What's going on with the price of horses?

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The competition for buying horses was with the meat buyers, now they are out of business and no one needs them.

Soon there will be horses of all kinds running loose every where
and breading in the wild.

Then they will have horse hunting seasons. Get the gun ready.

bumpus
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You are wrong Bumpus.
Horses with poor conformation are not of use to anyone because poor conformation affects their movement, weight carrying capacity and makes them susceptible to problems like navicular and other conformationally caused lamenesses and injuries. Every day on the way home I pass a pinto mare with a new filly at her side. The mare is 6 years old and has a badly swayed back. Do you really think she should have been bred?
Horses bred with bad temperaments are worse than useless. They can be downright dangerous.

These are the horses that need to be sent to the slaughter houses. Putting a horse down and having the carcass disposed of is not an inexpensive proposition to many people. Most can't just avail themselves of a backhoe and put old Blossom in the backyard. Without the slaughterhouses these poor horses are already being left to slowly starve because of the shortage of hay and the ignorance and of owners.

I know that I have delt in many horses and there are no slaughter houses for horses left and no horsebuyer for slaughter.

People are stuck with the horses and can not sell the old horses so they turn them loose.

You and your friends will have to something with your horse some day too.

You can't keep them for ever.

bumpus
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The simple fact is that the horse industry, like any other industry, is affected by supply and demand. The lack of hay this year due to the drought is only going to worsen things.
The slaugher ban could not have come at a worse time, IMHO.
I had an old mare that had laminitis and I was unable to rehab her, so I put her down and buried her. It cost me $300, which included the backhoe to dig the hole, and vet costs.
Was it right? Yes. Would I have sent her to a sale? Never.
Most people do not feel about their horses like I do. But lets be honest, if I was penny-poor and struggling to make ends meet, I would not have my remaining horse.
Stock prices will continue to drop as the drought deepens. Those who turn them loose to avoid responsibility are condeming them to a slow death, just like people who dump litters of kittens and puppies by the roadside.
If anything, this transition of the industry will cut down the backyard breeding and make the big breeders consider what they are breeding because the only thing that will sell will be quality bred horses who can be "used".
In the meantime, I think you'll see some legislation on how to deal with the (90,000 a year) of horses that have no where to go and are unwanted.
Horses are still being slaughtered. They are being shipped to Mexico and Canada in less than humane conditions which was just what these laws were trying to get rid of. What they should have done was put an export tariff on horsemeat going OUT of the country, which would reduce the profit. That way, slaughter of pets or unwanted could still go forward and the meat donated to charity.
Again, this is JMHO on the subject.

The ignorance of the anti horse slaughter zealots will be the down fall of many horses in the United States. Old horses, sick horses, lame horses, horses with poor conformation, horses with training issues etc... will now die of starvation and/or neglect rather than the quick, instantanous brain death of a captive bolt.

The only thing the slaughter ban has accomplished is longer rides in over crowded trailers to either Canada or Mexico. That, and historically high levels of horses being turned loose in areas all over the US to try to exist on undeveloped land.

It's not slaughter that's the problem, it's breeders of inferior horses. These are the horses that break down earlier due to conformation faults, many are ill tempered and poorly trained, to be blunt, they are of no use and no one wants them.

The hay shortages of the last few years don't help matters either, however, a good horse still sells for good money in most areas of the US and in my opinion always will.

The short sighted "cure" that anti slaughter people are trying to accomplish will come back to bite them in the posterior. Most have no clue how much it costs to keep one horse for a year, in 2005 70K head of horses went to slaughter. There is no way that rescues, PETA, or The Humane Society can provide support for that many horses so guess who will be supporting them? Yup, the American taxpayer. Make sure you thank your government officials when that happens.

Pix

A true horse person will put down their horse when the time comes, Bumpus. People with less morals will let that horse die a slow painful death if an alternative isn't available. It's not cheap to put a horse down and many areas of the country don't have carcass removal and it's illegal to bury a carcass on your property. It's just a fact of life that there are people that don't properly care for their stock.

Pix

Yes Bumpus, I understand that. I have both the means to have my horses carcass's disposed of and I also have a backhoe and enough property that I can legally bury them.
I was mostly responding to your post in response to Hoofitnorth's (correct) assertion that irresponsible and ignorant breeding practices contribute greatly to this situation.

I asked an HSUS supporter that on another forum and her opinion was that horses are much more noble, beautiful, intelligent, etc. than other farm animals. There was no logic to it but there did not need to be. People without horses saw Black Beauty being chopped up by a faceless "industry" and fed to cowardly French people. There was no "propaganda" out there showing the other side. This particular woman assumed that any unwanted horses would be taken care of by humane organizations or put to sleep.

This arguement could go both ways, i.e, if horses are too special too eat, how can we eat cows? After all, they are animals too.

Aargh, I better hop off my soapbox before I can't.

We have an interesting alternative here that my friend just used on her failing 29 year old gelding. She took him to a local zoo and research facility for big cats and they humanely shot him and fed the meat to the cats. I prefer to bury my ancient gelding here on my property but as for the rest of my horses...it's a kind and useful death when the time comes.

We DO can dogfood in this country ,there is a plant near Matton Il that I know of a Im sure there are others around. All competing for beef and helping keep the prices of cows up!

A combination of things - slaughter houses closed, hay is scarce in a lot of areas, land has gotten very expensive while middle class salaries have been stagnant. Less people can afford to purchase land or board horses.

We sold a wonderful pony mare a couple weeks ago. Asked for $250, got $200. We knew them, and they are a great home. There are lots and lots of mini farms and homesteads around us, and folks still want ponies for their kids. Big horses are way harder to sell.

We only have 1 big gelding my husband rides, and if it was up to me, he would be traded for a couple pony girls. The little ones are just so easy to keep fat compared to the regular sized horses. 1 big horse will eat as much as 12 ponies. Our ponies and mini's don't cost hardly anything to keep, and they give us such joy in return. We have no problem selling the mini babies for $200-$300 or trades, and that's for boys.

As to commentts about the "Drought" in the midwest, I am smack in the middle of the midwest and yeah crops are sad looking but I think we need to stop wasting what God does bless us with. I am currently collecting rain water and using on small garden and on animals. I think we need to start plannining better when we have abundances of things we later run out of. But then again this is small life not Big farm world life...
IF I had the room I'd have horses and a Mule to protect from cyotes, and they'd eat as we do from our own for our Own.

__________________
Reverend George Hoppes

Available to preform Weddings, Blessings and other services in Southern Missouri.
http://ministers.themonastery.org/profile/Hoppes65761

not cheap? Bullets are pretty cheap if you ask me. I pop cows in the head every year. A horse would be no harder and just as humane as drugs when done right.

Shovels come cheap too.

We hand dug my sons grave in short order. I dont suspect a horse needs to be six feet down.

Shallow hole and lotsa lime and its a done deal

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What we have here...is a failure to communicate.

This is very true and there have always been irresponsible breeders but it now seems that with the current economy there is no market for nice pleasure/trail horses. These horses may not be fantastic athletes but they often are fairly well trained horses with nice conformation. They may not clean up in the show ring but can provide a person on a budget with a good mount. Some people like to trailride or train but just don't have the financial and time resources for showing. With the rising cost of land and stagnant wages, there is less and less middle class that can afford to home these horses.

Not here in my area. We just bought a wonderful "been there, done that" 15 year old grade gelding for my husband and I found him for a deal at $1800.00. All the other really well trained, solid citizen type horses were snapped up as soon as they were posted at upwards of $2500.00 (unless they had soundness issues). I'd dearly love to find another one at his price.

I'd have no problem shooting a horse either but I think you and I are in a distinct minority. Also, burying a horse by hand is a bit farfetched, in my opinion, and backhoes are expensive to hire. Having a Vet put down a horse is quite expensive as well.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Pix

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Shoot the horse and bury it and I don't care who likes it.

All horses die the $100.00 and $10,000.00 horses die, all the same and they all rot just the same.

And the high dollar people just spend more money to get the same job done, and the horse is gone.

GET ER DONE ! ! !

bumpus
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Yes, Bumpus. I think you've convinced everyone that all horses die. Thanks for the heads up.
How is this connected to the price of horses?

Much of the horse meat was shipped to France and Japan and Mexico. The solution was to simply ship the horses to Mexico and Canada and let them operate the slaughterhouses and employ the workers and earn the profits. But that loophole has already been plugged. Is is illegal to export horses for slaughter. Some of the horse meat isn't suitable for himans, tough old horses or some of the cheaper cuts end up as dog food. Cans of dog food horse meat are still more costly than a bag of Made in China "Ol Ralph" dry dog food. The loss of this industry automaticly adds thousands of unwanted horses to the market. Recently Canada has been shutting down theire urine line businesses, adding more horses to the market. The slow economy is bad for the horse industry and greatly increases the horse surplus. Lowering the horses value to zero when hay prices are at record highs, further compounds the problem. As seems to be the case more and more these days, people that have little understanding of the situation end up making a mess from their knee jerk reaction to something that doesn't really involve them. Homesteaders with a dozen chickens and a goat against NAIS, City folks that want to see the numbers of Timber Wolves increase in agricultural areas and non-farmers that pushed to have Roundup Ready Alfalfa pulled off the market. I think they should MYOB or get a more productive hobby.