Abatoirs

The Virgin Dubble

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Horses are there for a reason!

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Not always! I've known of alot of ex racers go there who have fairly minor injuries but whose owners refuse to wait whilst it has 4/5/6 months off.

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I agree - particularly in relation to young thoroughbreds.
Youngstock that don't make the grade for racing, are often shipped off to the abbatoirs. Nothing at all wrong with them, but it's easier to send them off and get paid out immediately, rather than go through the rigmarole and cost of working them, then the palava of selling them.
An aquaintance of ours has bought a few decent point to pointers from the meat man.

On the whole though, most are there with good reason, and it's not the ideal place to go horse buying. (Say's the woman who frequents the horse sales....
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severnmiles

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[ QUOTE ]
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Horses are there for a reason!

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Not always! I've known of alot of ex racers go there who have fairly minor injuries but whose owners refuse to wait whilst it has 4/5/6 months off.

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Out here people say race horse slaughter this and race horse slaughter that - race horses out here make up for less than 10% of horses slaughtered, and the only organization that has programs to ensure the horses well being after retirement.

I am sure you will find similar numbers in England - yes historically that might have been the case, but now it is very different, and racing should be praised for the stance they have taken! Infact racing organizations in the US are the only large equine organizations that support the ban of slaughter.

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GT's I'm not 'dissing' (
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chavvy word!
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) the racing industry - I love racing (over the sticks of course
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)! It does go on though.
 

charlene

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A noble creature like the horse who has gave you such a feeling of dignity and lets be contraversial...superiority, taken you faster on its back than you could ever hope to run, jumped heights for you that you could never hope to jump, sweated for you, worked for you and then comes to trust you and answer to your voice, maybe even grooms you - considers you its friend. Give the animal the same dignity in death as you gave it in its life, be it at cost or at sentimentality. Ghandi sys, and I quote 'judge the progress of a nation on how well it treats its animals.'
It is most true that your body is indeed a vehicle in which to live your life but then there is also a soul and a conscience. Well I have mine and you have yours..that is of our equal entitlement.... But remember...many a good horse has died out in the hunting field...in the name of what..a rabbit or a fox.... I have a problem with why these horses are sent to abatoirs ..I often have a problem with people who are out for themselves... and I dont care to admit it. Enjoy the debate.....
 

severnmiles

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An aquaintance of ours has bought a few decent point to pointers from the meat man.

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Similarly an aquaintance of MFH_09 and mine has bought some good broodmares for the same reason, young NH mares with a niggle here or there. Those ones surely deserve a second chance.

I couldn't send mine to an abbatoir, yet I'm a fan of sending them to the local hunt when the time comes.
 

Weezy

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many a good horse has died out in the hunting field...in the name of what..a rabbit or a fox....

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Many a good horse has died in its field from cantering around being a horse, many a horse has died because of kindness, I could go on
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severnmiles

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I agree RanchGirl, a lady from a hunt I used to follow had the same horse out for 22 seasons (it had been hunting before I was even born!) he retired at 26 and I thought awww, what a lovely retirement he'll have (she owned a small estate and was wealthy), she didn't even send him to slaughter, she sent him to that place in Scotland where they drain the blood until they can't physically drain anymore - and all because she'd get £600.00 instead of £200.00. If it had been mine he would have been an ornament in the field until his dying days as a mark of respect for the service he gave. I cannot understand some people!
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severnmiles

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:eek:
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That is horrifying SM
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I know, I appreciate not everyone can afford/has space to keep an ornament but in her case she did! What a witch!
 

severnmiles

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please tell me it was dead before they drain the blood ... that has made me feel ill!

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God no, alive. They don't take it all at once!
 

charlene

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Yes that is a dispicable act of pure and simple greed and although im not a religious person I do believe there will be a judgement day for all of us. And as the saying goes its easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich[and greedy]person go to the gateway into heaven.
That horse would have certainly been a field ornament to be proud of, all that pleasure given on those hunting days and all that pain and suffering as it met out the end of its life. Truley some people are beyond comprehension.
 

conniegirl

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im firmly in the category of once its dead, its just a corpse. the soul and spirit that made that horse special has gone onto hopefully a better place, what you then do with the body doesnt matter. i send mine to the hunt! much better then to go rotten in a hole somewhere.

i also think this of my own body, once im dead you can have any part of me you want id rather every single part of me was used for donations or for medical research then be burried and become worm food (infact i cant think of anything less dignified then slowly going rotten and then being eaten by worms or having my skeliton stew in rotten flesh) and cremating a complete body is a waste of vital nesseccary body parts and contributes to poisoning our atmosphere.
 

vieshot

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Mine will be sent to the hunt when he dies but when he retires he will be living out his days in a field with a warm stable to come into every night.
Yet i do agree that when a horse is dead, it is dead! I see no reason not to send it to a hunt because another animal will benefit, but i would not send him to an abbatoir. I dont like the thought of a person eating my horse, yet im quite happy for it to be a hound.
 

pixie

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er, but don't they do that to provide the blood used to replace blood lost when horses are injured/in surgery? Surely horses would die without these blood transfusions?
 

Happy Horse

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There is an equine blood bank but they certainly don't drain them of blood! I believe they donate 3 litres once a month. My own horse donated blood a few times and it took about 20 minutes and didn't affect him one jot!
 

Lucy_Ally

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Mmm, not sure about this "bleeding them to death" place, there are blood donor horses but they tend to live in herds and are brought in every 6 weeks and donate some blood (just like a human donor). Not heard of them being bled to death.
Often big equine hospitals will have blood donor horses of their own who are treated very well.
At the abattoir horses are bled after they are dead and the blood is collected for medical and veterinary purposes as well as use in scientific procedures.

Whilst I love my horse dearly, I am a practical person that understands that the abattoir is a necessary evil and the people who work there do the best possible job they can. IMO people hyping up equine slaughter are doing horse welfare no good what so ever.
 

MagicMelon

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If I won the lottery - I would rescue abbatoir horses. No horse deserves to be there at all. NO way. Id never send mine to the meat factory - they day mine will have to be PTS, they will be buried here.

I could never buy from an abbatoir, how the hell do you choose? Its like choosing who lives and who dies!
 

severnmiles

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If I won the lottery - I would rescue abbatoir horses. No horse deserves to be there at all. NO way. Id never send mine to the meat factory - they day mine will have to be PTS, they will be buried here.

I could never buy from an abbatoir, how the hell do you choose? Its like choosing who lives and who dies!

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Not sure if you watched the video but that grey looked so nice
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The blood place is something to do with medical research I'm sure. Don't think it goes for blood transfusions in horses though.

I too believe its just a corpse when its dead and happily send to the kennels but I could never send a horse to abbatoir like the one in the video, horses as you all know are such intelligent creatures and of course they can smell death and hear the sounds that must really frighten them, also the guy using the gun could not be called humane, if it was he'd only have to shoot the horse once. Much rather have the huntsman come out and use a bolt, in familar surroundings, not stressed e.t.c
 

Lucy_Ally

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Right firstly those vides are in US slaughterhouses where sadly the welfare of animals in general is significantly lower than in this country.
Having been to a UK abattoir I will outline for you step by step what happens.

1) Horse arrives, usually put into a coral with hay and water away from the area where they are shot (which is behind closed doors so they cannot see in), some private horses are lead straight off the lorry and shot
2) Headcollar is put on horse, man speaks nicely scratches behind the ears etc
3) Horse lead into a large area behind a metal door, no blood on floor as it is jet-washed between horses, horse cannot see into the meat processing area
4) Same man who handles horse shoots between the eyes whilst holding the horse and talking to it
5) Horse hits the ground and knows nothing of it, just as a vet would do it except this person is probably more skilled at this than most vets. There is a veterinary surgeon present at all times to ensure no horse undergoes unecessary suffering
6) The horses outside just hear the shot
7) The horse is attached via its hindlegs to a hoist and moved into the meat processing area
8) The horse handlig area is cleaned down of any blood and the next one is brought in

I have been to the abattoir countless times and it is always the same, the only distressed horses I have seen are those that have cme with a companion and are seperated. In this case they are usually taken up together, one held outside while one is shot and the next done in quick succession. There would be no benefit to the slaughtermen to upset the horses as in the end it becomes dangerous for them to handle them.

This is how it is in the UK, animal rights activists cannot get gory enough footage from UK abattoirs as the standards here are so high. The US ones are not as tightly regulated as here and I agree their standard of welfare is very poor - banning horse slaughter will not help, improving welfare guidlines and abattoir standards over there will.

I hope this has helped clarify that UK abattoirs are an entirely different proposition to the ones seen in those videos

Lucy steps quietly down off soapbox...
 

GTs

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even euthanized one myself (which I later learnt was healthy and belong to a neurotic horse owner )

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GTS I have to ask how and why you ended up euthanizing a horse?

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The horse had coliced twice in a few months, the owner was concerned as she lived far away in a remoted area which no vets served - if the horse coliced badly it would have been a bad situation, and she did not want that.

In the US under the supervision of a licensed vet you able to medicate and do other procedures.

RanchGirl - I understand your stance, we are all different in how we percieve death.
 

squirtlysmum

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I believe that people should understand that the abbatoirs are a necessity, the ones run in the UK are run professionally and I would rather know that un unwanted horse or pony is properly euthanised rather than starved and neglected.
 
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