Ridecamp: [RC] [Guest] Mustangs to Mexico?

J. Brashier quitab@xxxxxxxxxxx

The herd numbers of the American Mustang are very high.  There are 100's of
mustangs waiting in holding pens for adoption.  There aren't enough people
to adopt.  I am a mustang owner, state representative for the American
Mustang and Burro Association as well as a mentor for adopter.  Mustangs
going anywhere always seems to upset people, mention the words "dogfood",
"human consumption" or "slauther" and the fire rages.  I have a mustang that
I adopted 27 years ago.  She broke my back in a freak accident (my fault,not
hers) 20 years ago and hasn't been ridden since, but my husband found out
that he goes before she does.  She is the only true love of my life.  The
fact still remains that she is a the unusal case, not the norm.  Many
mustangs have been adopted into loving homes, but 1000's have suffered as
well.  To those that think running free or being adopted is better than
anything, it isn't.  I was called out on an abuse call for a mustang
stallion that the new adopter couldn't handle.   This stallion had been shut
into a stall since a few weeks after adoption (this had been two years
before).  His feet had whiteline and thrush so bad that you could smell the
stink over the urine and manure.  His pasterns and fetlocks were hairless
and burned from standing in the mess.  As we tried to move him from the
stall out into the alleyway so we could see him better, he was terrified and
only wanted to return to the stall that had been his home for so long.  The
light frightened him, the firm footing frightened him, everything frighteded
him.  We got him far enough out of the stall to close the door and we left
the alleyway to give him time to relax.  He was so desperate to get back
into his little world that he went through the door and suffered injuries
that lead to his being put down.  The fear in this stallions eyes was
horrible.  Was he better off adopted out?  I went out on a call about a
yearling mustang that some neighbors want me to look at.  This yearling had
been adopted as a weanling and she still had the weanling halter on.  She
was a long yearling and the halter had cut into her face to the point where
her face will always be deformed.  One of the people who went out with me,
asked the owners to sign her over to them and they did.  They did not mean
to hurt the baby, they just didn' know any better.  They thought it was mean
to pen her up in a small pen when they had acres for her to run on.  They
didn't know that they would be unable to catch her again.  These calls began
giving me nightmares and I stopped going out, I leave that to several
friends.  Are these mustangs better off being adopted.  No way!!  Would they
have been better off going for slaughter, probably.  If the transportation
is humane and the death quick, it is a much better way to go.  Years ago I
worked in a slaughter house that sometimes had to put handle horses for
people and they weren't hung up with their throats cut to bleed out or any
of the other horrible stories that are told.  They are slaughtered the same
way as cattle, with a stun bolt gun or a rifle.  Use the money that is
gained from the slaughter of mustangs, especially the ones that are
unadoptable (these are the ones on the refuges) to fund better training of
adopters.  Go ahead and flame away.  I have been through this before, but
until you look into some of the eyes I have you can't even begin to
understand.

J.C.




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