By Ley Bouchard

Tucked into the consciousness of the American public is a nasty word: slaughter. Words like harvesting and processing are used to veil the deed. The end result is the same: horses, like other livestock, are killed for their meat. It probably would not be an issue if not for the current glut of horses in America. And there is another problem with the excessive horses in our country: abuse, neglect, and abandonment.

It makes the news regularly these days: the bad treatment and negligence of one of the noblest creatures and the icon of the American West.

Nearly every week there are news reports about horses being abandoned, horses being stolen for their meat, chopped and left to die, horses being dumped in the desert, in grasslands, in national parks, on the highway, or in a parking lot, as was the case recently when a Standardbred horse, nick-named Wally, was dropped off by an Amish teen in an Ohio Wal Mart.

The economic times are often to blame, although many elements factor into the depressed horse market. People who cannot afford to feed themselves and their family will have a particularly difficult time to pay for the upkeep and maintenance of a horse.

About.com estimates the cost of keeping a horse approximately $1,400 annually. If you have to board a horse, the cost dramatically increases. Area boarding costs range from $150 to $400-plus per month. Costs rapidly increase with health costs.

A horse auction is usually the last option an owner would choose because one usually does not get the best price for a horse at an auction and there are costs and fees in taking a horse to auction which come out of the sale price. Additionally, owners know horses sold at auction are often sold to “kill buyers” that haul the horses across the border to Canadian or Mexican slaughterhouses.

The Glut of Horses

The overabundance of horses in the nation is a very political topic. Horse industry groups like United Horsemen blame the animal rights groups for publicity campaigns and lobbying that brought about the elimination of inspectors at meat processing plants. When the laws changed to eliminate inspectors in 2007, the last of the horse-meat processing plants were shut down. Five years later, with a glut of horses in the USA, legislation has again been changed that will allow for inspection at horse processing plants. Where will these plants be located?

According to Sue Wallis of the pro-slaughter group “United Horsemen,” the first plants may open in several states including Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Georgia and Missouri. In an online article for NewsOK.com, Wallis said between 120,000 to 200,000 horses will be killed for human consumption per year.

Though there does not seem to be much appetite for horse meat in the USA, the European and Asian markets are strong. Horse meat is considered a delicacy with horse steaks in Asian restaurants costing $75.

In all this controversy lies the fact that horses are sent to slaughter regardless of American laws allowing for inspectors at slaughter plants or not. It is the reason that the animal activist groups like PETA (People for the Humane Treatment of Animals) and HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) have been trying to get legislation passed that would compromise an owner’s right to transport their horses across state and national borders.

According to government figures, nearly 138,000 horses are exported annually to Mexican and Canadian horse processing facilities. The end result is that the horse industry in America loses out on the jobs and the income from the livestock they raise and the price of selling a horse in America is about the same as it was in the 1800s – unless you own or raise a horse with a marketable skill such as barrel racing, team penning, cutting or another discipline (that is horse talk for activity or sport).

The absence of horse slaughter inevitably affects the price of a horse in the United States. When there were operating slaughterhouses in the USA, people were not dumping their horses to live as wild horses and the sell price for horses held relatively steady in the marketplace. Without slaughter as an option, there is a glut of horses in the US marketplace which prompts the market price to fall. It is a simple matter of supply and demand.

Added to the excess horse supply are PMU horses and foals of PMU mares. PMU refers to a process by which hormone replacement drugs for menopausal women are made. Premarin is a name drafted from Pregnant Mare’s Urine (PMU). The urine is captured from pregnant horses, usually larger draft breeds like Belgians. Premarin is manufactured by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

In the online blog, Tuesday’s Horse, Jane Allin writes about Tom Lenz, a well-known veterinarian, who is also employed at Pfizer Animal Health: “Tom Lenz is an acknowledged pro-horse slaughter advocate. Lenz is former Chair of the AHC’s (American Horse Council), past president of the “Unwanted Horse Coalition” (UHC), past President of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) and long-standing member of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), all pro-slaughter organizations. Most notably, however, Lenz is currently the Senior Director, Equine Veterinary Services, at Pfizer Animal Health. With those credentials, Lenz brings a wealth of experience in duping the public with propaganda to ostensibly endorse “humane” horse slaughter. No such thing exists – period. … Terminology such as “horse harvesting”, “productive markets”, “Equine Placement Fund” (subsidized by Pfizer), and of course the misnomer “unwanted horse” has been circumspectly crafted to conceal the unfeigned and fundamental problem of over breeding and lack of accountability. The bottom line is that horse slaughter is a multi-million dollar industry worldwide.”

Other Voices in the Crowd

Long an advocate for horses, in 2008 Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire, T. Boone Pickens, ranked as the 328th-richest person in America, announced plans to build an eco-sanctuary for wild mustangs in Nevada. It is very controversial because the cattle ranchers who lease federal land believe the land is going to be overused by the horses which are not meat producers. BLM held horses are controversial for many reasons: taxpayer funds to maintain the program, the use of helicopters, at great expense, to round up excess horses on public lands, thousands of wild horses in holding pens all over America, horses dying in holding pens, the adoption of wild horses and speculation that these same horses are ultimately sent to slaughterhouses in Canada or Mexico, among others.

Picken’s plan is to create an eco-sanctuary where visitors pay a fee to come and photograph wild horses in their natural habitat, giving a use for the wild horses and satisfying people’s desire to see these magnificent creatures. Her dream is coming true as indicated in a recent article in the Las Vegas Review Journal. Pickens has purchased two cattle ranches with grazing rights for 1,000 head of cattle in Elko County near Wells, Nev.

Owners live on a slim margin of profit if indeed, there is a profit at all. The only truly profitable way to show profit in the industry is to breed quality show horses for sale and this is a costly venture especially considering the length of time it may take to bring a horse to a sale and the expenses in doing so. It is generally cheaper to buy a foal and raise than breed it. In buying a foal, it needs to be fed and nurtured, trained and traveled to get it to a point where someone else may want to buy it. Most horses, unless trained for a specific task, such as reining, cutting, jumping, hunt seat, racing, etc. generally won’t sell for more than $400

End of Life Issues

Disposing of a horse when healthy is difficult in these economic times but a horse that is not healthy, suffering and in pain and therefore needs to be put down creates another financial dilemma particularly if one does not have their own ranch or equipment for burial of the carcass. How to slaughter horses humanely is also at issue. The typical method of slaughtering horses is the captive bolt method; this is used for cattle and works well for cattle but not for horses because of the fear factor; horses spook easily and if they smell blood, they will spook. Keeping a horse still and stable while the stun is administered is difficult. An incorrect stun renders the horse conscious while it is being bled out which is inhumane.

Some questions we need to consider when we decide if we want a horse-processing plant in our back yard are: Will reinstituting horse slaughter in the USA create a market so horses are bred for meat production? Will horse-processing plants be built in a humane manner that is acceptable to most Americans, and if so, who is going to judge that process or monitor it?

It will be a combination of solutions brought to the collective table that will resolve the issue of the unwanted horses in the country. Horse owners need to take responsibility for the horses they buy and breed. Horse owners and lovers need let their voices be heard.

Photography by Ley Bouchard, courtesy of the Valley Equestrian Newspaper