Do animal rights activists have legitimate concerns?

Question

There is a growing concern within the equine industry about the actions and beliefs of some animal rights activists. Do you think they have legitimate concerns? Or do you think we should act to keep these groups from taking control of our industry?
I agree that practices such as tail blocking and soring should really be clamped down on and although illegal, more should be done to discourage it. However I feel that the horse industry should be applying pressure from within for change, not from activists that know nothing about the inner workings of the industry. In the majority of cases they use scaremongering tactics and half truths to further their cause - what do you think?
Lisa

Answer 1

Yes they have legit concerns. The biggest problem is they are pushing a very broad agenda. They use 2-3 legit concerns to gain a foothold in a industry and carry that foot hold over into other industries.
So many people will watch a 3-5 second video clip strug together with 20 other video clips and buy hook line and sinker that is the way it is. The people behind the movemnet Outright lie and are no better than terrorist. The people that blindly support groups like peta and greenpeace buy what they are told and spread the lie farther.
When you confront them with fact and truth they simply repeat over and over cruelty, and inhumane. like some kind of brain washed cult member.
It has gotten to the point if a extremist activist can dream a possibility up they run around touting it as truth and creating evidence of it.
All dog breeders in their eyes are puppy mills that keep their breed stock in the worst of conditions and do horrible things to the dogs. When truth is those kinds of operations are very very few.
All cattle ranchers are cruel because they only raise cattle to go to slaughter and they dont treat the cattle well......Sigh if you dont treat the cattle well they perform well in weight gain and the rancher doesnt get best price.
Swine farrowing houses are equated to Nazi concentrations camps.
Puoltry meat houses and laying facilities, have been put in the same category as concentration camps.
Horse sluaghter has been decimated and the horses have paid for it. I love my horses and I know all of you love your horses. but at the end of the day horses are livestock. Most of the world eats horse meat, In the USA we have eaten alot of horsemeat at different times in our history, During world war 2 horse meat all but replaced beef at the grocery stores because it was affordable and in abundance and beef was not.
I can go with some of the concerns like tail breaking, fire branding, and agree better way to kill should be developed that are economical and practical to use.
Some lies I cant go with, Transportaion, Live stock transportation has very strict regulation, from how long the animals can be on the trailer to how they are loaded and unloaded. I have pulled my share of live stock trailers with swine, cattle and yes horses. Why do you think those big rigs with live stock on go flying by you at 100mph? Answer animals can only be kept on the trailer so many hours before having to be turned out at a turn out facility. So we drove hell bent for leather to get them to the slaughter house under that time frame.
Feeding sluaghter bound animals, if they are going to held more than 24 hours yes. If they are going out of the trailer into a chute to the kill pens NO.
Brand checking and chip checking YES. The technology is there to run the animals through a chute 1 at a time and the chute have a chip reader, This is becomming very popular in the beef industry as it identifies each animal and the chip number connects to the animals history breeding etc making it nice at beef auction. The same tech could be used to identify and return stolen horses. A national data base of stolen horses is long over due anyway and micro chips make it easir than ever before to end that problem. But thats not part of the activist agenda, Ending the use of animals at all cost is.
Like I said I love my horses hell we all do or we wouldnt be here asking and replying to horse questions. But Horses at the end of the day are livestock and a valuable commodity around the world and even here in the USA. It is illegal to prccess or package horses here. Now they goto Mexico and Canada get processed and sent back here as animal by product or in kibble made in Canada or mexico.
Ignorance, Agendas, and a lack of forsight is the activist way. As long as it feels good it must be the right thing to do......Right?

Answer 2

If the people inside the horse industry cared enough about the welfare of the horses involved, the animal rights activists wouldn't be the ones putting pressure on the horse industry for change. Therein lies the problem.

The wealthy owners of these money -making animals have no feelings or concerns for their horses welfare, only that they perform to high standards and bring home the bacon and the prestige. That's why animal rights activists step in.

Although I think the activists have some good ideas, I also believe they have some stupid ones which come about because of their own ignorance. As with all things, there are people who do the research and present a good case, while others just jump in without a solid understanding of what exactly the problem is.

I have horses, myself and when people ask what kind and I say TWH's, they look at me as if I am some sort of criminal because of what they PERCEIVE about the TWH industry. I do not have show horses, just trail horses. They have never been sored or had their tails broken and they are not standing in a stall 24 - 7 with harnesses and pads on. How's that for a perfect example of ignorance! People think they are holier than everyone else and don't take the time to investigate...they just jump in with accusations.

Unfortunately, I don't believe much will change.

Answer 3

I think the aniNazis as I call them, should put their money and efforts into human welfare and leave the equines industries alone. They have no idea about the realities involved with horses. Look what they have done with slaughter. Yes, they got it stopped for human consumption in the US, but horses are suffering much more because of it.

All of the practices they lobby against were and are done for a reason. A good example is firing and blistering legs. When this was the norm, it was the only way to heal a bow, shin buck, etc. Now, there has been much research and testing and this is no longer practiced. The industry fixed itself, without the aniNazis!

I do not have a lot of experience with soring and tail blocking. I do know those are cosmetic enhancements and the results are prized in the show ring. In order for those breeders and trainers to make their living, they have to show their horses. If the judge will not look at them because their tales aren't set and they don't have a lot of front action, what else are they supposed to do but go along with their segment of the industry?

Change will come when the industry itself finds or accepts a better alternative.

Answer 4

You know, I have thought alot about this. There are things that go on in the show horse world that would surprise alot of people. I'll almost bet most don't even know what tail docking is. And, this comes from the pleasure people. What about the abuse of watching one of those horses "jog". Oh that is so sad. There is not much natural about a western pleasure horse. The activist have good points, they bring to light things that need to be. For the most part, the scare tactics just piss me off.
If the horse industry would see what was going on then that would really work. There are more that are doing the wrong things then there are not doing them. Plus you have judges who place these horses in the winners box so that really doesn't help either. This can go for halter horses also. Most halter horses would not make good riding horses, they are just not built for it. Which to me is sad. I once saw a 2yr old filly that looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger. No kidding, she was huge. To me she looked funny but her owner was a proud papa. It would be nice to get back to one horse can do many things. But I don't see the show industry changing. If they do, it will take alot! Look how long it took them to change the peanut rollers. You still see some with a head to low.
This is a good question. can't wait to see all the answers.

Answer 5

I prefer to change within the industry. The people involved in their breed know the specifics of the actual abuses going on. By the time the activists get hold of a story, it has morphed into something else and they generally do not have the entire picture. Nor do they have real solutions that will genuinely work. They have ideas that sound good on paper, but have no value in actual fact and can cause real harm. And I think that the perpetrators may listen to their peers where I know they will clamp down and go into fight mode if an activist tells them what they can and can't do. A suspension or expulsion from the breed authorities has weight and consequences that can be learned from if the guilty party wishes. Sometimes, the activist movement strongly reminds me of the Salem Witch Trials. Just scary.

Answer 6

I think your question is very pertinent to what is happening in all realms of raising animals, whether it be horses, dogs, cats, etc. In a perfect world, we could all depend on the breed organizations to police and enforce their rules, but they don't, for one reason, some that are in charge of enforcing these rules are the ones that are using some of the gimmicks and shortcuts to gain the advantage in the show arena....I truly believe that somewhere, in the middle, there is an answer, and I can't tell you what it is. The breed organizations have proven to be able to identify the issues and set the rules, but it seems to stop there, the enforcement seems to just fall off, especially when it is needed. On the other hand, here comes the animal rights people who usually attempt a pointing finger and threats to close down shows or animals...strong arm tactics have also proven that they don't work. Maybe, affiliates of the animal rights organizations should, openly be in on the day to day education and operation of the industry...it would give them more of an idea of how and why a lot of the quick fixes are done and would make them more astute to how to handle them. They wouldn't necessarily have to be "of" the organizations to be working "within" the organizations. I truly think that these strong arm tactics have been adopted because those using them have reached the end of their bag of tricks, and I truly think that they are sincere in what they are attempting to do. I will have to say that something needs to be done, because, even today, there is blood letting going on in the stalls before the western pleasure classes or futuries, temporary tail block (yes, it can be done) and all sorts of short term gimmicks that are constantly being employed. In the long run, the whole equine industry is being hurt in the process. One the other hand, reports of hundreds, maybe thousands of canine and feline carcasses in dumpsters sort of takes the trust away from the only organizations that are stepping up to the plate.

Answer 7

As a TWH person who is absolutely 100 % anti-soring, I have to say yes, and yes to your questions.

Yes, they have some legitimate concerns. If race horses weren't breaking down, if saddlebreds didn't have their buttholes shoved full of ginger so their tail will flag out all pretty, Tennessee Walkers hadn't been sored for that GawdAWFUL fake look, reiners tails hadn't been cut...then what sort of complaints would they have? That horses should be wild and free and not domesticated? The vast majority would find that ridiculous, they'd never have gotten much attention.

OF COURSE not everyone associated with these breeds/disciplines did this...but enough DID to attract attention. If you're in a discipline or breed with a stigma attached, and you knew of it and did nothing, then shame on us all for not kicking up a bigger fuss ourselves.

Now for the second part, yes, they absolutely use scaremongering and half-truths to further their "cause." It's like they can't accept the success and the changes they have brought about and find another cause. The "one trick pony" term comes to mind. What frustrates me is they do more DAMAGE than good when they operate this way because most of the time it's so obvious. I want to see soring stopped 100%, but exaggerations and false reporting do NOTHING to accomplish that. They make it seem like there's been no progress when there HAS. When people who DON'T sore are treated as though they do, that helps the ones who do sore their animals hide their dirty secret.

Answer 8

Groups like PETA do take things way too far, but they do often have legidimate arguments. I firmly believe that while there is nothing wrong with owning animals, eating animals for food and enjoying spots involving animals, the welfare of the animals must be a primary consideration.

Issues like tail docking and soring are legidimate ones for even those outside of the equine sport community to deal with because there is absolutely no reason for these practices to exist except for our own wishes. They do not benefit the horse in any way, and often cause severe pain and physical damage. One problem that the equine industry has is the perception of being lax on enforcing their own rules. Soring is widespread in the gaited horse competitions and it's a pretty open secret that often little is done at shows to pervent sored horses from competing. If the industry itself won't take action against such practices, they should not be surprised that those outside the community will.

I am opposed to ending equine-related sports, but I do agree that if we are going to show, ride and race horses, then we need to do everything possible to prevent injury and death for the horses involved. Not every accident is unavoidable, but when it's a practice that deliberately causes harm to the horses, then I will have to stand by these outside activitists.

Answer 9

Some things they do are great but heres an example of not knowing what there talking about....I had the Human Society come to our house the other day. She asked if Id come out and look at the horses with her and I said yes. The first horse she walked up to was "Mac" (appropriately named) And proceeded in telling me he was to skinny because his back bone was showing....Right off the bat I knew she had NO IDEA what she was talking about.The horse has VERY high withers and that was what she was pointing out. So I asked her if she knew anything about horses and her reply..yes my grandfather used to own cows and horses (my thoughts: and that qualifies YOU How????) Then she continues to another part of the pasture where the water trough is ..And tells me that there water is dirty (theres grass clippings and some dirt in the bottom) So im obviously getting agitated and tell her horses naturally drink from ponds and streams...who cleans those??? All in all it was quite the day...and I ended up telling her to leave and i didnt care if she was an officer or not she needed to send someone who knew what they were talking about!!! Im posting a question regarding this so feel free to answer.I think these people make up rules as they go along. They shouldn't have the right to delegate if they aren't very experianced in horses.

Answer 10

I agree that some animal rights groups have very good points and legitimate concerns, however, some of the tactics that they use are horrible.

I am not one to stand by and watch someone abuse something that can't defend itself, whether it is an animal or a person. If everyone does everything that they can in a situation where abuse of any kind is happening we can make it harder for these people to get away with it.

Answer 11

I think there are some very legitimate concerns. I've seen horses that were beaten badly because they refused to jump. And you have to admit, some bits are just flat out cruel. I'm not saying that "every horse should be in a snaffle" but you have to admit there are bits our there that just aren't right.

I feel sometimes that we're really forcing our horses to do things they don't want to do, and that's not quite fair. But I do agree that some activists need to know more about the industry.