Reply #16: Horses are companion and Sports animals [View All]

Unlike animals intended for consumption from the beginning of their lives, horses, for the most part are trained and socialized by humans for, work, sports and companionship. They often develop strong bonds with the people they interact with. This makes, in my opinion, a strong moral distiction between slaughtering a horse and slaughtering a steer.

A horse who is affectionate and trusting with the people he interacts with can end up at the slaughterhouse for any number of reasons. Horses live for over twenty years. Most horses have many owners over their lives. Once a person sells a horse they lose all rights to what happens to the animal. If the new owner's not happy all to often it's off to the auction.

There are several things which make horses different from other companion animals; horses are big, horses are expensive to keep and horses, like humans, are generally expected to perform useful work for the greater part of their rather long lives.

I'm a horse lover and really, I don't know where I stand on this issue. I think its reprehensible to slaughter an animal which has learned to trust and even to love humans, but like animal shelters that euthanize unadoptable cats and dogs, I don't see any other practical solutions. Adoption programs are great but the truth is that there are more horses than there are homes for them. The racing industry alone produces thousands of horses each year that will never win a dime and that by the time they are done trying in cheaper and cheaper races are so physically devestated and mentally shellshocked that they are untrainable for any other use. There are horses that, sometimes for no fault of their own, are dangerous to handle or so devestated by age and infirmity that they cannot perform the functions that their owners demand of them.

Euthanizing a horse and disposing of the carcass cost big bucks--$300 or more. Even if you shoot the beast yourself (not an easy thing to do humanely) you still have to pay to have the carcass hauled away--or hire a backhoe to dig a grave--if your local laws permit it.

It's a tough issue and one on which no one's come up with a perfect solution.