Contact us at:
info@horsewelfarecommittee.com
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Click here for a list of
websites that frequently
link to articles related to the
issue of the unwanted horse
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About the Horse Welfare Committee
Equine veterinarians across the country have been increasingly reporting a growing number of emaciated horses and abandonment cases.
Boarding stable owners are seeing clients no longer wanting their horses and just walking away, leaving the burden of feeding and care with the stable owner.
Responsible horse owners are waking to find strange horses in their pastures, putting at risk the health and welfare of their horses and adding an immediate financial burden to their operations.
Reports of unwanted horses are widespread and many, but until now, not adequately documented or verified. In an attempt to provide such facts, the Horse Welfare Committee has brought together the leading players in the equine welfare arena to factually document the incidents of unwanted horses in the U.S. and determine if this trend is directly related to the closure of U.S. horse slaughter plants. The committee advocates discussion of all alternatives to benefit horse welfare and does not advocate one alternative to the exclusion of others.
The committee recognizes this is a highly emotional issue for many but is urging people to fully explore the issue in terms of facts and logic before coming to conclusions. There are a number of documents at the website that can help elucidate the issue. Horse lovers, in particular, are urged to become fully educated on this issue and rationally balance their decisions.
Contact us at: info@horsewelfarecommittee.com
From a boarding
stable owner
"As a boarding stable owner, we have more slow and or "no pays" then ever before. We also have owners who have "disappeared" and basically abandoned their horses. With hay, shavings, fuel and feed prices skyrocketing as well as a massive increase in the minimum wage it has placed a huge financial burden on the barn owners. The horses still have to be cared for at someone's expense. When owners don't pay it the boarding stable is forced to cover the extra costs. In the past, there was some possibility of recovering some or all of the past due bill by a legally forced sale of the horse. With prices of horses very low and no real way to dispose of older, unsound or useless horses this is no longer an option.
I also read somewhere that horse auctions were in real trouble due to extremely low prices (some as low as $5 per horse) and many horses were being abandoned at some of the auction houses.
I am not a 'pro slaughter' person but even so ... I think it IS a necessary evil. I would rather see horses humanely slaughtered than what many of them are going through now that it has been banned. My concerns would be that they be hauled in an appropriate trailer/truck and that there is someone at the slaughter houses making sure that there is no more stress placed on the horses then necessary. Ten years ago I don't think any of us saw this coming as a major issue in the horse industry."