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Listen to those in the industry first

When you stand up for something in which you believe, you need to be prepared to face those who are misinformed or who simply have differing opinions. In an earlier column, I told you about a group of people who so strongly oppose my commentaries opposing a ban on horse slaughter that they have started a petition against me. One of my friends who is a livestock producer called to tell me it is time to “let horse slaughter go” and focus on other areas of animal agriculture where there is still time to make a difference. I heard from another who urged me to keep up the message. “A ban on horse slaughter is another small step toward banning animal agriculture in the U.S. If we don’t all take a stand on this, we have no one to blame but our selves.”

I heard from one reader, who was, in her words, “infuriated” by the woman who called to tell me that most people do not want to see horses slaughtered.

I’ve taken some editorial license, but in a nutshell, this is what that that reader had to say:

“I believe everyone should have a voice but you want to roar, hear me out too.

I recently purchased a 5 -year old gelding from a family in desperate need of thinning their herd. I can no longer go to a sale and save one from slaughter, so I carefully sort through the endless calls from people with horses for sale.

What I had hoped would be a great horse to train and sell, was in no way ever going be a riding horse – no less a show horse due to a condition that can never be cured. So I drove the 250 mile trip to see what else they had to trade (feeling lucky to be able to replace the horse with a new one.)

I found the family to be wonderful people with huge hearts, but totally in distress. Many horses in their herd were either lame or not started under saddle, not as two- year olds but as four and five year olds. So I picked out one to swap and made the long trek home.

For three months I fed and cared for the horse, paying a staff to work with it. Now the 4-year old gelding is finally broke (for those unfamiliar with that term, “breaking” is the process used by people to get horses to let themselves be ridden or harnessed) but he, too, is lame.

After countless visits and several hundred dollars in veterinarian bills, I now have a horse that is – in economic terms – worthless. Do I add it to the one I already can’t afford to keep in pasture but am doing so because his condition has a 50% chance of improving a year from now? Those are not good odds, but I feel I must try. Or do I spend $250.00 for my local vet to euthanize it plus $275.00 for removal?

I love what I do but, this is not a non-profit organization. I deserve a pay check, and so do the people who work for me.

Perhaps this woman who believes that no horses should be slaughtered could send me a check for $450.00. (That is 45 cents per pound for a 1,000 pound horse.) If she would do that, I could at least recover some of the money I have lost and possibly try to save another horse. Or, if she doesn’t want to send me money, I’ll just send her the lame horse which she can feed and care for and watch limp for the remaining 10 to 20 years of its life.

I am not an irresponsible breeder! I didn’t make him lame. I don’t want to be in this situation but I am.

This is a discussion that is no fun. No one wants to be labeled as a supporter of horse slaughter. But I want to keep the doors open in my own barn and continue to sell horses for a reasonable dollar and fulfill peoples’ dreams of owning a safe sound horse.

The government needs to be talking to people who know this industry best, not people who are uneducated and are driven to support something just because they find it sad.

Sincerely,

One of your supporters”

And that, my friends, is all she wrote.