to pull a plow, to pull a covered wagon for parties and such and whatever other draft duties he can find. This guy runs an old-fashioned ranch and uses horses for just about everything. To be honest, the last time I visited out there, Bulldog was a MUCH happier horse than he was with me. He had a job. He had purpose. He was doing more than just standing there looking pretty.

And for the person that brought it up, NO it is not easy keeping feathers nice an tidy. I would wrap Bulldog's and since his were white, it took a lot of shampooing and cleaning and brushing and all that to keep him from looking like the cat pissed on him. (I actually kept his legs trimmed)

 

[Renee750il]

The public does hear about it.. it is how bill are passed and slaughter is banned. They figure that fixes it. Ban it and tada it's done.

Maybe up your way, but here those things don't make the news -- or even a mention, unless you happen to subscribe to an ASPCA newsletter or something like.

 

[Dekka]

It is not banned here. They are passing the legislation in the states. Very few states still allow slaughter. It has been and still is a big deal issue there whether you have heard about it or not.

Discussion on horse forums makes it seem like many people who aren't horse people hear about it. Here it isn't as big a deal as it hasn't been banned.

There are billboards dedicated to trying to inform people

 

[Renee750il]

Gotta admit, in all the thousands and thousands of miles I've put in on the highway, I've never seen any sort of billboard on the subject. There may be some toward Shelbyville, but I've not run across any even traveling through Kentucky, where you'd think there would be more publicity. We hear a good bit about the wild mustangs and several of the bigger stockyards sponsor events to adopt wild burros. There may be more exposure on the west coast and in the northeast.

Come to think of it, I've never even seen a bumper sticker on the subject! Admittedly, horses aren't something I'm particularly tuned into. I rode one. Once. I hope to never repeat the experience, lol. A big, nasty tempered stallion. I got stuck with him because none of the seasoned riders would get on him and he was the only one left. He didn't throw me, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

A good bit of legislation gets passed without fanfare. Sometimes the incumbents drag it out of the closet at voting time to cloak themselves in virtue Plus, what one state passes doesn't necessarily get any attention in another, unless it's something controversial or way out.

 

[AGonzalez]

First off, the US should have never banned horse slaughter. Yeah yeah I am a horse lover, but I'm also practical.
Now, rather than being able to regulate how they are slaughtered, they get shipped off to Canada or Mexico - and you guys do NOT want to see what happens in Mexico. If you think the Canadian video is bad, just imagine what a Mexican slaughter house is like - they are not regulated for cruelty whatsoever, i.e. horses can be hung by their back feet and their throats sliced if they so chose to do so.

Hence how I ended up with my little buckskin gelding. That ugly back foot was his ticket to the slaughterhouse, even though he isn't the least bit lame after being ridden hard and worked all day. The guy was saying he wasn't happy at getting 10 cents on the pound and it was hardly worth taking him over the border - I said I'd take him and came back in an hour with a trailer and took him home. I probably spent more in gas to go get him than the guy would have gotten for his weight.

I really really hope that Canada doesn't ban importing horses for slaughter. That would mean that any horse going to a kill-buyer is going to end up in Mexico, which is a far worse fate than Canada. It won't save any US horses from going to slaughter at all, it will just drive the meat prices down so brokers can ship them in cramped trailers down to Mexico rather than Canada...so basically, a less humane situation for the horses if Canada does what the US did.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Anyone watching fox news would have heard about it not that it is my news station of choice. They've done stories for years..

Animal Rights Groups Sue to Stop Horse Slaughter - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum - FOXNews.com

Recession Victims: Horses Being Abandoned Liveshots

House Passes Measure to Stop Wild Horse Slaughter - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum - FOXNews.com

CNN

End horror of horses led to slaughter - CNN

Horses being killed in South Florida -- for their meat? - CNN.com

Willie Nelson: We have a lot to learn from horses - CNN.com

End horror of horses led to slaughter - CNN.com

NBC

New Law Will Protect Horses From Slaughter | NBC Miami

 

[Renee750il]

Looks like if something has to be banned it should start with the EXPORT of livestock for slaughter.

 

[AGonzalez]

Looks like if something has to be banned it should start with the EXPORT of livestock for slaughter.

Ok but then what happens to all the horses that go to auction here in the US where they can't be slaughtered legally?
That is what leads people to turning them loose in the desert and such. If your horse is going to auction, you're getting somewhere on the 10 cents on the lb. That's like $60 for a 600 lb horse, $100 for a 1000 lb horse in good flesh. That is less money than it costs to euthanize an animal much smaller (Smokey cost around $170) not to mention the removal of the body. That's why they go to auction.

If we are to ban the export of livestock for slaughter, then we need to repeal the ban on horse slaughter in the US.

 

[Renee750il]

That's right. We need to handle our own problems HERE. Not export them. And people who breed/buy in excess need to take the hit.

 

[Paige]

That's right. We need to handle our own problems HERE. Not export them. And people who breed/buy in excess need to take the hit.

Exactly.

The states are letting their neighbors do their dirty work for them on the subject of horse slaughter. As horrible as those slaughter videos are I'd rather see them there and their suffering soon to be over with than rot out in a muddy field with only sewage water to drink and tree bark to eat (if they're lucky). Starvation and neglect is what's going to meet these animals if there is no way to dispose of them. Slaughter does serve a purpose and until we deal with the mass number of horses we need an outlet for the excess.

If they can't afford or won't afford to feed them or keep up on their general care they aren't going to be humanely putting them down.

 

[Miakoda]

The banning of horse slaughter was one of the WORST things to happen to the horse world.

Now, instead of trying to fix the humane issues (or lack thereof) within those few slaughter houses that were violating the rules (few? you mean not all of them are evil?? how could that be???), they ban the practice and now horses are crammed onto trailers with no air/ventilation (don't even think about food or water) and trucked down to Mexico. Now you want to talk about inhumane? Horse slaughter in Mexico is on a whole different level, of cruel that is, than compared to that of the U.S.

So yup. Once again the bleeding hearts have "saved" the poor wittle horsies and ponies.

And for the record, I don't give a darn if people want to eat cow, pig, horse, dog, cat, rat (oh, they tried to make nutria a delicacy here...lol), or woodpecker. As long as the animal is killed in a humane manner and treated humanely up until the point of it's death, I don't care what happens to the remains.

In fact, I find it a shame that such nutrition goes to waste. Horsemeat is a delicacy elsewhere. If U.S. citizens are opposed to eating it, does that mean there aren't some, who are starving and have nothing, who would be open to eating it? Let's bring back horse slaughter and provide the meat to kitchens for the homeless all across America.

Oh, and you want to go even further? If things were to get so bad that food was almost nonexistent for my family, you better believe we'd be eating some Arabian stallion and American Pit Bull Terriers over here. My children would not starve all because horsemeat and dog meat are "ewwww gross".

 

[Romy]

I agree with what's been said about horse slaughter. And for the record, just going by personality and emotional attachment, I'd honestly rather eat a horse than any of my cattle. We still eat the cattle, but I also like them. I don't really like that many horses.

 

[pitbullpony]

What I find odd; and always have, is the contaminants that are in North American produced cheval, that is accepted in meat that is exported. Or maybe it's not accepted; but if I was European I certainly wouldn't be eating North American produced horse meat.

Europeans have more than enough draught and draught crosses that they can eat; why they would want ours is beyond me.

While there is list of medications that require a withholding period of six months, others such as the common anti-inflammatory drug, phenylbutazone, or bute, cannot be given to horses at all if they are to enter the human food chain.

The new Canadian requirements, especially as it relates to bute, is likely to hit so-called kill buyers hard, who may struggle to obtain the background of each animal to satisfy European Union requirements.

Bute is one of the most common drugs administered to horses, effective as a painkiller and anti-inflammatory agent.

 

[AGonzalez]

Oh, and you want to go even further? If things were to get so bad that food was almost nonexistent for my family, you better believe we'd be eating some Arabian stallion and American Pit Bull Terriers over here. My children would not starve all because horsemeat and dog meat are "ewwww gross".

^^^ Darn skippy. I'd be eating some horses and dogs if it came down to starving. :hail:

 

[Romy]

^^^ Darn skippy. I'd be eating some horses and dogs if it came down to starving. :hail:

I'd be out with my dogs. There are too many deer.

 

[Renee750il]

I'd be out with my dogs. There are too many deer.

True that. And wild pigs