American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 and other things

Three bloggers here and none of us posting, but a lot of horse stuff going on. One is picking up a lot of business teaching relationship focused horsemanship, another is mostly offline. I'm mostly just overwhelmed.

I was going to post about the Equine Herpes outbreak when it hit, but realize that anyone reading this, with horses, in effected areas is likely even more on top if the news than I am.

Horse advocates in my State of New Hampshire had a bit of a surprise when we found out that a bill, HB 0339, that already had gone through the NH legislation to allow the state vet to inspect locally raised and slaughtered meat, allowing local farmers to better sell and something I support as a localvore activist as well, included equines as well, despite the legal issues of slaughtering horses for food in our country.

In one section it was clear that it was ADDED to the text "This term as applied to food products of equines shall have a meaning comparable to that provided in this paragraph with respect to cattle, sheep, swine, and goats"

NH activists went to work to try to get this vetoed and several met with the bill sponsor Representative Laurie Harding, who had not realized this had even been added. She and the other sponsors are determined to have the horse and other equine references removed from the bill as of next January. Our Governor, one to give a shit about what his constituents want, signed it in on June 6. Frankly, while I think this is a great bill other than including horses, I do think they should have had to reintroduce the ORIGINAL text and the watched it carefully. How the fuck did someone "sneak" this in and it not get noticed? (and I want to know WHO put it in and make sure s/he never gets elected again! to anything) So we'll breath our sighs of relief in January, until then, we're going to feel a bit anxious.

And, yet, there may be hope.....even with Slaughterhouse Sue Wallis and the United Anti-Horsemen continuing to try to make horse slaughter legal here. No, I won't post links to their crap, you can find it, you're probably reading blogs which do post the links and discuss it more.

What I want to note here is that Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have just introduced S. 1176, the "American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011" and it's time to start making sure that our Senators and Representatives know that we want this to pass this time! Now!

This bill will shut down Slaughterhouse Sue, will stop bullshit like we in NH have had to deal with, will stop transport of horses to other countries for exceptionally cruel slaughter:

"The slaughter of horses is not a substitute for humane euthanasia though it is often mischaracterized as such by opponents who are more concerned with wringing a few bucks from a suffering animal than doing what is right," said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute. "AWI commends Senator Landrieu and Senator Graham for their continued leadership and for reintroducing this very important measure."

If you aren't using this already and don't have your legislators on speed dial, you can start at The Compassion Index at AWI (This link had not been working but IS NOW).

Why I'm against horse slaughter

I recently was asked this on FaceBook, the person, a meat eater, wondering how I as a meat eater could be so vehement about the eating of horses when I ate other animals. That he had ignored what I had already written, that he had ignored my statement that anyone who supported horse slaughter should remove themselves from my friends list, that it wasn't something I discussed politely, of course sent me off. It ISN'T something I discuss politely. (mind you, a similar question from a vegetarian would have simply been "read what I wrote already" but this person supports horse slaughter, that...well...)

What I had written, after another "friend" had attacked me on his on FB and was removed from my flist and life (both these people were people I had met at least once) and was ignored was:

Seriously, any hint of supporting the slaughter of horses is a serious deal breaker with me. This is just something you're going to have to realize. So, fuck off if you're okay with it.

See the mare in my profile photo (here she is to the left, also on the side bar with a buddy when I went to pick her up)? Her name is Saorsa. She was destined for the feedlots. This is what happens to PMU foals and those from outfits that breed for quantity over quality, most go to slaughter, spending six months in crowded pens being stuffed with grain.

See the two horses in this photo (that would be to the right)? That's Midnight and Trouble. They were sold to slaughter by their owner, when I was trying to get up the money to buy them. He didn't want to be troubled with waiting, it was a quick if smaller buck. And he'd sent many, because he used to run an quantity rather than quality breeding outfit. I didn't know it as a kid, now I do.

Midnight was the best damn trail horse in the world. Ever. He had the worst trot, but he'd go anywhere, wasn't afraid of a thing. The sort of horse that you could track a bear with if you happened to want to track a bear. He was run through a chute, scared out of his mind! After a lifetime of trusting and loving people.

We do NOT eat horses in the US, we send them out of sight out of mind. And if you think this is okay, you can go fuck yourself.

Followed, in the comments:

Note, I also do not believe in factory farming of meat animals, period. NO animal should be in a small pen force fed grain until a traumatic run through chutes. This is why I am a localvore. Any animal that is raised for food should be raised humanely and sustainably.

When thinking about it, that truly answered his question completely. The horses slaughtered in this country are not slaughtered either humanely or for local consumption. They are not raised humanely as livestock, some are, truly, not treated humanely to begin with. Many show and racing horses have rather sad lives, before being shipped off when no longer in their prime (which is hardly old or broken down, we're talking usually under 10 years old....but much older in spirit).

Wild Horses are rounded up in horrific ways, with many horribly injured or killed, with those not caught separated from their herds which can lead to a slow lingering death. Some go to holding pens for years, before being sold for slaughter when "too old" to adopt. Often sickly, due to bad feeding practices as well as being in small, closed quarters. These round ups, coupled with other mismanagement, are wiping out the Mustang.

The AQHA and the APHA along with other breeding groups promote quantity over quality breeding because after all they can sell what won't sell as for riding horses as meat. And, hey, maybe they can make some extra cash in mare urine. These foals are sold through auction to feedlots, where they are kept in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) for roughly 6 months until big enough to slaughter. That's where my Saorsa and her friend on the side there was headed.

Many people innocently sell horses they sort of love, but not enough to keep when they "out grow" them or "things are tough" (sorry things are tough for all of us, some of us will fight tooth and nail to see our animal cared for) and just fool themselves into thinking their horses won't go to slaughter. But a lot do, maybe from the hands of the dealer posing as a "good home" or maybe somewhere else along the line.

Most horses stolen go to slaughter. It's the quickest buck and the easiest way to get rid of the evidence.

None of these horses were raised as livestock, none of them were slaughtered humanely. I don't believe that commercial abattoirs are remotely humane, any more than I believe that CAFO is humane.

Now, I'm going to be honest, and I know Lysippe agrees with me but we might be a minority of two in this movement, but I have no issue with traditional people of the Steppes, the traditional peoples of Mongolia, Kazakhstan and that area, raising their horses traditionally and eating the meat and drinking the milk. Mind you, I would probably not be able to eat the horse meat even there, but their relationship with the horse is so very different than ours. It is a relationship that should be preserved, in fact. These horses are not in danger from these people, although the governments they are now under might offer danger...I won't get into that. When the people are allowed to do so, these horses are raised in conditions suited totally to just being horses, and they are not then rounded up with helicopters. There is a respect, no matter what religion the people may practice, there is an honoring. And it is a strong example of true localvorism.

I know some in this movement are staunch vegans who may not want to associate with me due to my believe we can raise animals humanely and sustainably. I know a lot of other meat eaters in the movement too. Including some cattle ranchers who are horrified by their colleagues who want to see the extermination of the Mustang so they can have more land for cattle.

Because horses in our country are not raised for meat. We do not practice a sustainable localvorism with them and few of us are so inclined. Many meat eaters do have animals they won't eat and animals they will; some for religious reasons, some for taste, some for just how we feel about them. Dogs, cats, horses....typically are not considered food in our country. Sometimes we totally consider something off limits to eat, as I do dogs, cats and horses. Sometimes there are animals I won't eat but have no problem with others eating, as long as they don't eat mine...right now, this is how I feel about goats which I have as pets but not livestock (and I do raise chickens as livestock, doing my best to give them happy lives, the goats I just can't).

This is just a reality. And this, relatively calm, posting is NOT what someone supporting horse slaughter is ever going to get from me. Perhaps at some point I will write more about the loss of Midnight and Trouble. But, right now, this is the best I can do. But get in my face and I'll tell you to fuck off. And that will end it. It might not make me the most effective warrior for the horses, but in many ways, that loss has affected me too much for any civility.