Horses - Blood Banks - anyone any experiences?

I'm afraid you aren't making your point very well, because I really don't understand what the problem is.

Given that we have established that:
1. Collection at blood banks is fine;
2. Horses go there which would otherwise be either sold on/given away because they are unridable;
3. These horses could either be PTS by the owner or could contribute to vet medicine then be PTS, the end result of which is, being blunt, a dead horse; and
4. You think it is fine to use products from a blood bank.

Could you possibly explain the following two points, a) what exactly is so wrong about a horse having its blood harvested for a few years then being PTS as opposed to the owner having it PTS first and b) where you think blood banks should get their horses from and why that is more morally acceptable than someone signing over a horse to them?
 
I've explained several times - life is too short to do so again - the world is full of old/unwanted/unrideable horses, bloodbanks are few and keep suitable horses for a long time - it's not an option except for a few, you do the maths .....
 
I think Applecart14 is perfectly well informed about the blood banks and understands how they work. It's a fairly simple plan
1 horses roughed off
2 harvest blood as long as viable
3 removed from b/bank and returned to owner or sent for slaughter.

Home Office regs will insist that the animals are all inspected by a vet prior to leaving the blood bank. They will have to be considered suitable for slaughter or return to owner as a pet. If the vet deems it not fit to travel it will have to be put down on site.

As a small thing though the blood harvested isn't that often for Veterinary use and is actually used for culture preps etc in labs
 
I do have some sympathy with bonny's position - and personally it's certainly not a route I would go down with a horse of mine.

But as someone pointed out to me some months ago (BB's I think) - If my horse needs a blood transfusion - where do I expect it to be comming from??????

We can't have it both ways.
 
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I was replying to Applecart's message not yours ! you sound pretty sensible about the whole thing - they don't !

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You are really getting on my wick Bonny. I am completely sensible about the whole thing, it is you that seems the one unable to comprehend the situation. Admitedly I do not have first hand experience, but if fate had not intervened with my previous four horses and the decision of what happened to them had not be chosen by nature, Act of God, call it what you will, then I would have wanted my horses to go there had the only alternative to that being them being PTS. I would like to thank NicNag for bringing some sense into this whole post and thank her for her help in answering my questions.
 
sure - you sound very sensible and articulate ....do you just read what you want to see ? why not try being a little more open minded .....
 
is it absolutely guaranteed that when the blood bank doesn't want them any more, they will definitely be returned to the owner or pts, and absolutely no chance that they will be sent to market for example?
this would be my greatest fear.
fwiw, i was told as an absolute fact that horses taken to a certain hunt for slaughter a while ago were, if the owner did not insist on watching them shot (which i have always done, fwiw, however upsetting, it is the only guarantee), taken to the sales for a bit of profit...
 
they are not returned to the owner - you are not the owner anymore and have no say what happens. That's why i said in my first post that i wouldn't consider it unless the bloodbank would take the horse as a loan .....
 
Was it you that said you were a friend of the owner of the bank in Milton Keynes? Could you not get him to put details on here of EXACTLY what the protocol is and what happens to the horses when they are no longer of use. Then it would solve the whole discussion/debate. It would be in his best interests if this was resolved as my friend was told she would be notified if her horse had to be PTS.
 
no that wasn't me ....has your friend heard about her horses, been to see them, do you know if they are still alive ?
 
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My problem about the whole thing is owners like Applecart who want to believe that they are doing the best for their horse when in fact they should take responsibilty for it themselves

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I do actually resent this remark. I was faced last year with the possibility of having two unrideable horses (one with navicular and one with tendon damage) and a private grazing agreement that allowed for only two horses at any one time.

My options were:
1. Keep both horses as field ornaments and resign myself to having no riding horse until one of them died.
2. Giving one/both away as a companion.
3. Selling the one with tendon damage (but not lame) as a light hack.
4. Having one or both PTS.
5. Sending the younger one to the blood bank.

I simply couldn't countenance option 1 - being in my fifties I couldn't face the prospect of not having a riding horse again for possibly ten years. Options 2 and 3 would have been irresponsible and my horses deserved better than that. Option 4 would have to be a very final resort for two healthy field-sound horses. Option 5 seemed to me an acceptable alternative: send one of them somewhere guaranteed to look after him, where he'd fit in fine (being a fairly dominant animal), where he would be sent back to me in five years' time having served a useful purpose, by which time the home situation could have changed - and maybe, who knows, with five years' rest the tendon could have improved enough to let him be rideable again.

Thankfully in the event I haven't had to make any of these choices, but they were given a lot of thought and, faced with a similar situation in the future, I wouldn't hesitate to consider the blood bank again.
 
blood banks aren't charities that would take your horse until your situation improves - they only need a limited supply of suitable horses, which at the end of the day they are trying to make money on. Part of the money they make is from sending horses to be slaughtered ....
 
I have told my friend about this particular post as it is her horse that I wrote about in reply to the OP comments. My friend has never been on this forum before but is rather distressed and annoyed by the comments which have been made and has decided to give her side of the story, which she is entitled to do. She is waiting for verification of her account being set up by admin and then she will be on here to reply to peoples questions/comments and to give her account. I am sure she will be only too happy to assist with any questions you might have, but I would ask that you remain polite and respectful of her feelings as indeed you should any one who writes on here. Thank you. x
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blood banks aren't charities that would take your horse until your situation improves - they only need a limited supply of suitable horses, which at the end of the day they are trying to make money on. Part of the money they make is from sending horses to be slaughtered ....

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For goodness' sake, give me some credit - of course I understand that. Obviously I'd done some research! And as I understood it, there was an option to have the horse returned when it reached 15 rather than signing ownership over to the bank. I wasn't looking for somewhere 'to take my horse until my situation improves'! Read my post again. The point I was making was that after 5 years the situation might have improved - who knows? - and the options might have changed.
 
No bonny it wasn't. I don't even know you. I guess at the end of the day all contributions to this forum are useful, we can't all agree, in most respects we have to agree to disagree!
 
It is absolutely guaranteed that these horses are slaughtered or returned. They wouldn't be able to sell on unfit horses if the vet signed them off as only been suitable for one purpose.
As Hussar says you have the option to retain ownership but you also must be prepared to take the horse back at any point. IT's not an easy get out option but it might be the answer to allowing a paddock sound horse a life in a technically idealistic lifestyle which you can guarantee is regulated and regularly inspected.
There is no pretty end to the story if you sell to them but if you go in with the educated understanding that they WILL be slaughtered at the end of their time there then you have to weigh up how you feel about that before signing them over.
 
I forgot to add that the one horse had to have an L in a circle freezebranded on his back as a loss of use, the owners insurance insisted this had to be done before he was allowed to go to the blood bank as she was claiming loss of use for him. My other friends horse didn't require this freezemark as she was not able to claim under the terms of her policy anyway.
 
I'm one of those irresponsible owners who has sent a horse to the blood bank at Milton Keynes.

Like others I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I had 2 horses, one was my first horse, sadly retired due to arthritis (we'd learnt everything together, so she has a home for life). My 2nd horse damaged her stifle, initially told would never be ridden again, but 18 mths later deemed ok for light hacking. Unfortunately, whether it was due to such a long time off, she became very spooky, making hacking out quite dangerous, plus to be honest I wanted do to more than hacking. I had loss of use on her, so she also has the L on her back.

There was no way I could afford 3 horses, so do I put down a 9yr old who was fine in the field??

I really don't believe that there is any way these places would try to sell on the horses, the horsey world is a small one and eventually word would get around.

Do I know if she is still alive? Sadly no, but how often do you keep in touch with people that you have sold horses to? Initially yes, but normally that contact fades with time.

I deeply regret what happened to my horse, but I don't regret sending her to the blood bank.
 
Thank you for sharing your experience of this. I am glad you have no regrets. I can't believe how this whole post has exploded and all the myths surrounding blood bank donation have come to the fore. Like I said previously its a shame we can't get the guy who runs the bank on the forum, as it would be interesting to hear from him. I would back my friends 100% as the decision they made was the only one they could make given their circumstances and that of their horses and like I said, if I was in the unfortunate circumstance of having to make a decision over my horses future I would seriously contemplate the blood bank.
 
Having read all the comments (mostly negative) it has made me think, about whats its like and just wish we had a field to let me have him back, retire in or at least not send him to slaughter house, this part chills me. Would prefer to have him PTS at home and cremated. Its the not knowing, that has stirred the emotions.
 
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