The irresponsible breeder is responsible for the large numbers of unwanted horses, and they are not breeding them for slaughter. They are breeding them out of ignorance and misguided dreams that they are magically going to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Unwanted horses piled up everywhere while the slaughterhouses were closed, irresponsible horse owners could not or would not feed or euthanize- and that was with many horses being hauled to Mexico to slaughter. The slaughter market has never been high enough to make money breeding for slaughter work in the US, costs too much to care for a horse to the size they want. Horses are bred in the US for many reasons but not for slaughter, they go to slaughter in this country when the reason they are bred for is not working out, they become to aged or too crippled.
Horses go to slaughter here because some shallow people want a cheap way out so they can get another, better, faster one.
That’s the fact.
Slaughter is being argued as a miracle cure for a lot of problems it has never cured before and never will.
When horse people aren’t spending thousands for a new saddle, you can convince me that they can’t afford a few hundred bucks to put a horse down, or don’t have time to find it a home, or better yet.... keep what they’ve committed to and used up all the useful life on, until it is time.
If it colicked they would pay to put it down. If it broke a leg they would pay to put it down - because then they wouldn’t have a choice.
It’s all about choices.