Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

This thread has gotten off onto a tangent of the worst kind.  I know that everyone means well and has the best intentions, in mind, with your responses.  I have been working in horse rescue for a number of years.  Is the equine community overpopulated with unwanted horses?  YOU BET!  Are we here to discuss the ethics of breeding on this thread - no - we were not asked about breeding ethics.  The average horse that is rescued is not from the person that bred for their own use (read ethical breeder).  These horses are from breeders that got into breeding for profit (read unethical breeder). 

 

Ethical Breeder:  Breeder that breeds for temperament, conformation, most generally to replace a horse they had lots of success with - personally and professionally.  A breeder that cares about the horses they breed.  Where the horses they bred end up at the end of their lifetime.  One who accepts full responsibility for what they bred by helping 'rescue' find a home for one of their breedings or takes it back themselves!  And this can be some 31 years later.  Are those breeders out there?  Yes, they are.  Check the archives for Charles and Lorraine Lee of Delphi, CA.  Who would breed a horse that they did not have success with just to perpetuate and exacerbate the problem?  An unethical breeder sometimes referred to as a horse collector that would be the answer!

 

Unethical Breeder:  Breeds for profit, doesn't have a clue or care about temperament, conformation, and/or who they sell a horse to or breed their stallion to.  It's all about the money for them.  Visit the USHS website and check out the multitudes of stories of the 'horse farms' (all breeds btw) that they go in and manage the deployment of any where from 7 to hundreds of horses from breeders for profit, horse collectors, and people who should have stopped breeding years ago because of advanced aging.  At some point if there is not someone to take over the operation, the owner dies - financially insolvevent, or becomes incapacitated, those horses are going to be dispersed in the worst way (Klee's Arabians - Santa Inez, CA). 

 

So, when we have a person, that comes to Ride Camp, who genuinely cares about their horse, let us not chop their legs off at the knees.  Let us give them sound advice, to the questions that were asked.  We were not asked for our personal opinion on the ethics of breeding.  I believe we will retain more of the Ride Camp membership by doing so.  In so doing we can affect a positive change. 

 

Thank you for your time.

 

D'Arcy