Straight talk about horse slaughter.

What we've been saying, verified.

Tough economy, legislation presses horse industry [link]
Joe Scott | Sep 3, 2008

Peggy Goeke said she has a couple of foals from a good brood mare and a hand-picked stallion.

"They have a lot of good breeding and good talent behind them," Goeke said.

Horses like that used to fetch anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000, she said."I'm not selling them for $200," said Goeke, of Warren County. "That's giving them away. Most of us are just hanging on to them."

The economy has hit the horse industry hard. The price of grain and feed has skyrocketed along with the price of fuel. Fewer people are attending horse shows and competitions. However, horse experts also point to the closing of the nation's only horse slaughterhouses in Illinois and Texas as another bad development for horses and horse owners. Legislation in those states banned the slaughterhouses, and there are no others in the United States.

Meanwhile, horse rescue facilities are full and most are not accepting more horses.

"They can't afford it," said Goeke, of Prosperity Farms Equine Center.

"The average American doesn't understand animal husbandry," said Tom Lenz, an equine veterinarian for 35 years and chairman of the Unwanted Horse Coalition. "They romanticize the horse. It's a very emotional issue."

That romantic notion also leads inexperienced owners to buy and breed horses, said Sheila Short, of Warren County, who is a member of the Missouri Equine Council. The council promotes the interests of the Missouri horse industry.

"Five years later, they're out of money and trying to get rid of those horses," Short said.

Horses are classified as livestock, but most Americans see them as pets, Lenz said.

"One of the biggest opponents (to slaughtering horses) is (actress) Bo Derek," Lenz said. "She doesn't understand there are ranchers and farmers in the Midwest and the problems they face."

Similarly, politicians react to that emotion rather than listening to people in the horse industry, he said.

"They look at what their constituents want," he said. "Their constituents don't want it, so that's how their vote goes."

Most major horse associations support the Unwanted Horse Coalition. So do most horse owners and trainers.

Previously, if a horse was too mean, lame or old, it could be sold for up to 50 cents a pound at a sale barn. Then, it would be taken to a slaughterhouse in Texas or Illinois. The process was overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Along with the economic crunch, removing slaughterhouses also removed the base price for a horse. That has led to a glut of low- to mid-price-range horses that owners are trying to get rid of, Short said.

She said removing the slaughterhouses had a ripple effect on the price of other horses, as well.

"You take away that foundation, and there's nothing under it," she said.

It's affected not only low-end horses, but the mid-range horses, Short said. People used to get rid of lower-end horses and upgrade to a mid-price-range horse. But if they can't get rid of those lower range horses, they can't afford another horse or have no room for another.

Overpopulation of horses also has a devastating effect on horse owners who are dealing with job or pay loss due to the economy, Short said.

It costs about $200 to euthanize a horse, Short said. But compare that to the $500 to $700 that a hauler at one time paid for a 1,000-pound horse, and the economic reversal has a profound impact, she said.

More than one-third of all horse owners have an annual income of less than $50,000, according to an American Horse Council study.

"If you're faced with the option of feeding your children or feeding your horse, which are you going to choose?" she asked.

As a result, some owners of unwanted horses sometimes simply leave the animals out in the pasture with no food, water or care.

"It's out of sight, out of mind," said Teresa "Dood" Lee of Warren County, who barrel races and works with the Warren County 4-H equine program. "It takes a long time for a 1,000-pound horse to starve to death."

There also are issues with carcass disposal. Horse owners no longer can simply bury them. Renting the backhoe would be an additional cost, anyway.

Sometimes, the owners abandon them at state parks, trail rides or even horse shows.

"I had one guy in my shop, he had a 10-year-old horse that had never been broken. It was basically a pet," Lee said. "He said, 'Well, if you don't take her, I'm gonna shoot her.' I said, 'Don't shoot her. Keep looking around. Take her up to Amish country.'"

It used to be that horse owners took such horses to the sale barn in Mexico, Mo. If no other buyer bid a higher price, a hauler would pay from 70 to 80 cents a pound.

"Now, they don't sell at all," Lee said.

"I think it's affected the bottom half or bottom third of the horse market," Lenz said. "The richer owners will continue to buy the upper-end horses, and the economy won't affect how they treat them."

Usually, horses that grew too old, were mean, or ill went to processing plants in Illinois or Texas, where they were slaughtered and shipped to countries such as Japan or France, where horse meat is eaten.

"Some cultures don't eat pork," Lenz said. "I don't think we should judge whether another society is right or wrong because of the meat they eat.

"Besides, what difference does it make to the horse?" he asked.

However, currently thousands of horses are shipped to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. Due to higher transportation costs, the price they pay for the horses is drastically reduced.

But legislation is being developed to stop transporting horses for slaughter altogether. That would put even more pressure on the horse industry, Lenz said.

"If that passes, it will really complicate things," Lenz said.

Lenz said he can't see any more slaughterhouses opening in the United States because of all the rules and regulations against them, not to mention adverse publicity.

But there is a solution, he said.

"The issue is exactly the same one we face with dogs and cats," he said. "We still euthanize five to 10 million dogs and cats every year."

The solution is education and awareness with an emphasis on preventing overbreeding, just like the dog and cat industry, he said.

For horse owners, it's going to require a change in attitude.

"Rather than breeding your mare, buy a horse. Rather than buy a horse, adopt one. Rather than discarding your horse, euthanize it," Lenz said. "The horse industry hasn't thought that way before."

Eventually, he foresees low-cost euthanization centers for horses, similar to those available for dogs and cats.

He also wants to study where unwanted horses come from.

"I've visited the slaughterhouses down in Mexico, and you'll pick out the old horses, the sick horses and the lame horses. Then, there are these healthy horses, and you wonder, 'How did that horse go from being a $5,000 horse to being a $100 horse?"

Until all horse owners get the message that breeding horses that don't have special skills is a problem, slaughter plants and euthanization are a necessary part of the solution, Lenz said.

Necessary to the base value of ALL horses. Devaluing a low-end horse from at least $500 to $0—or even a negative figure of -$500 or greater when considering disposal costs—has had a cataclysmic affect on the horse market.