Re: RC: Item on e-bay-rather sad

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

Hi Kelsey - I got an error message for that link.  Was it the pony hide
rug (seller is in Germany)?  People have been talking about that one on
other lists.  I'd like to point out a few things here, hope I don't get
anyone too upset - but I do hope that this provokes some thought.

We had an email on this list from someone upset about the fact that
there's a proposal in Colorado to change horses to companion animal
status.  As I understand it, the poster was upset because of the
restrictions on horse care and other aspects this would bring about, and
the poster wants to keep horses as livestock.  This is a good idea, but
probably not for the reasons in that post.

People already are confused about the classification of horses!  However
consider this - we are told by many people that there is an
overpopulation of horses in the U.S.  I understand that in Germany (in
Europe, generally) there is not such an excess of animals.  They are not
unhappy there with eating horses/ponies, or using their body parts like
we do cattle here.  People don't say we have an "excess population" of
cattle or other livestock (the overgrazing issue aside) in this country
- I invite people to think about the fact that "excess populations" of
domestic animals in the US are all in *companion* animal populations.

While I am less than thrilled with the manner in which our slaughter
animals are treated in this country, I am beginning to think that the
livestock classification and the killer market are the only outlet for
many of our "excess" horses these days.  Lif



--
                                     ____________
Lif & Paul Strand   STRAND ENTERPRISES   http://www.fasterhorses.com
           Arabian Horses for Distance Riding
         Internet Research * WebArt * Fine Art
    Nutrition and alternatives for self-reliant people
                     Quemado, NM  USA



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=