Horse Slaughter? What do we think?

[Stephanie Land]

The issue of horse slaughter in America is a tricky one. If you haven't already, I highly recommend you read this Time Magazine article. What do you all think about the ban on horse slaughter. How is it negatively or positively effecting the horse industry?

[Julie]

Wow, I am out of the horse industry loop. I didn't even know horse slaughter was banned in the US in 2007.

I read an article years ago and I wish I could remember which magazine it was in, but it really talked about this very same thing. The slaughter market, as much as it sucks to see our beloved "pets" go there, gives the horse industry a bottom line price for horses. The article talked about what would happen if there wasn't a place to send these now-worthless horses. And it seems like it was right on.

The Time Magazine article blames the economy, but if the ban on slaughter was put in place in 2007, to me that would suggest the ban has more to do with causing the problem. The economy has always and will always have its ups and downs.

When I was a teenager I went to a local "horse and tack" auction. I was told that the horses there would almost all go for slaughter and I was horrified at first. But then I actually had a look at the horses for sale. Not one of them looked sound enough to even think about riding. If they weren't going for slaughter, the only options would have been to either put them down or spend money to care for them until they died of natural causes.