Problem is overbreeding....and irresponsibility

[Sylvie Hebert]

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s ... r-auction/

[erhrdt3]

And not a reply.

There needs to be SOMETHING done to stop the overbreeding of these horses. Sure, lets get that mare pregnant, and then we will see her yearling or 2 year old looking like pure hell at the Killer Buyer's market.

What is this industry going to do about this? These are not cars, that can be crunched up into squares of metal; these are living, breathing, feeling animals that were brought into the world at a human's hands and now they are getting tossed away like junk.

This really pisses me the hell off.

perhaps some of the hotshot rich owners need to go to a slaughterhouse with one of their horses and see what happens. Nah, they would not be bothered to do so...

[stlouiskid]

Six of these mares had foals within the last two months. What the heck happened to them? What is really sad is Steve is listed as the breeder on one of the mares foals for the last 5 years. You trying to tell me he isn't rolling in bucks nowadays. Pretty bad karma if you ask me.

[Sylvie Hebert]

Horse people are like ostrichs...except they are buried in manure.And most pretend "loving" horses...they don't...they love horse business,horse racing,horses themselves noway...or they would not act like that.I don't care how broke you are...if you cannot care for it have the decency to at least not abuse it.In that case Assmussen bullsh...about not knowing this is a killer auction...come on I lived close to you man,not only you knew but this is not a first occurence except this time you got caught...Assh...

[ElPrado]

How can he be an assh....? Why BH did a story on him showing so many teeth in every picture that you could see his adenoids!

[Pan Zareta]

Excerpted from
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/71203/asmussen-mares-now-at-remember-me-rescue

A former Quarter Horse jockey, Keith Asmussen is the father of one-prominent jockey Cash Asmussen, now retired, and Eclipse Award-winning trainer Steve Asmussen. When reached by The Blood-Horse July 12, Keith Asmussen claimed he wasn't aware the Round Mountain sale was frequented by killer buyers.

"My granddaughters buy ponies and other horses up there all the time," Asmussen said. "I wouldn't have spent $100 a head to haul them to Round Mountain if I was planning on them going to the killers since I live right on the border (of Mexico). And I damn sure wouldn't have been sending registration papers with them if I thought they were going to slaughter.

"As far as I am concerned (this was a legitimate horse sale), and I had no idea about the killer buyers until (horse rescue activists) started writing me letters."

It was a legitimate horse sale, just like the many other local auctions in Texas. If he didn't know that kill buyers are usually at those auctions then he's got to be the most ignorant stockman in Texas. He's certainly not lying about the fact that he didn't need to ship them from Laredo to Round Mountain to sell them for slaughter.

[ElPrado]

The problem is that he did, indeed, do it, or he's so damned stupid he doesn't have any business owning a horse anyway. I really doubt he is as stupid as a sandstone boulder, even if he wants to seem that way. I mean, at least one son was bright enough to be able to run a cell phone and talk at the same time. It had to come from somewhere.

[Sysonby]

The problem is that he did, indeed, do it, or he's so damned stupid he doesn't have any business owning a horse anyway. I really doubt he is as stupid as a sandstone boulder, even if he wants to seem that way. I mean, at least one son was bright enough to be able to run a cell phone and talk at the same time. It had to come from somewhere.

I think you have it backwards. What Asmussen did -- whether you like it or not -- is time honored. Thirty years ago, no one blinked an eye. If you had horses to move that weren't good enough for a recognized auction, they went to a livestock auction--which is absolutely legitimate because there usually are buyers there not looking to sell them for meat. Auction does not equal kill pen no matter how many times it gets repeated on the Internet.

What Asmussen didn't understand is how organized people are now and how many publicity minded folks are out there waiting for prominent people and horses to be uncovered. In that way, he was naive that it is still business as usual in the cyberage. I'm starting to hear stories about prominent people who don't want this headache, have horses to move and need them to disappear in an untraceable way. At least doing it the Asmussen way anyone can buy them.

Those unintended consequences ...

[Joltman]

I'm with Sysonby. There are legit people at such auctions. It was accepted practice years ago to kill horses when necessary as they were treated as livestock. What has changed is our hypersensitivity about such things and the instant 'story' it becomes, especially if a 'big name' can be brought into it.

jm

[bayrabicano]

I heard that some very well-known Ky farms simply put down mares that are not producing to their standards and that not all are old or have fertility issues. That's sad, too, but I guess at least they don't worry about them being mistreated that way.

[Sysonby]

I heard that some very well-known Ky farms simply put down mares that are not producing to their standards and that not all are old or have fertility issues. That's sad, too, but I guess at least they don't worry about them being mistreated that way.

That's the noble way to put it. Human nature being what it is, they also may not want to be embarrassed.

[casallc]

Someone who doesn't cull unproductive livestock is a poor businessman. Many people don't have the time or patience to suffer the fools encountered, to even give away an old or unproductive mare. Texas is suffering one of the greatest droughts in recent history. Hay is double and triple the normal prices. Livestock auctions serve a purpose as an avenue to liquidate livestock. The animal will bring what it is worth. Just because someone sends livestock to an auction doesn't mean he is sending it to the killers nor does buying at auction mean you are "rescuing or saving" anything. You simply were high bidder. A car that goes through a car auction does not mean that it is going to the crusher, a home that is sold by auction does not mean it is going to be razed, an art work that is sold at auction does not mean it will be destroyed – but whoever is the high bidder can certainly do any of those things – if they desire.

Now that bleeding hearts have seen to it that horses have no value as a meat product, the only value they have left is that of a propaganda tool backed by the radical socialist vegetarian movement. These "rescues" are usually the scum of the earth and actually subject horses to more cruelty than anyone, through their ignorance. A quick death is preferable to slow starvation any day. The percentage of so called rescues that have been charged with cruelty will be higher than the number of professional horsemen. This IS America and we still have our rights to property (even if it is being eroded rapidly).

Shame on everyone that is blowing this up into a big deal, nothing was done to be ashamed of (except by the ones sensationalizing it).

[steward]

If we could only go back to the days of being sensible ....

I take sort of a middle ground. If people want to use horses as utilitarian property, then a reasonable amount of decent and humane care is owed. But not radically so, dictated by those farthest out on the fringe of opinion.

People who breed horses do not owe their creatures 30 years of pampered life. That is a radical emotional aesthetic, not a logical ethic. My feeling is if a horse's treatment meets or exceeds the average condition of a horse bred in the wild, then that is acceptable. If a horse owned man is does least as good as that produced nature (and usually better), then what is the problem?

However, horse owners have a lot to do if they wish to protect their liberties in this area. The politics is becoming increasingly dominated by the radically passionate. Recommendation: become harder working and more vocal, seize hold of your message boards and exile the fringers off the general discussion sections, boycott the ones that won't, and stay away completely from enabling places like the PaulickReport. Otherwise, you are just helping to build their megaphones.

[Sysonby]

Now that bleeding hearts have seen to it that horses have no value as a meat product, the only value they have left is that of a propaganda tool backed by the radical socialist vegetarian movement. These "rescues" are usually the scum of the earth and actually subject horses to more cruelty than anyone, through their ignorance. A quick death is preferable to slow starvation any day. The percentage of so called rescues that have been charged with cruelty will be higher than the number of professional horsemen. This IS America and we still have our rights to property (even if it is being eroded rapidly).

I understand that there are people with agendas often orchestrating a lot of this stuff and their goals probably aren't too far off from what you claim or at least they want to get donations and drive Internet traffic to their sites. But I think the bulk of the participants are well meaning suburbanites with a few bucks, no real horse experience and a belief that horses are just an extension of cats and dogs. Hence the horror about the livestock auction.

It's a culture war being played quite cleverly and its one that TB racing will lose because horses are so traceable. Horses are bred on a Bell Curve--every breeder has failures and injuries and sickness can turn "good" horses into failures. What happens to the warmbloods that don't make the cut or the reiners and ropers? It's not so easy to find out.

[Sysonby]

However, horse owners have a lot to do if they wish to protect their liberties in this area. The politics is becoming increasingly dominated by the radically passionate. Recommendation: become harder working and more vocal, seize hold of your message boards and exile the fringers off the general discussion sections, boycott the ones that won't, and stay away completely from enabling places like the PaulickReport. Otherwise, you are just helping to build their megaphones.

I come back to the people are people part of this and not everyone is motivated by their own personal angel. I'm not saying this incident is related but I know that there are people looking specifically for horses bred by the rich and famous who then get a call if one of their horses ten years later makes the way to Sugarcreek or whereever. They not only get informed of the horses fate but that the "rescue cost $5000" and "wouldn't it be better for your reputation if you reimburse us so then we'll tell the press what good people you are." Meanwhile other horses don't get "saved".

It can be pretty cynical out there on both sides of this issue.