Hi everyone, I know this is a very controversial issue to a lot of people but I would just like to hear some other people's opinion, because there are only a few people up here who really know.

*sigh*

http://forum.equisearch.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=slaughter&o=Relevance

A lot of discussion on this already...

Why not try a ban on breeding instead?

KCS:

*sigh*

http://forum.equisearch.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=slaughter&o=Relevance

A lot of discussion on this already...

LOL. Precisly what I was thinking when I read this.  As I recall there was a fairly long thread about this quite recently.

... and some of that thread wasn't very pretty, either.

A ban on breeding???????????????

And WHO decides which horses get banned from breeding? How can you tell someone they arent allowed to breed their "livestock" anymore? Im all for SMART breeding choices and personaly, I SEE them being made. People are cutting down, leaving mares open and getting out altogether...so I have to ask...why is there still an abundence of unwanted horses? I keep hearing folks say it will take 5-10 years for the market to even out...my heart aches for the poor horses who will have to suffer because some squishy hearted congressmen/women who wouldnt know a horse ball if you hit them in the back of the head with it, decided to "ban" slaughter in the US.

Let me lay this out.

Horses are classified as livestock, similar to hogs, goats, sheep, cattle..NOT similar to dogs or cats.

Livestock's value is based on a per pound price, the "slaughter" price if you will. this is the base of the pyramid. More tiers are added(price increase) based on the individual animals show record, produce record, bloodlines, potential,ect...and YES, this is ALL livestock. Go and look at a top winning show heifer's price tag.

When the bottom market(the per pound price) is taken away, you have no base, and the upper tiers crumble down, this is what we are seeing. I think there are afew different factors affecting the sorry state of the horse industry right now, but the ban on slaughter IMO, has prob. the biggest impact.

I think a better, more positive way to have handled this was making BETTER and TIGHTER regulations on the transportation of the horses.

 Thinking about horse slaughter sends shivers up and down my spine!! I am 100% against horse slaughter. Coyotecreek is right though horses are considered livestock and the main purpose for livestock is meat. But i see a huge difference between a horse and a cow or pig. i raise goats cows pigs and horses we value our horses alot more then any of the others. when we sell our steers they usually make around $500-700 as to where my registered quarter horse is worth $6,000 easily and all we do with the cows and pigs  is feed them twice a day for a couple months then we sell them the horses we actually do stuff with they are useful animals what can you do with cows and pigs. Horses also can live up to 35 years and cows and pigs life spans are not nearly that long

i had no idea about horse slaughter when i first got into horses until i went to a local horse auction. A friend showed me a man that bought the horses for slaughter and he bought about 98% percent of the horses there and some of them were awesome looking horses one was a gorgeous appaloosa gelding he had beautiful confirmation he was a western pleasure horse the only problem with him was he wouldnt load in a 2 horse trailer he sold for $150 to the slaughter house.

I do feel breeding has alot to do with the slaughter. I know a girl who bought a stallion and has bred it to about every mare that she could get her hands on which is only creating grades and crossbreds which not many people are looking for. Slaughter houses are cutting the lives of many horses short