E-Vet Clinic - Horse Health Care

I was sent an email today in regards to a new petition about reopening the slaughter plants for horse slaughter. The petition has some rather emotional statements intermixed with some facts. The problem I have with this petition is the assumptions made about starving horses and the reasons behind it. So I looked up the “end slaughtering of horses” petitions, I found only 2 of any substance (meaning they actually have signatures), and not surprisingly I found the same thing a lot of emotional rhetoric intermixed with some facts in their text explaining why you should sign the petition.

Now no matter which side of the aisle you are on, one has to admit that the current way that horses were slaughtered in the plant is not humane and is very cruel. So, in my opinion, if the plants are to be reopened the process will need to be change. Specifically in the use of the captive bolt. The head will NEED to be restrained, so a proper blow can be dealt to render the animal completely unconscious or dead, before being hoisted up and slaughtered.

The one thing I have noticed about this new petition for reopening the slaughter plants is that the petition is only two days old and it has 580 signatures already at the time of this writing! Now they have a long way to go as the largest petition that I have found for closing the plants has 16,805 signatures, no date as far as when that petition was started.

So here are the petitions for whichever side you are on (Click on the title of the petition to go to it)

For Reopening-
U.S. Horse Owners in Favor Of Re-Opening Slaughter Plants

For Keeping Closed -
An End To Horse Slaughter!

Americans Against Horse Slaughter

Here is a news story from Iowa and one of the Horse Sale barns located there and their experience with horse prices and the state of the horse market there –> Horse market could be in trouble, local experts say

Here is a quote from Devon Mullet, owner of the Kalona Sale Barn

Mullet estimated 30 percent of the 700-800 horses bought and sold out of the sale barn each month go to Amish families. He said they commonly buy Standardbred racehorses that aren’t fast enough to race. He said Standardbreds, bred for trotting speed, are known best in this area for pulling buggies.
He said they used to be able to sell a horse for $700-$800. Today he said they are worth a mere $50-$100.

He blames the Horse Slaughter bill for an increased horse population and a decrease in horse prices. In my opinion the amount of increase in horses is negligible; however the price can easily be a cause of the bill. There are no longer any kill buyers at the sales in middle America. Gas is too expensive to transport to Mexico or Canada, so it is not worth it to purchase horses at these sale barns for slaughter, which means there is no longer a bottom to the market. Before a horse could only go so low before a killer buyer would bid on the horse. Now when a horse starts to drift down to the lower price ranges it will only be bought by someone who actually wants a horse. What this shows to me is an increasing population of unwanted horses. Now I also believe this only to be a temporary problem and the market will eventually correct itself. Basically it will become unprofitable for backyard breeders to just breed because they think they will get a good price for a horse.

Now the other part of the story is about concerns over the economy and health care for the horses. Claims that the horse market as a whole will be affected because of the decrease in horse value. In my experience so far this has not been the case. I am still working on plenty of horses and my field is more of a luxury than say like stitching a horse or care of a sick horse. I am also receiving new inquiries on my services on a regular basis. So there is still concern over health, which I would expect. If horse prices are cheaper than those that can afford them will be more inclined to purchase another one, until they calculate the cost of actually caring for one…LOL. Also on the other side of the coin they will be less likely to sell their horse because they will get nothing for it and therefore keep it longer. With all this said the majority of my clients have their horse because it does the job they need and want and the only reason they would sell and or buy a new horse is because their needs change or the horse they have can no longer fulfill their needs say for example in the case of an injured horse. Also the majority of them treat their horse truly as their companion not a piece of property so again the current prices of horses is not going to affect them. All this means that horse health care will be of greater importance rather than less importance and horse owners will be inclined to spend more money for better health of their current horse since they will be keeping it longer.

My feeling is that the horse market is depressed in middle America on the low end horses especially and that it is not and most likely will not affect horse owners from providing health care to their wanted horses.

OK here is an interesting take from a news article from JAVMA (the AVMA journal) in support of the transportation bill. OK it is not direct support just kind of a weak implication that they are supporting the Department of Agriculture’s “looking into” its commercial horse transportation regulations. The press release–> Changes proposed to horse transportation rules Here is a quote from the press release -

While the AVMA doesn’t have a policy regarding the use of double-deck trailers, the Association was supportive of the phaseout of the trailers for transporting horses to slaughter when APHIS established the transportation regulations in 2001.

So they are in support of removing the in humane double-deckers, but what is their thought on the inhumane way the captive bolt is used in the slaughter facilities? (specifically no head restraint) It makes no sense. Someone help me out with this…LOL

In any case look at the bottom of the press release to see where you can send your comments to the USDA about this topic until January 7th.