Monday, December 26, 2011

How Budget Cuts Cause Abuse and Neglect of Horses

Driving through Central Kentucky's horse country, it's easy to believe horses live the life of Riley. Five or six sleek beauties grazing peacefully in the middle of a spacious, rich pasture, gleaming barns in the distance, five-plank fences sporting fresh paint.

But those are the one-percenters of the thoroughbred economy. The flip side of that perfect picture is horses making do on crowded, weedy pastures neglected by owners constantly on the verge of bankruptcy.

And that's in good economic times. People buy a little land, feel flush, think they gotta have a horse. After a few years of feed bills and vet bills and fence maintenance, it's too much. One local amateur skipped town leaving his horses stranded in a fenced pasture with no access to water. If someone hadn't found them, they would have died of dehydration.

From the Courier:

"A lot of people ... just don't get it," said Ponke, 45, of Cottrellville Township in St. Clair County (Michigan). "They just don't understand what it takes to take care of an animal properly, and it's sad."

After slaughterhouses were shuttered in the U.S. in 2007, experts say that -- coupled with the poor economic climate -- caused neglect and abandonment cases involving the country's 9 million horses to rise dramatically.

Michigan State University equine professor John Shelle estimates that the number of unwanted horses in Michigan has grown by the thousands. No concrete statistics are available, but he points to the number of rescue organizations near or over capacity.

It's a national problem that officials hope will end with new legislation.

On Nov. 18, President Barack Obama signed a bill permitting federal funding for inspection of horses intended for human consumption, allowing slaughter facilities to reopen across the country.

Supporters of the legislation hope providing slaughterhouses as another option for horse owners will reduce neglect and abandonment, while critics argue they're inhumane and the real problem is over-breeding.

Government agencies and animal welfare organizations have reported a rise in investigations for horse neglect and abandonment since 2007, according to a 2011 study by the Government Accountability Office, an independent federal agency based in Washington, D.C.

The study points to the end of domestic slaughter and an ailing economy as key factors in the increase.

Slaughterhouses across the country closed in 2007, following the government's decision in 2006 to yank federal funding for inspecting horses at slaughter.


The Government Accountability Office's report found horse exports to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico then skyrocketed -- increasing by 148 percent and 660 percent, respectively -- from 32,789 horses exported for slaughter in 2006 to 137,984 in 2010.

A study conducted in 2009 by the Unwanted Horse Coalition, a national group aimed at improving the welfare of unwanted horses, found that 87 percent of horse rescue facilities that were interviewed think the number of unwanted horses is becoming a problem, compared with 28 percent in 2006.

The rise in neglect and abandonment cases is taking a toll on animal control officers and horse rescue groups.


MacKillop is angered by people who put horses on Craigslist for free in an attempt to get them off their payroll. A quick search of metro Detroit and northern Michigan lists a handful of "free" horses ready for adoption on the popular online classifieds site.

The result: new horse owners who don't realize what it takes to care of such a large animal.

"I hate to see animals suffer ... it's a really bad situation out there," MacKillop said. "It irritates me, these free horses, anyone will go take them."

Horses are not overgrown dogs - they can't survive in developed areas without human help. Horses demand hard work, constant attention, significant money and long-term dedication. Don't indulge an urge to get one until you know what you're doing.


Never Ben Better said...

Preach it!

My own two are about to turn 20 and 22, and the older gelding has chronic laminitis issues. They take large amounts of time, money, and hard physical labor to maintain properly, even in retirement from under-saddle work. They could each live another five to ten years, requiring at least as much time, money and labor to keep them going.

They're a joy to own, even just as pets, as paddock potatoes, but either one, without in the least meaning to harm me, could with one moment of panic or over-exuberance put me in the hospital or kill me, even though I know what I'm doing around them.

How many people who tumble into whim-driven horse ownership understand all this? Not nearly enough, and the innocent horses (not to mention unsuspecting adults and children allowed to do stupid dangerous stuff around large powerful prey animals) suffer for it.

Dark Avenger said...

It's becoming a problem here on the West Coast as well:

Black as night and 18 hands high, Clemente trotted up and down the pen as the auctioneer at Mike's Livestock rattled off bids machine-gun style.

The barnyard scents of alfalfa, leather and sweat wafted through the cavernous auction hall just outside Riverside, where Clemente and dozens of other horses paraded before bleachers overflowing with bargain-seekers, sellers and gawkers on a cold weekend night.

There were whispers of a "killer buyer" lurking outside, buying up swaybacks and broken-down mares to be shipped off for slaughter. A trio of amateur Mexican-style rodeo riders eyed horses suitable for hogtying and tail twisting.

Dark Avenger said...


The public is responding to the plight of 30 neglected and malnourished horses found at two farms in Fresno County over the past week, contributing more than $2,000 in donations to provide feed and care for the animals.But officials at the Central California Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said they remain in need of more donations of cash, hay, food and supplies to properly care for the horses. The sudden influx of large livestock has created a pressing need for portable corral fencing that has been part of an ongoing fundraising campaign as well. "Our target for building the corral was $11,000, and that's just for the outside corral fence itself," said Beth Caffrey, the SPCA's humane education administrator. But, she added, that was for a much smaller corral to cope with only a handful of horses including four that were seized in October. Caffrey said SPCA officials have yet to determine how much more space and corral fencing they will need to accommodate additional horses from the two neglect cases last week. So far, she said, the SPCA had raised $5,000 for the corral.

c u n d gulag said...

I don't know why this would surprise me, but it just never occurred to me that people are stupid enough to buy a large animal like a horse without knowing the care, feeding, and maintenance that such a purchase requires.
I feel sorry for the poor horses that are owned by these nitwits.

It just goes to show that a little bit of money not only doesn't improve your IQ one point, it doesn't even prove you were very smart to begin with.

Tom Hilton said...

Yeah, I didn't think about this either. Very sad. More collateral damage in the broken economy.

Never Ben Better said...

There are also horse owners who in good economic times could and would take excellent care of their animals, but who face the stark reality that they simply can't afford it now. Job is lost, marriage breaks up, illness overwhelms -- for whatever reason, there's no more money for hay and grain and the farrier and.....

So they desperately try to find a new place for their horse in an economy where there's a glut of horses looking for a dearth of homes. Or they just walk away from a problem they can't solve, leaving the animal to starve in a field or a locked stall. Or they open a gate and let the horse loose to fend for itself (and good luck to any passing motorist who meets the unfortunate creature in the road). Or some other horse owner looks out one morning and finds an extra horse or two or three in his paddock.