What do the following horses have in common?

     A twenty year old gelding, wearing a brand new red halter

     A healthy 5 year old pregnant mare

     A 4 year old untrained stallion

     A 26 year old mare that loves children and is well trained

     A registered gelding out of top bloodlines, a well trained ranch horse

     A young filly out of a Land Management holding pen

 

They are all waiting in a kill buyers lot for a trailer to carry them to a slaughter house.

 

Once loaded they will endure a horrendous trip without food, water, or care until they unload at a slaughter house in either Mexico, or Canada.  If some greedy people here in the United States get their way, possibly here in this country ,

 

The older gelding was offered on an internet listing. T hey asked for a good home, but didn’t or wouldn’t bother to check the person who came for him.  A kill buyer, who stalks the list looking for cheap or free horses.  Maybe the owners didn’t want to know where he ended up.  All his life he had served them well. He deserved better.  He had earned better.  His little rider was reassured he was in a fine, loving home.  He was crushed to death on his ride to the slaughter house.  His red halter a testimony that he had been well loved- once

The mare was a results of a back yard breeder.  Once she was pregnant they decided they didn’t want to bother.  Too much problem and expense.  The young mare aborted her foal on the trip, and the foal was trampled beneath the feet of the other horses, and donkeys crammed in the  hot, airless trailer with her.  She didn’t have enough room to nuzzle her baby 

 

The older mare had been a kids horse all her life.  The kill buyer bought her at an auction.  Her humans didn’t/wouldn’t believe that we send our horses to die such a horrible death.  They wanted to believe she had found a good home.   The little mare couldn’t understand her hurtful treatment. She went to slaughter looking for her beloved humans in every face

 

The ranch geldings family had fallen on hard times.  They had lost their job, their home, and their way of life.  They had tried to find him a good home, but with no takers, they had given up looking.  They didn’t  realize there are other alternatives

 

The little BLM filly had been orphaned during a terrifying roundup, where her Mother had been killed. She had been adopted to a new home, but misunderstanding and lack of knowledge on Mustangs has brought her to auction, where her large size made her fodder for a kill buyers lot

 

Ignorance, lack of responsibility, and the disastrous economy is killing our American horses.  Those same three things are responsible for trying to bring back slaughter to the United States.

 

How many times do the American people tell our government that we do not want our horses slaughtered!   How long will it take for us to realize we are a “throw away” nation that will not take responsibility

 

We have horses here, that are the results of “back yard breeding”.  Wrong color, wrong sex, etc.  Just because there was a stallion and mare.  No thought for what would happen to the offspring. Someone else's problem, no doubt.  We have done this with cats and dogs, and now horses.  A little harder to shove behind the couch though, huh?

 

Is it too much to ask that a horse that has served faithfully be given a chance at another profession, or retired to live out the rest of their lives?  If ill, or badly injured, why must they endure additional pain and suffering, when humane euthanasia can be given?  Where is our humanity? To use and destroy should not be our legacy. I hear time and time again how expensive it is. To do the responsible thing is expensive. Then don’t continue to breed them,  and tear them from their native birth place. Most of all stop exploiting them.  Simple, but it would take some thought and effort. The answer is not beyond us. A painful and inhumane death is not  the answer. What is the answer ? Everyone must be responsible for the lives in their care, this includes breeding. Simple. There are  hundreds of thousands of responsible horse owners. Join us in caring for these amazing animals

Val Hinderlider  2009

 

THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IS A GRAPHIC LOOK AT THE HORRIBLE WAY OUR EQUINES ARE TORTURED AND KILLED. 

 PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED, ( AND IS ON FILE) TO USE THE FOLLOWING VIDEO