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Flow chart on unwanted
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Body Condition Scoring
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Unintended Consequences
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The following are reports of unwanted horse situations
These reports represent the views of those submitting the information and not necessarily that of this commitee. Because of the sensitivity of this issue, the identity of submittees is being protected.
The Horse Welfare Committee works to verify the information as submitted but does not accept responsibility for accuracy of the information presented, nor do we state agreement or disagreement with the statements.
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From a rescue group
I wanted to let you all know Angels Among Us Equine Rescue will be closing permanently. We hoped this would not have to happen, but the fact is we no longer have pasture space for the horses in our care and our foster families are at full capacity. We still have 4 horses that need homes as soon as possible. We have temporary pasture for them until October 5th. If we have not found homes for them by then, we will have no choice but to have to put them down. There will be NO adoption fees for any of these horses.
E.T. is on www.montanapets.org site, as well as petfinder and ourwebsite. She is a Morgan mare.
River - Arabian gelding. He was pending adoption by someone out of state, but that fell through. He still needs training, and if someone is willing to give him the chance, he might just reach his full potential.
Irish - was pending adoption, but that also fell through. She is a beautiful paint mare. Is rideable, although does have some space issues. Needs an experienced rider, or can be led by an adult.
Angel - She will most likely have to be euthanized due to her age. We thought last winter would be her last, but she surprised us and is still going strong.
Mitzy - is being fostered at this time, and we hope it is a permanent situation for her. Please spread the word to anyone out there who is willing to give one or two of these horses a loving home.
Angels Among Us Equine Rescue
Kalispell MT
From a
veterinarian in Michigan
I have had and heard about so many horses being free, due to the price of horses decreasing drastically and the market being flooded. I have seen many emaciated horses due to people not wanting to feed them anymore because they cant get rid of them. Animal controls and rescues are either unwilling or unable to 'deal' with these animals. Either they don't have the resources or money to take care of them, or they have been overwhelmed with unwanted horses and are at or over capacity.
I have had a client who woke up one morning to find 4 horses in their pasture. The neighbor said that they saw a truck and trailer on the side of the road late at night and they thought it was the owner returning from a show or trail ride. Instead it was someone abandoning their horses!
In my opinion, I would rather see a horse go to slaughter and be used (for food, by products, etc) then starve to death, or be neglected or abused.
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."
From a horse owner
A couple of my friends returned from watching a horse sale at a northwest Iowa sale barn this summer to report that there had been sellers who just tied up their horses and drove off. They apparently didn’t want to have a no-sale or take them back home, so they abandoned them.
They also reported that since this commonly occurs, there is a loose horse pen out back and when the sale is over, anyone is welcome to go pick out a horse from that pen. This is really putting an unnecessary burden on the sale barns and must be expensive for them to care for their unexpected herd now.
From boarding and training facility in Montana
10 horse abandoned. Descriptions as follows:
- Bay Arab. 2 year filly, given to me because owner couldn't afford hay and didn't want to bring her to a sale because gas would cost more than she could get for the horse. I am currently training her, she is nice and registered.
- 2 Thoroughbred Mares.Given to me due to the high hay prices. They didn't want to haul to the sale. I rode them both, canned one due to lameness and gave the other away.
- Chestnut Quarter Gelding. Given to me due to lameness, but was beautiful and registered. I had him vetted and he couldn't be fixed so I canned him.
- Palomino Foxtrotter Gelding - Given to me due to lameness. Owners didn't want to put a dime more into him. I vetted him and didn't want to spend the money and time (broken coffin bone) so I canned him (owners paid $4,500 for him)
- Rex. Paint Gelding. Given to me because he was too dangerous for owners. I finished his training and sold him (owners paid $2,500 for him).
- Cap. Paint Gelding. A lady boarded him with me, he hurt her, she quit paying board and I took him on trade for board bill. I finished his training and sold him.
- Bay grade TB/Quarter mare. Lady gave her to me because she was dangerous and her training bill was too high. I took her and tried to train her but she was nasty so I canned her.
- Bandit. One-eyed Rocky Mountain Gelding. Owners were going to put him down when he lost his eye, but I said I'd take him, so I trained him and sold him.
- Cleo. Tennessee Walker Mare. Too much for owner to handle and has a bad scar. Owner didn't want to can her. I re-trained her and still have her, she is nice (owner paid $4,500).
If we did not have a canner market in Canada, I would not have taken any of these. I need a way out if they don't work out. Otherwise, I can't feed them either. My ranch is their last chance. If I can't find them a job, no one will. If we lose our canner outlet in Canada, people like me
won't help out people like these with their unwanted horses. All of these came in after the plants in the U.S. were shut down. Horse prices dropped so sales aren't a sure thing anymore."