Thursday, October 30, 2008

A $10 Horse

I went to the horse auction on Monday, and I was talking to one of the regulars and she told me that last week a horse sold for $10.   Ten dollars!  Can you believe that?  I asked her what kind of horse could you get for that price, I was thinking it must have had three legs or something.   She said it was a nice sound horse.  

That actually makes me feel really sad that such a magnificent animal can have such a low value.  I hope with the low price horses are selling for that people who buy them can afford to take care of them. Just because a horse is cheap to buy, doesn't mean they are cheap to feed that's for sure.  My Father warned me a while ago that the price of horses would drop once they were not allowed to go for slaughter anymore.   He would never sell a horse for slaughter, but he's a very matter of fact kind of guy and tells it like it is.

I have been going to horse auctions with him since I was a kid, and I have always had a hard time with some of the horse's that I see go through there.  The sick, the thin, the lame and the occasional emaciated cows.  It always broke my heart.  

There are a lot of nice horses that go through the auction too, you just have to make sure that you are buying from a reputable seller with some paperwork proving the animals health and soundness. 

Don't even get me started about the guys that shoot the horses up before they are run through the sale!  Those guys make me crazy.  I never understood why someone would want to make a quick buck by being dishonest when they could build a reputation and have repeat buyers and make much more money.  To me that is selling your soul for a piece of bread.
  
I'll never forget the time a few years ago when my Father was telling me about a woman who had sold her horse at the auction unknowingly to a meat buyer.  She was telling him what he eats, and things that he liked and disliked.  He said the guy just nodded and let her go on and on without really listening because the horse was being hauled to the slaughter house and none of that really mattered.  You know that guy slept like a baby that night, and his conscience didn't bother him at all.

I know times are tough and putting a suffering horse out of it's misery and having to bury the corpse is expensive but I'd much prefer to have to pay for that than to have my friend brutally murdered.  So even though such a valuable (to me) animal can sell for such little money, I'm glad he cannot killed in such a brutal manner (at least in this country) anymore.

This subject is very controversial, and I understand some points of the opposing side, but I just can't stomach horses being killed and people profiting from it.  Instead, I'll deal with the $10 horses.

Deanna

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm with you there - I do understand the problems that have stemmed from banning horse slaughter and many of the arguments for it, but I just can't stomach it myself. It makes me incredibly sad to think of any of the horses ending up somewhere like that. They've given us their hearts and lives and deserve to die in dignity.

I realize that horse meat for consumption is acceptable in other parts of the world, but it is not part of American culture. We aren't raising our horses for meat, we raise them to show and race and trail ride and be our companions. And that's how I will treat them.

It's a long distance from head to heart - the logical arguments for it can be compelling sometimes, but my heart adamantly says no.