American veterinarians are making it easier for horse owners to sterilize their animals.
Dr. Alison LaCarrubba of the University of Missouri’s equine clinic will offer free castrations at one of the university’s farms Oct. 2 in an effort to control the state’s horse population and reduce cases of horse neglect.
“We’re seeing more and more horses that are not getting enough to eat and we’ve been looking for solutions to the problem,” LaCarrubba said.
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There are two reasons for the problem: the closing of the last of the United States’ horse slaughter plants in 2007 and the beginning of the American recession shortly after that. LaCarrubba said the two events combined to significantly undercut the market for horses, dropping the price from $1,000 or more to $50 to $100.
Consequently, many new buyers entered the horse market without really understanding the responsibilities and costs of horse ownership, LaCarrubba said.
“They think, great, I can get a horse, (but) they don’t think about the long term ramifications,” she said.
“The cost of keeping a horse certainly hasn’t gone down…. So winter comes around and they need to buy hay and grain and they can’t necessarily afford it.”
LaCarrubba’s idea for a free castration day was borrowed from a similar program launched three years ago at the University of Minnesota.
“You need at least $2,000 in resources to keep a horse per year, and you need a reserve fund in case the horse gets sick,” said Julie Wilson, a veterinarian in the equine section at the U of M.
“We had more large seizures of animals … particularly in the winter where they were skin and bones, and finding dead animals frozen to the ground.”
The free castration clinics have been successful in Minnesota and they may soon become a familiar event across the U.S., Wilson said.
The Unwanted Horse Coalition, an alliance of U.S. equine organizations, is now attempting to take the idea national. Castration isn’t expensive, costing $125 to $200 per horse in the United States, but Wilson said other barriers get in the way.
“There’s a little bit of a cultural thing. My horse is more macho with testicles.”
Another factor is lack of knowledge, LaCarrubba added.
“It’s sort of the backyard people that had a mare and foal, but never dealt with the foal. It’s now a two-or three-year- old stallion that’s jumping the fence and breeding with the neighbours’ horses,” she said.
Wilson said the Minnesota program also offers a voucher for a free castration to owners who are willing to take eight hours of training on equine care.
“We’re trying to make a better horse owner, so they don’t screw up and end up sending their horse up to Canada (for slaughter).”
