Can people buy horses off the meat man?

EQUIDAE said:
Sometimes it's not just that though is it? You are misunderstanding what I said - that £380 I paid was for removal only, not euthanasia as well. Not, like my friend who 'only' had £6000 savings, the additional £2500 needed.

People make a decision that they feel is best and who are we to criticise them? It's a hard hard decision anyway - why make people feel bad for it? The owner thinks they are going to be pts - not everyone is as savvy (suspicious) as the folk on here.
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I had to dip in to my reserves to ensure my boy got out of a bad situation, I originally started with £10K, thinking that was plenty, and I ended up -£2000.
I would never send a live horse to a "meatman"
I was pretty desperate and considered abandoning him in a farmers field, I really was desperate, the local horsey people thought it was Ok to shoot him because they wanted him out of their field. [BHS "stalwart"]
I had a good person booked to shoot and remove, £400.
 
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EQUIDAE said:
Sometimes it's not just that though is it? You are misunderstanding what I said - that £380 I paid was for removal only, not euthanasia as well. Not, like my friend who 'only' had £6000 savings, the additional £2500 needed.

People make a decision that they feel is best and who are we to criticise them? It's a hard hard decision anyway - why make people feel bad for it? The owner thinks they are going to be pts - not everyone is as savvy (suspicious) as the folk on here.
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EQUIDAE, sit back for a second and think about what you're writing. You don't send your sick, lame, dying horse to an auction for the meatman to buy. You just don't.
 
I know of someone who bought two ponies directly from Potters, so it is, or at least used to be possible.

At Potters they are not driven through holding pens and chutes and the actual death is very quick and calm indeed, in fact the whole process is very calm.

I'd say the most stressful thing about that particular place for the horse, is being moved to a strange place with horses they don't know.
 
9tails said:
EQUIDAE, sit back for a second and think about what you're writing. You don't send your sick, lame, dying horse to an auction for the meatman to buy. You just don't.
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No but our local knackerman/zoo meat supplier would come and collect them for you, you don't have to send them to auction. Depends on how much you trust them. Personally I would want to see the deed done as in prior situations as a kid when it wasn't my decision I saw several horses go off like that and thought that you could never be sure.
 
ester said:
No but our local knackerman/zoo meat supplier would come and collect them for you, you don't have to send them to auction. Depends on how much you trust them. Personally I would want to see the deed done as in prior situations as a kid when it wasn't my decision I saw several horses go off like that and thought that you could never be sure.
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Same, if they want the meat they can shoot on site and take the carcass. My horse will be leaving me without a heartbeat.
 
EQUIDAE said:
Sometimes it's not just that though is it? You are misunderstanding what I said - that £380 I paid was for removal only, not euthanasia as well. Not, like my friend who 'only' had £6000 savings, the additional £2500 needed.

People make a decision that they feel is best and who are we to criticise them? It's a hard hard decision anyway - why make people feel bad for it? The owner thinks they are going to be pts - not everyone is as savvy (suspicious) as the folk on here.
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I think will all judge other people all the time .
We judge those who rug differently .
Whose horses are kept fatter or thinner than we consider the norm .
And I certainly reserve the right to judge those who send their horses away from home to die .
 
9tails said:
EQUIDAE, sit back for a second and think about what you're writing. You don't send your sick, lame, dying horse to an auction for the meatman to buy. You just don't.
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Goldenstar said:
I think will all judge other people all the time .
We judge those who rug differently .
Whose horses are kept fatter or thinner than we consider the norm .
And I certainly reserve the right to judge those who send their horses away from home to die .
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Well lets hope noone sits in judgement on you then eh?
 
Going back to the OP, I once tried to buy a pony from the meat man but he declined.

It was at Beeston auction in Cheshire. I popped in during the morning and was very taken with a young welsh pony, around 3yo to mature around 12.2hh, a real cracker. I thought he was much too good to go for meat, and left to attend a pre arranged appointment elsewhere.

I came back after the auction had finished, to find that he been bought by the buyer for Turners, of Red Lion abattoir infamy. He was still in the pens, and I did my best to try and buy him off them, for good money, but he wouldn't budge. He said he had a quota to buy, and the pony was part of that, so no sale. A colleague's husband was there as a newly qualified RSPCA inspector, and he was trying to persuade to change his mind, but to no avail. Off to slaughter he went.

I still feel guilty now, many years on, for not staying for the bidding.
 
The highest I've had to pay for disposal was £190 for a 16.1 horse, and they shoot them for you as part of the deal. Always quietly, calmly, sensitively handled and the horse knows nothing. Just a normal day, with their mouth full of carrots. Certainly preferable to the veterinary euthanasia I have had the misfortune to witness. So where figures of hundreds or even thousands for pts at home are coming from, I have no idea.
Quite honestly, as already pointed out, if you can't stump up for a humane end then you shouldn't take on an animal in the first place. There is no excuse for sending them away to an abbatoir, especially if you cannot guarantee the quality of the service, i.e. by being there.
 
Euthanasia can be anything from £100 by the hunt (exceptionally cheap but it's what I paid 18 months ago for my pony) to £1k if it's an out of hours vet visit/trip to the vet hospital and of course disposal is more expensive if they have been jabbed and you want the ashes back. But it is an essential cost that has to be paid just like feed, farrier and livery IMO. The fact is, if you take money for something, it's no longer yours and the new owner can do whatever they wish be it a car, house, horse or dog.

A poor second, again JMO is taking them to the slaughterhouse and witnessing them shot but that isn't an option for 90% of people due to the lack of slaughterhouses and the over supply of horses. In fact, I could be wrong but the only horse abbatoir that I can remember in the South East was Ashford and I don't think they do horses any more?

I had an old YO who always said that she had no problem with the meat trade but only if it was on the hook not the hoof and she was of the generation where there was a huge trade in horse meat to Europe. In fact, she used talk about going to local small abbatoir (probably at least 50 years ago now) and seeing the stables full of unsuccessful TBs and native youngstock and that slaughterhouse was also a dealer. The last pony known to have come from there only died about 10 years ago in his late 30's.
 
EQUIDAE said:
Good grief - you can't budget for every eventuality and sometimes people get stung. How many people even know if their policy covers euthenasia and removal - my friend didn't. And this was after a £8,000 vets bill that the insurance company refused to pay. There simply was no more money left - she had £6,000 covered by savings, but finding that extra £2000 meant that there was nothing left for the £500 to have the horse PTS and removed :(

There are threads after threads where people have had their horse PTS and haven't been there - some people just do not have the disposition to deal with it (I'm not one of them but I wouldn't condemn them for not being able to handle it).
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I don't insure because I have no intention of putting any of my horses through invasive surgery or prolonged box-rest or other treatment which would be likely to run up an excessive vet bill but if I did I would make sure that I knew what I was insured for - and I thought that owners were expected to work with their insurers to determine which treatment would be paid for.
You friend obviously was given a price for something rather more than the equine crematorium coming to the yard doing the job and removing, which usually costs about £200.

If you had read my post properly, you would have seen that I said "or someone they know well and trust" to cater for those who feel unable to stay with their horse as it is pts, in other words don't send the poor creature off into the unknown for its last journey or take the risk that what you expect to happen won't.

And tbh, if you can't ensure a decent end for your horse, DON'T buy it. With the rewards of horse ownership come responsibilities, right to the end.

And planning for all eventualities is part of that responsibility.
 
I knew someone who would buy off the meatman, I guess she would be classed as a low end dealer, although she had good horses too and knew how to charge. She used to go to Russia and buy them for pence probably because she said that it was worth it when I asked - not that the Russian horses were very good and she was buying the best on offer, plain and ordinary would be flattering.

However, she would also go and take a look round the meat-man's purchases and if there was anything she fancied he would mostly let her buy them. There was one nice looking TB "What's wrong with that one?" "Go and have a look", as she approached him the TB went for her! That is why he was sold at auction.
 
Goldenstar said:
I think will all judge other people all the time .
We judge those who rug differently .
Whose horses are kept fatter or thinner than we consider the norm .
And I certainly reserve the right to judge those who send their horses away from home to die .
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Absolutely agree with this, I am horrified that anyone would sell on a horse that they KNEW should be shot, unless they were prepared to take it to a slaughter house themselves. I would have thought that with a horse which had racked up those sort of vet bills, that slaughter house would not have been an option anyway because of the drugs used.
 
Poor meat men, they always get a hard time. They deal with the horses that people don't really care about, they provide a service. A service with no strings attached, no false promises, no mention of rescuing, they just sent them to the knackers. If, you care, you will stand by your old, lame, or dangerous horse. Hold it and stand by it. For the weak, feeble and uncaring there is always the meat man, and unfortunately so many can not take on that final decision. It should never be about cost, because if you DO care you just get on and do it. Real horsemen/women do.
 
justabob said:
If, you care, you will stand by your old, lame, or dangerous horse. Hold it and stand by it. For the weak, feeble and uncaring there is always the meat man, and unfortunately so many can not take on that final decision. It should never be about cost, because if you DO care you just get on and do it. Real horsemen/women do.
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Hear, hear!

And any-one who doesn't do that should be ashamed of themselves; no matter how much they have previously spent on vet bills.
 
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Pearlsasinger said:
I don't insure because I have no intention of putting any of my horses through invasive surgery or prolonged box-rest or other treatment which would be likely to run up an excessive vet bill but if I did I would make sure that I knew what I was insured for - and I thought that owners were expected to work with their insurers to determine which treatment would be paid for.
You friend obviously was given a price for something rather more than the equine crematorium coming to the yard doing the job and removing, which usually costs about £200.

If you had read my post properly, you would have seen that I said "or someone they know well and trust" to cater for those who feel unable to stay with their horse as it is pts, in other words don't send the poor creature off into the unknown for its last journey or take the risk that what you expect to happen won't.

And tbh, if you can't ensure a decent end for your horse, DON'T buy it. With the rewards of horse ownership come responsibilities, right to the end.

And planning for all eventualities is part of that responsibility.
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Sorry but no-one can see what the future holds, I have four horses, 1 youngster, 2 oldies and an 11 yr old, worked hard for a decent wage and could afford my horses and lifestyle, got made redundant, went self employed as I couldn't see anyone employing a late middle-aged woman, when you don't have a regular income, savings disappear fast, 11 yr old now on loan, youngster up for sale, oldies are my problem as I couldn't afford any kind of pts just now, luckily they are in good health, my horses, my problem, but I never thought I would ever be in this position and my business is growing slowly, so there is a glimmer of hope, but I did consider suicide at one point with the mounting problems, so never think it can't happen to you
 
justabob said:
Poor meat men, they always get a hard time. They deal with the horses that people don't really care about, they provide a service. A service with no strings attached, no false promises, no mention of rescuing, they just sent them to the knackers. If, you care, you will stand by your old, lame, or dangerous horse. Hold it and stand by it. For the weak, feeble and uncaring there is always the meat man, and unfortunately so many can not take on that final decision. It should never be about cost, because if you DO care you just get on and do it. Real horsemen/women do.
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Agree 100%
 
Meat man - horse dealer. Sell to them it's their horse to do what they want with.

Knackerer - fallen stock collector (costs £100 to have a horse killed with a humane killer (bolt gun) and removed by them here). Mass incineration disposal.

Abattoir - slaughter house. Live entry for animals fit to travel ie not lame or ill, for the food chain or dog food. Livestock cannot leave an abattoir once they are in it. Horses don't have the same rules so unless you stayed while it was shot (again with a humane killer), I don't suppose you could be absolutely sure what happened to the horse.
 
flirtygerty;
I am sorry but there should be an untouchable fund of some kind, whether that be a credit card, or separate bank account, or sock under the mattress, to cater for the unexpected/unthinkable happening.

And at the risk of sounding unfeeling; I am not sure how your suicide would have helped your horses. However I am glad that you found a way forward and hope that your business grows successfully.

And just for the record, I was made redundant in my 40s, at no point were the horses not catered for.
 
Why can't someone pay for PTS if necessary? However skint you may be, horses cost. How many keep in rented field or at livery? Most, I imagine. So if you're skint you PTS then pay the vet or whoever from the field rent/livery fee, even if that takes a few months. There are no excuses really. As for being wiped out by vet bills, it's not that hard to know that the last 500 pounds (or whatever is necessary for your chosen PTS and disposal method) is the PTS fund so if you get that low you don't spend it on treatment.
 
You deal with it, thinking of suicide, you need a kick up the backside! That is why we need the meat man.............for the feeble.
 
EQUIDAE said:
Sometimes it's not just that though is it? You are misunderstanding what I said - that £380 I paid was for removal only, not euthanasia as well. Not, like my friend who 'only' had £6000 savings, the additional £2500 needed.

People make a decision that they feel is best and who are we to criticise them? It's a hard hard decision anyway - why make people feel bad for it? The owner thinks they are going to be pts - not everyone is as savvy (suspicious) as the folk on here.
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I would not allow my animals to suffer for the sake of money-I choose to have them in my life and have and would again go without many things in order to do right by them.
 
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