Horse slaughter

[Susan <smw@sos.net>]

I had hoped to avoid this thread since it is not
really endurance related, but it seems it is a
passionate issue with many.

I'd like to share a recent first hand experience
with you.

At a local sale yard there were the usual 30 or so
horses being offered for sale. There were also the
half dozen already condemned to die - kept in a
feedlot until the day they would be shipped to the
packing house. They were well fed and cared for,
although they were just tossed into a strange
environment with strange animals.  At least half
of these horses had no 'visible' defect.........in
fact, one was a very striking bay, tall, athletic
looking, kind of eye and alert.

A mother and her two children were discussing
these horses, unaware that they were not being
offered in the regular sale. They were seriously
considering bidding on the 'gorgeous bay'. As a
kindness, I informed them that these horses were
all unsound and would not be going up for sale -
they were to be sent for slaughter. You would have
thought I had murdered the woman's children on the
spot! She went into hysterics - screaming for
anyone that was near - trying to marshall a group
to 'storm the office' and stop them from
destroying these beautiful animals.......

You see, her heart saw but her mind did not
comprehend. She did not (could not) know that the
bay suffered from incurable navicular - and that
any movement at all caused him excruciating
pain.....and the owners had opted to put him out
of his misery rather than prolong it with drugs or
nerving.

She could not know that the two of the other
horses had incurable illness'......her untrained
eye could not even tell that one of the horses was
so arthritic his hocks no longer functioned......

Should she have been 'allowed' to rescue these
horses? Should anyone have the right (uninformed
and uneducated) to step in and override the
decisions that had been made after numerous hours
of heartbreak and in many cases the expenditure of
large amounts of cash for veterinary treatment
that is unsuccessful?

Perhaps there is a more humane way to deal with
this - it would be wonderful if we could all have
our animals peacefully put to sleep and buried on
the home farm - but that is unrealistic for the
majority.  And I personally don't have a problem
with providing a meat source to foreign countries
- its no different than our consumption of beef in
America! In India cows are sacred......whats the
difference?

Sorry this got so lengthy - but its important that
people understand BOTH sides......