Unwanted Horse Study

Discuss horse welfare and rescue and horses in need of assistance.

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jrgators
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Postby jrgators » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:34 am

:shock: ME?? ?? ?? ?? :shock:

Oh No, I couldn't do that at all! Those rascals may be scrubs, but they are more like my kids than my "business investments" there is ABSOLUTELY no way I could do it!! I may tell them I'd like to shoot'em, but it's just me talking noise, there is no way I could do that! :lol: :lol:

Theo

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Postby karenkarenn » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:55 am

Oh no I dont mean it in a bad way. Its just coming from experience, we simply couldnt get the vet out. There were three that were attacked by a pack of mountain lions and it was bloody. VERY bloody.
They were in a run at the time, so they couldnt get a way.
Karen

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Postby jrgators » Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:17 pm

:shock: OMG!!!!!!!! :shock:

That's so sad! I'm so sorry for you guys!

Thanks for clearing that up for me!

Theo

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Postby Tbird » Sun Aug 02, 2009 5:29 pm

I feel that humanely ending the life of a horse should be part of the expense of having the horse just as the vet, farrier, feed, trainer, shipper, etc., is part of having a horse.

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karenkarenn
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Postby karenkarenn » Sun Aug 02, 2009 5:53 pm

If that comment is made for me then I think you need to realize that life can take twists and turns. Mother nature can be unpredictable at times. Esp in a desperate winter. Some times and some people may not have that option of having a vet there. Besides the bullet wasnt what gave them grief, it was the cats on their back and throat.

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Postby jrgators » Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:12 pm

karenkarenn wrote:If that comment is made for me then I think you need to realize that life can take twists and turns. Mother nature can be unpredictable at times. Esp in a desperate winter. Some times and some people may not have that option of having a vet there. Besides the bullet wasnt what gave them grief, it was the cats on their back and throat.



Yes Karen, my comment was for you. I can't imagine seeing something like that happen to one of my horses, not to mention 3 of them! I know that things happen, and things will happen, but that had to be a horrible thing to walk up on and see.

My heart goes out for you, and your horses!


Theo

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Postby jrgators » Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:16 pm

Tbird wrote:I feel that humanely ending the life of a horse should be part of the expense of having the horse just as the vet, farrier, feed, trainer, shipper, etc., is part of having a horse.


I agree with you Tbird, but someone raised the question before....what if you have 10 or 12 horses to put down at one time?

Many people do go broke, more will go broke, and we should all hope it's never us that it happens to, but some folks just get in over their head and have to get out, and try to get something when they get out. $4000 from the killers sale for that person means a heck of a lot more to them than another vet bill for $5000 or $6000.

I agree with you, but there is another side to look at. IMO

Theo

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Postby Fair Play » Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:09 am

jrgators wrote:
Tbird wrote:I feel that humanely ending the life of a horse should be part of the expense of having the horse just as the vet, farrier, feed, trainer, shipper, etc., is part of having a horse.


I agree with you Tbird, but someone raised the question before....what if you have 10 or 12 horses to put down at one time?

Many people do go broke, more will go broke, and we should all hope it's never us that it happens to, but some folks just get in over their head and have to get out, and try to get something when they get out. $4000 from the killers sale for that person means a heck of a lot more to them than another vet bill for $5000 or $6000.

I agree with you, but there is another side to look at. IMO

Theo


I doubt there is a horse person alive who wouldn't have a horse humanely euthanized, and cremated, and then put the urn on the mantel or scatter their ashes.... But the horses standing starving in fields when their owner is too broke to buy the next bale of hay are better off being shipped than waiting until the owner can call the vet.

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Postby Tbird » Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:25 pm

Usually when someone falls upon hard times one can see it coming. One doesn't just wait until credit is gone at the feedstore, pasture is bare and horses starving before doing something.
My issue is with the owner who never quibbled over the cost of stud fees or fancy trailers or the best farrier or the expensive saddle and tons of alfalfa, but when the horse can no longer do anything, won't shell out for a peaceful demise.
Horses are expensive. It's expensive to get them into this world and expensive to get them out.

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Postby RK » Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:25 am

Judge not, lest you be judged.

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Postby karenkarenn » Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:06 pm

I have a horse that I am scheduled to put down. He is my 21 yrs old arab that has given me a lifetime of joy. I know here people talk about cost. But This is what Im doing
I have dug have grave by hand- cost of labor-- oh my time..
Euthanasia at Vets office $75
We rented a tractor, $85.
So am I looking about 160.
Its cheap for me but it puts the example as to humanly euthanizing instead of letting them starve.
I hate saying this, but a little hard work, or even help from a Neighbor costs cost.

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Postby russianhorses » Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:21 pm

Hi,

are here only US citizens discussing?

I'm from Europe. No one would dig a grave or shoot a horse here, both are grave offenses and will get you heavy fines and a record, possibly even jail, one for pollution (huge amounts of rotting meat tend to affect groundwater) and another for animal cruelty.

Here having your horse euthanized costs roughly 1000 to 1500 US Dollars, depending on the vet, if done humanely, including the dead body carted off. If you have signed for non-slaughter in the horse's passport that's what it is going to be, no chance to send the horse to the knacker.

The majority of owners don't sign for non-slaughter, which essentially means that a lot of treatments and medicines can't be used on that horse. In the end they do have the choice whether to euthanize or to slaughter, though. A lot of them do slaughter.

As a European I do have some trouble understanding the problem US citizens have with horse slaughter. While I personally do not consume horse meat, I can't condemn people who do. Every region here has its own horse slaughterer, which means that neither do horses have to travel far to the knacker, nor is that a mega-sized institution where horses are processed like in a factory. Usually it is possible for a horse owner to find a knacker in his vicinity and accompany the horse until it is killed. I know quite a few owners who did just that to make sure the horse does not suffer unduly in any way, not even having to wait in foreign surrounding. In some countries it is even possible to have the knacker come to your yard.

The knacker pays, depending on weight and age, between 1200 and 2000 US Dollars for a slaughtered horse. If a horse is so aged that the meat can't be consumed or if the horse has injuries/sicknesses barring human consumption, the price is lower than that.

Compared to having horses starve, being maltreated or abandoned I can't but prefer the European system and again I fail to understand the problem US citizens have with it. It should be possible to set up a system of smaller knacker yards and have the manner in which horses are slaughtered there regulated.

Liz

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karenkarenn
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Postby karenkarenn » Sun Oct 18, 2009 3:39 pm

Liz
Im sorry I didnt get to your post sooner.
My horse grand, he was the world to me. I couldnt hire a Knacker to take him for meat. He was 21. Hes done everything that I could ask. I wanted him here and I got the cities okay even though I live outside the city. We had our pipes zoned to see where they are at, called the water, sewage power company and made a decisions where to dig.
I understand where you are from that s alot of money to put a horse down. I understand the slaughter issue.
There is one problem that Elko has now that I wanted to talk to you about.
Right now, The Winecup ranch that has 500 acres set aside for our wild mustangs ( its outside our city) they have donated there land and operation for the wild animals. There is vet care and hay, water. The mustangs are eating up the ranches food for cattle now and people are complaining. BUT the county DOESNT want it to happen. Why because they say its " a violation of their ( the comissioners rights) to tell the Winecup how to run its operation. Thus they run around unwanted.
Nobody wants them sluaghtered, castrated here. Why not too sure.. They dont want the easy solution but yet they complain about the unwanted mustangs.....
The people that you speak of have " feedlots" and since I am in the desert they are located in Utah. A state way about 3- 6 hours away. They are always open. But there are SO many contiversal ideas going around with these horses that nothing is going to get done.
Now what.

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Postby Stylus » Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:56 pm

I've seen here that people just turn them loose. Five went by my farm on the weekend, hopefully they will make it to the forest. People are hurting, and don't want to put the down.

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Postby Sylvie Hebert » Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:15 am

not to speak ill of the dead,i won't give name,but in La a big owner-trainer when gelding carreer was over would turn them out in the bluff outside his farm fence to fend for themselves,not a pretty sight and very irresponsible from a wealthy person...
The sport and industry survive not only because of the champions that are remembered forever but also because of the losers that are so easy to forget...