Say NO To Horse Glue

[MiniGoatsRule]

Yeah, I guess. I still don't believe in it, but I guess I'll just keep it to myself

 

[Baymule]

Yeah, I guess. I still don't believe in it, but I guess I'll just keep it to myself

Feel free to express your beliefs. We are not knocking you or what you believe in. You asked for our support, we gave you reasons why we would not support what you proposed. This is a family here, like all families, we don't all agree all the time. Please don't get your feelings hurt, you don't have to agree with us and you are certainly entitled to your beliefs.

 

[Beekissed]

Definitely! It's okay to agree to disagree....we are all wonderfully different in this world and that makes for an interesting world to live in.

 

[promiseacres]

My Mom's last (passed away 4 years ago) husband is a very good example of why we need horse slaughter. He had $$ and decided to get into raising Morgan horses. So got several mares and 2 not so great studs. Why did he want to do this? Because he like to take that year's foals in the local parades...so they had 1 to 3 foals every year. Which he just kept and never trained beyond the first few months.... now my Mom has 2 19 year olds and a 9 year old left ( they had 20 at one time) which know nothing and freak at anything new... he refused to feed them correctly and even fed one to death due to founder... now my aunt has two of these and we have one... and it really stresses me... I work hard to have my horses and we aren't in the position to keep pasture pets. And these guys are just that....they are all old enough that...well unless we found someone who had the training skills they also would need hours and hours of time.... I would send them to slaughter... but frankly it's not up to me at this time... sad it's not their fault they really shouldn't have been bred.
@MiniGoatsRule It's good to believe in something but having seen this scenario first hand.... I can't agree. These pasture pets will hurt you because of their lack of training... it would be nice if there was a place they could just be out in a big pasture and live out their days but that's not reality.

 

[MiniGoatsRule]

I've never thought of it that way. Probably because I'm obsessed with Join Up, but Monty Roberts can't visit everybody

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I understand where you are coming from so much with your concern @MiniGoatsRule. If we are being honest, at one point in younger years I was vegetarian for years and vegan for maybe a year itself...I was constantly reaching out to representatives, especially when slaughter houses for equines were open. As I have seen mentioned, and seen from experience, the shut down led to really bad cases of neglect and abandonment in an unfortunate turn. I've worked with horses who were rescued from standing in feet of human waste that hadn't eaten in Lord knows how long, and I remember this pasture out on a county road where volunteers went and put hay and feed because people came from all around and turned their horses loose there because they couldn't afford them or didn't want them. Quarter Horses with great lines and papers can't sell for $100 even as foals around here. You see them in the sale papers for free constantly- I've seen a man here advertising the same horses for over a year, because they are much older and still green. (We end up as a mainly cattle/chicken area because that's what sells, and that's what people eat. The only folks with horses have bombproof broke ones to herd those cattle)

I'm not here to say your enthusiasm for sticking up for horses is wrong! Having compassion for all living things is a characteristic worth mentioning. As much as I hate to, I am here to say though that yes, the aftermath of US plants closing brought some problems into the horse world that are hard to grasp....

 

[MiniGoatsRule]

There are a ton of weird animal abusers not yet caught by the cops in the Gallatin Valley, so... Yeah. If I did end up doing that, then... Their horses would be in even WORSE condition. People like those just make me want to steal all their animals and take them to any home even BARELY better than that one

 

[Beekissed]

I've never thought of it that way. Probably because I'm obsessed with Join Up, but Monty Roberts can't visit everybody

I love to read and watch Monty Roberts too! LOVE Join Up and would love to try it on a horse of my own....but...alas...don't have enough land to support a horse, nor enough money. Still....really makes ya want to try join up, doesn't it?

I'd even like to try it on my sheep and see if it works for them...he did it with a deer, why not sheep?

 

[MiniGoatsRule]

I want to ask him if he wants to do a show at our barn. We have a stupid, reckless, dangerous horse at our barn. If he did a show, we'd charge him by having him use that horse for a show.

 

[Cindy in SD]

I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but slaughter of horses for food would do more to guarantee survival of the species than all the rescue operations in existence. Chickens aren’t in danger of extinction, yet like horses, many of the heritage breeds *were* in danger of extinction until private people started keeping them for eggs and meat. People don’t generally keep chickens as pets. If we were depending solely on pet chickens to continue the genetic pool then chickens probably wouldn’t make it.

Most people don’t have a problem with fried chicken, yet there is evidence to argue that chickens are significantly better at learning complex tasks than horses. Could you teach a horse to play a tune on a horse-sized piano? Yet chickens *can* be taught to play simple tunes on small pianos, along with many other behaviors you would be hard-pressed to teach to a horse. (And of course chickens eat a lot less than horses and require far less real estate.) Chickens will learn to be affectionate pets, jump up on your lap and beg for cuddles, even go for walks with you. All that is great, lots of fun, very gratifying, but the real reason chickens aren’t in danger of extinction is eggs and meat.

Ditto goats, sheep, cattle, etc. We keep small, relatively intelligent, house-trainable animals as pets. (House training is no doubt the reason you probably won’t find chickens at your local pet store.)

Few people have the means to keep horses as pets and even fewer have the need to keep horses as work animals. Almost no one has a need for horses as a means of transportation. The niche for horses as domestic animals is pretty tight. If we raised horses for meat, the species would have a much better shot at surviving. As it is though, one would be justified in showing concern for the survival of a sufficient gene pool to ensure the continued health and well-being of the equine species. So... based on that, I have no problem with horses being treated the same as other well-cared-for farm animals. They themselves would have much better lives if we didn’t pretend that they were more special than cows or chickens or pigs (super intelligent animals, btw).

I’m concerned with pig factories, chicken factories and cattle in feed lots, not to mention the woeful living conditions of many unneeded horses. These are real incidents of animal abuse. Humane slaughter of animals for food doesn’t bother me. I don’t like slaughtering my meat birds, but the truth is that those birds wouldn’t even have been hatched if I hadn’t placed an order for them. They have a pleasant life with grass to enjoy, bugs to eat, warmth, shade, cleanliness... They’re well-fed & watered and treated with kindness and respect. Slaughter involves maybe 60 seconds of their lives at the most—lives that they would never have had if we didn’t allow consumption or slaughter of chickens.

We don’t know what we don’t know, and compassion is never wrong, Minigoats. You are young and sweet, and that’s a very good thing. I’m old and am still learning areas where I’ve been wrong. I expect to go on having to say, “Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t think of that,” and having to revise my opinions. I hope to go on doing that for all eternity.