I’m a third generation farmer and horseman. I have been involved with horses all my life, in some years buying and selling hundreds of horses, having horses for riding, movies, promotions, importing, breeding, raising, buying and selling. In recent years, the business has changed drastically and it’s time to do something.
With the closures of the U.S. slaughterhouses, the horse business has seen a dramatic increase in free, abandoned, starving and neglected horses. The system is glutted with horses due to the closures and because of expenses of owning and keeping horses.
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We as professionals have to change our ways of doing business. No longer can we continue to overprice the services and various costs of owning a horse. There is no longer a steady beginner market to keep the horse business afloat and thriving.
Trainers, farriers, veterinarians, horse show organizations and associations, instructors, feed suppliers, etc., all need to realize the effect they are having on the future of the horse business. …
The slaughter business is an unfortunate but necessary side effect to the problems for all livestock, including cows, pigs and chickens. Have to euthanize your horse? $350 to $500. Owners can’t afford to pay to end their horse’s suffering so the horse dies a slow, painful death by starvation locked in a barn or a small pen.…
Unnecessary expenses put the horse out of the average owner’s price range. …
How can we fix the current spiraling downfall of the horse business? The professionals in this business need to look at their practices and realize they are part of the problem. The whole business boils down to the horse owner. If the owner can’t afford the costs, then that will be another horse going to slaughter, being starved, neglected and dumped.
Over-deworming, over-vaccinating, over-charging, over-feeding, over-supplementing, too often shoeing and trimming, unnecessary teeth work -how can the horse owner survive?
We are scaring the customers away. A lot more people will buy a horse for a hobby and exercise if keeping a horse would become more realistic.
So let’s get on with it and save the horse business before people move on to other, more affordable hobbies.
Remember the golden rule: treat the other person how you like to be treated.
John VanDongen Sr.,Delta, B.C.
