No Unwanted Horses in Canada?
I keep reading articles saying there is a big problem with unwanted horses and not enough homes to adopt them. Most articles even say that this includes not only the sick and unsound but also horses that are perfectly rideable.
Recently we got a wanted ad posted by a horseperson with a very nice home for a rideable horse who is even willing to pay a modest price for the rescued horse. She knows the cost to keep a horse, even has a large property with some other horses (retired and not sound) that she is caring for. She has a budget and doesn’t want to spend so much that she cannot afford to give it the care it needs. The only responses this person gets is for horses that require medicating with expensive meds to keep them comfortable enough to not be put down or for horses in the $4000 to $10,000.
Most of the articles about desperate people trying to find homes for their horses are coming from the US and I guess we should be grateful that we don’t have the problem here. Yet, at least.
I know that if I ran into financial trouble and couldn’t look after my saddle horses I would be seriously looking for a great home for them where I could perhaps come and visit them occasionally and maybe even have a ride once in awhile. Getting them the right home would be far more important than getting a good price. Especially if I could find a home where I could still enjoy their company. I’m sure there are lots of people like me.
I realize that I don’t run my horse operation in a very business like fashion. I’m not sure making a profit is really a necessity to be a good horse owner or even a good horse breeder. And, I am discussing a situation where I would be unable to care for my saddle horses, not marketing prospects.
So it seems that in Western Canada (that was the area the client was targeting) folks aren’t feeling the need to find good adoptive homes for their horses as much as they are still expecting a good return on selling them. There are still horses selling on the Northernhorse.com classifieds for sure. The local fall sales were up and down. I saw folks who didn’t get $300 bid on their horses at a sale take them home and put them on Northernhorse.com for $1500 and more.
There are large numbers of people riding in the winter now and taking clinics and having fun with their horses. More than ever before.
I guess we should be grateful.
Unwanted Horse Group Urges Adoption – TheHorse.com
Lists of Available Thoroughbreds FREE to a Good Home – TheHorse.com
An Epidemic of Abandoned Horses – Time
More horses abandoned in poor economy - The Vancouver Sun – (Canadian)
Why are the horses going hungry? - CBS Evening News (Canadian)
Homeless on the range – USA Today
Leaner Pastures: As Horses Multiply, Neglect Cases Rise – The Wall Street Journal
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Hi!
Just a bit of interesting info. . .
I have “Horses For Sale” (not free) on Northern Horse and other internet sites and lately I have received a few email and phone messages from people in the US (Missouri) asking for info. about the horses that I have for sale and saying that they will take them if they are free and will also take any others we have that may be free.
Are they planning on reselling them??
It is not a rescue type place because they are almost in a panic to get them if they are free before someone else does. One person phoned me 4 times in 1 day, left a message, and phoned 3 times again the next day before they finally caught me at home.
There are probably people out there that would like a rescue type place to send their horse, but I would be careful where it goes if it is free – I think there are some people that will be taking advantage of this.
It is mostly from the US that we are hearing of the major problems I think. I understand that some areas are really struggling. But some things I don’t understand. Like why would they be shopping for OUR FREE horses even if there are really so many available down there? Although it looks like you can pick up a free TB on one of the links on the post. I didn’t really check any out to see if they were really free but it says they are. And there are warnings on the free TB list about unscrupulous slaughter resalers so you might be onto something there also.
You are probably correct about the slaughter resalers – that could be what they are doing.
They could be searching the internet, looking for ads that are listed as free or don’t have a price listed (which I didn’t), I said to email for the price . . .
There will always be those people that really have no concern for the horse and will take advantage of anything for their own profit.
i was given back a horse id sold 5 years ago.. when a family
member died and they coulndt afford to feed her .. i took her back on their condition she wouldnt be canned.. she is aqha papered and easy to handle but not broke…i know of several others in my neighbourhood that have also recivied free horses ..there were horses last fall at the sales that were broke that went for $250 to $500 ..loose papered mares with colts at side for less than $300.
well broke child and begginer safe and of course your horses `are still making a descent dollar reg or not..but the rest are colateral damage as far as having much value here
I think that what people are reading is coming mostly from the US. Since they closed down their slaughterhouses and have now banned horses from being sent out of their country (to Canada and Mexico) they have a huge problem that is only going to get worse. Drought conditions on the east coast has meant that hay is very expensive. Animals have been left to starve or just turned loose. This has all been happening over the past year or more. People are left with little choices to dispose of older sick and crippled animals. Even if they shot them, they can’t bury them. They have just recently opened euthanasia clinics. Rescue facilities are overcrowded. I read where at an auction in the US, that some auctioneers had to beg people to take a horse home for free as the owners wouldn’t take them back. The USA also has a huge problem with their wild horses. They have thousands just living in pens as they are unadoptable. With the economy as it is, I am sure that the funding to keep these horses may be cut.
I believe at this time, we probably have overloaded the feedlots with horses waiting for slaughter. Ten or so years ago, the slaughter prices were at $1/lb which meant that at the very least, your horse was worth about $1000. The last time I heard, it was about 2 cents/ lb. so the same horse was worth $200. Big difference. We don’t eat horsemeat but some cultures do. In India, cows are sacred. It would be to Canada’s benefit to avoid making the same mistakes as the USA has done.
I have read and reread this blog a number of times and the same things keep jumping out at me everytime I read it.
I think I will start with the biggest one first. ” I don’t run my horse operation in a very business like fashion” That statement is what I feel has put this industry in the situation of over population. To many people raising horses in that fashion. Most horse owners are not in the industry to make it rich, hopefully you are able to cover most expenses through the horses, but if you are not in the horse breeding business to make a profit then I don’t feel you shouldn’t be in it.
I saw at horse sales this fall where it cost $200 to enter you horse people giving them away for $25 just so they didn’t have to take them home or like most of us they took them home and advertized on the Northernhorse.com for $1500 or more but that is not to say we sold them for $1500 or more either.
Now to that part of owner responsibilty. Part of the responsibilty of owning anything horse, dog cat etc. is having the guts to humainly put any living creature out of its suffering, just because we feel good about ourselves paying for an expensive drug so we can convince ourselves the animal is comfortable doesn’t mean that it is. If you the owner cannot live up to your responsibility then maybe you shouldn’t own an animal
Just an observation on the ‘unwanted horse’ situation. I believe that there are in fact many unwanted horses in Canada, with huge numbers held in ‘inventory’ by folks like us. We have – let me see, an ancient broodmare, an old broodmare, and two middle aged mares who I consider unsaleable (to me that means if they were offered, the main interest would be the slaughter buyer or maybe the ‘rescue’ buyer which is a facet I do not understand). Then we have an old Arab with an arthritic knee and an old sound Arab pony. Plus the young unwanteds that we raised, one being a gorgeous 5 year old who I do not consider safe for anyone other than a professional, the other being an unsound 6 year old who is being reschooled for driving (rather than the discipline he was bred for). We are fortunate to have the land to maintain this crowd, but I do admit they will not be getting the ‘extras’ science now recommends. They will be put down here as I believe this is our responsibility as owners. And my point being we have enough horses and we WILL NOT be getting any more!
As (former) breeders we were educated at the Red Deer Conference in January of 2006 by Juli Thorsen who warned that changing demographics and psychographics would reduce the demand for many types of horses. Then and there we decided to STOP breeding horses. There is very little finger pointing done at those who are raising large strings of common colts to sell annually. They need to look at their programs, as we did, before they too are blessed with a field full of ‘unwanteds’.
I believe the excess horse situation can only be rectified by a sharp reduction in supply, and then years and years for the oldtimers, the unsounds and the unwanteds to work their way through to the owner’s selected ‘end of life’ option.
Glenda, Horses from the US are still going to Mexico and Canada for slaughter… just under 100,000 last year (2008) alone. If horses are being starved and abandoned, it is not because slaughter is not available. The economy is worse in the States right now than ours, but who knows if we too will ‘catch up’. They still also have the option of sale, donation, bullet or lethal injection. Just like in Canada there are places where you can and cannot bury a horsel. Horse owners need to know that before they get a horse. Some areas allow a horse to be disposed at a landfill, as well as rendering plants and even composting. The horse slaughter industry is based on demand… demand for the meat overseas for human consumption and even in Canada. Quebec has it on their store shelves… check out a Quebec IGA flyer sometime. As horse meat is sold for about $20/lb overseas, it is considered a delicacy. We are in a world recession… the sale of luxury items and delicacies is declining. There is no reason to think the sale of horse meat will be exempt. What is going to happen when the demand for horse meat declines??? Maybe it already has.
There is a bill in the US to put an end to the transport of horses to Canada and Mexico for slaughter for human consumption. It has not yet passed.
Thank you Chris for setting me straight. I was under the impression that they had passed that bill.
You are a very smart person!