Who really thinks they know what goes on at horse auctions?

Question

Last week I answered a question about horses being slaughtered and their meat being passed off as beef in the U.S. People are so misinformed! I have had horses my entire life (almost 25yrs) and have been going to horse auctions since before I could walk as well. I know first hand what goes on there and yes, horses go to slaughter everyday most likely in every state across the U.S. But what people are mis judging is that the large majority that go there need to! I myself own 22 horses currently and of those 22, 4 of them came out of the loose pen of 3 different sale barns. One was dropped off by an elderly man who could no longer afford to keep the 3yr old gelding but I spoke with him and found out the horse was broke to ride and a calm horse. I took the chance of trusting him and he is now the best horse on the farm. Many of my young family members ride him by themselves! One of the others is a mare that belonged to the wife of an auction barn owner. The horse attacked her and put her

into the hospital for many weeks. This horse should have been slaughtered but I decided to buy her for a brood mare as she had nice form and blood lines. She have given us many nice tempered colts that have become loving pets. Some of the others were just cheap and young enough to take a gamble at feeding up and breaking them to ride.
There are very few "good" horses that go to slaughter houses and I know this because I know a couple of kill buyers myself. If need be I would call one up if I had a terribly aggressive or unsafe horse that needed to be rid of. Maybe some of you think that's wrong but don't judge until you have delt with it first hand. Trust me that I'm not a heartless person, this past fall our beloveded stud passed away from west nile virus and I had all I could do not to cry for days... I miss him much.

There are bad doings as well but they are quite limited to specified people or rare occurances.

What do you really know from your own experiances at auctions?

Answer 1

What I do not understand about your statement is why any horse "needs" to go to slaughter. As an equine-oriented veterinary student, I have seen many different breeds and personalities. Granted, some horses have better temperaments than others. Some horses injure people. Some horses are not "good enough" in the eyes of their owners or don't match up to their breed standard or will never be champions. But I have yet to see one horse that I believe does not deserve the dignity of humane euthanasia over being sent to a slaughter house. Put it this way - how would you want to die? Would you want to be shipped off to a place you do not know, with no horses or people that you know, corralled into a slaughterhouse, just to be killed? I personally think that's a horrible way to die. I believe every horse (or any other animal) deserves to end their life in the best way possible. And I do not see how the slaughterhouse could ever provide them with that end.

Although you may be familiar with auctions, it sounds to me like you do not at all understand the slaughter process. I've added a link to a Humane Society investigation (http://www.hsus.org/video_clips/stable_to_slaughter.html). After watching this, I find it hard to believe you will feel the same.

So, I'll ask you this... Why send any horse to slaughter when it just as easily can be euthanized?? I've heard people respond to this question expressing money problems. Honestly, if you could afford to support a horse this long, you can afford to euthanize it and dispose of the body. After everything that horses put up with, they deserve at least that.

Answer 2

There are only two slaughter houses left in the US where they can still slaughter horses. There was one more but thankfully it was recently shut down thanks to all of us who petition for it and continually contact our reps> in Washington. Horses can't be killed for human consumption in the US. Nobody disputes the fact that there are many unwanted animals. It's how they are treated and killed that is wrong. Boy, could I ever send you some info. and pictures of what goes on there. And I would never,ever send a horse a could no longer keep to a auction. And you should know better. I have had horses for 45 years and have had three put to sleep and buried. Is that too much to expect to do for a horse who's loved you? There are other ways to get rid of a horse you don't want. The auction is not the answer and I will continue to do what I can to make sure there isn't one left that will slaughter horses.You could have spared the stud with a simple vaccination.Mine get it every year.

Answer 3

Is this supposed to be a question???

Most people who write the bad things for any type of slaughter (including humane) and auction, not using any type of spurs b/c they are cruel.....etc are usually either in high school yet or do not know enough about the topic to accurately state an opinion- just what they hear, or are basing every case off of an anedoctal one.
Someone thought horse meat was being passed as beef in the US??? maybe veal, but horse meat is a lot different than beef. It is a lot more tender. A lot of zoos (AZA ones) feed horsemeat due to a bunch of reasons I do not want to go into here. Plus, a lot of other countries have it as a meat. I own horses. I could never eat horse meat, but I have no problem with others doing it.

Answer 4

I understand what you are saying and although have not personally been to an auction, I know plenty of people who have, both to buy and sell. I have worked for many ranches that occasionally take a chance and buy auction horses, although only about 15-20% turn out to be good investments.
I understand the workings of the slaughter houses, especially as there was an interesting article in Equus magazine about this very issue. It is a sad thing that horses end up in slaughter houses, but even sadder are the reasons they end up there....backyard breeders, two-bit wannabe trainers and uninformed owners.
If people wouldn't breed for no reason, we wouldn't have so many horses without homes.
I understand the recent bill to ban the slaughter of horses, but I fear this will lead to many more unnecessarily neglected and abused horses. We already have so many horses that are seized because people can't or are unwilling to take care of them. Unfortunately I would prefer a horse to suffer for a short time than to suffer years of neglect and starvation, only to die an agonizing death.
It's a hard question in many horse lover's hearts, but if people would be more responsible about breeding and selling those horses, we wouldn't have the horse slaughter issue in the first place.

Answer 5

I know more now than I knew before.

Answer 6

I don't know anything about auctions.

Answer 7

glad you saved at least one

Answer 8

what?