horse slaugther in tennessee need our help ASAP

[michelle haynes]

PLEASE HELP STOP EQUINE SLAUGHTER IN TENNESSEE
The Tennessee house Agriculture committee will pass a bill to establish and permit the equine slaughter and processing facilities in Tennessee ( house bill 1428, SB 1898 ) this Tuesday May 12 at 9am. The bill also includes that joining property owners can not file action against a slaughter operation with no public appeal. Please call everyone on this committee ASAP if you do not want horse slaughter in Tennessee.

Committee meets May 12, 9 am call ASAP

About the Agriculture Committee
The House Agriculture Committee is charged with two somewhat different responsibilities. The committee ís first function is to process legislation which is agricultural in subject matter -- control of equine infectious anemia, euthanasia of animals, the use of state funds for cash awards at state and local fairs, etc. More »
Committee Officers
• Stratton Bone, Chair 615-741-7086
• Dale Ford, Vice-Chair 615-741-1717
• Willie Butch Borchert, Secretary 615-741-6804
Members
• Eddie Bass 615-741-1864
• Chad Faulkner 615-741-3335
• Curtis Halford 615-741-7478
• John Litz 615-741-6877
• Steve McDaniel615-741-0750
• Frank Niceley615-741-4419
• Johnny Shaw 615-741-4538
• Terri Lynn Weaver 615-741-2192
• John Mark Windle 615-741-1260

[katie reed]

yes maam, i agree! not to stir up this stink again but ive seen those walking horse trailers going to shows and they are packed full of horses. does it really take that many horses to find one GOOD one? I think the show business is out of control! not just with walking horses or any certain breed but all of them. Now days, there aint a need for horses or mules like there was way back when horses were a nessecity for everyday life on the farm yet people think they need 10 or 12+ horses to achieve anything in a showring. I think its lack of training and lack of know how and too much money. this horse is the wrong color, this horse is too short or too tall. we american are all wrapped up in being el perfecto when we need to be helping one another more instead of criticizing. any horse can be trained whether its done right is the ticket. culls are the result of those that dont know what they are doing and the fact that breeders in breed, line breed and whatnot to get that perfect champion. then the horse suffers for human selfishness. yeah if slaughter houses opened back up the horse industry would pick up,but does that fix any problems? lets fix the cause of the problem. if you had a toothache would you just take asprin or fix the tooth? Same thing with shutting the borders. no more mexicans! never mind thats another debate! lol there i said what i got to say :) happy trails people!!

[Virgil]

I'll agree with Katy B and Julie.... STOP BREEDING !! Damn, how smart ya gotta be??? Same thing with dogs and cats.... If you cant afford to have you dog spayed or nutered, then you shouldn't own one... It all comes down to responsibility and common sence.....

virg

[chase mcbay]

when we were slaughtering horses..a common ass broodmare was bringing 70 cents a lb. so if she would bring a 700 dollars to the killers...shed be worth more to ol joe schmoe up the road...now...same mare wont bring 75 dollars

[Gale]

I think that the horse breeing should stop too.. But what HIGH dollars person with a HIGH DOLLAR mare is not gonna breed her to a HIGH DOLLAR STUD? and they know that maybe one or two will make a distinguishable show horse... ALL OF THEM WILL STILL BREED... I think anyone that has a mare, whether it be registered or not.. should be required by law to only breed that mare a certain amount of times.. THEN FINE THE HELL OUT OF THE owners!! I see what you are saying about the killers.. but there is a right and wrong way to humanely put an animal down.. if you cant afford to feed an animal, up keep that animal... DONT GET THE ANIMAL !! It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that horses are being bred, bred, bred and then you see all these colts being ran through a sale barn that has never had a hand on it..I think stud owners should be held responsible too.. they shouldnt go out andc just let that stud keep mating with all his mares. PICK out a quality mare and breed her. If you dont have a HIGH DOLLAR mare, then what reasoning makes you think you will get a HIGH DOLLAR COLT?? It's just stupidity and ignorance on the part of the people that should be held responsible. You might say well, she doesnt know anything.. Well I have 2 mares that will remain.. FILLYS.. their whole life.. I dont know anything about breeding, dont want to add to a horse population that is exploding with... what was it you called them? CULL HORSES? dont know what that means either to be truthful... but if no one is held responsible for the senseless and endless breeding of horses, then perhaps it should be made a law that to own a horse you actually have to take responsibility for it..

[julie]

Now that that "common" mare won't bring 75 dollars, Joe Schmoe won't buy her. That keeps him from breeding her another ten times to some crap stud!! Voila!! Problem solved. No more crap colts, no more Joe Schmoe, no more need for the slaughterhouses. The nice bred, high dollar horses are still being sold. To people who hopefully have a little sense and will be responsible for the horses.

[Diana Steelman]

Last year George and I started riding again. We asked for anyone that had a good riding horse we would gladly except. I Broke my back 23 years ago so to be able to find a horse that I could get on and not be hurt was a hard one to find but as luck would have it we did. We actually were given 3. All easy keepers just hay and hay alone sustained them. BUT NOT ALL HORSES ARE EASY KEEPERS!!!!!
These last few years the country has been draught bond. NO PASTURES!!! Some people have lost their jobs and there is no money to feed. I know its easy to say if you can't take care of them then don't get them. Becareful what you say for the person that would love to find a good home for their faithful Steed is not easy right now. You could end up in the same situation one day.

I had a gelding, until yesturday, I have tried to find a home for. He was one of the 3 given to us last year. He is 18 and has very bad artheritis in his shoulder and rear leg. We were running out of pasture and since he could only be ridden an hour at a time, it was time to find him a home.
I love this horse, he is the first horse I rode in 18 years for more than 1 hour, SMOOOOOTH as silk even limping he can strut, Spotted Saddle! He has a heart as big as he is but I needed a horse to ride and to work around farm so I had to find a replacement. He did go to a good home with a 12 and 7 year old to learn to ride,( he is dead broke). Not everyone can find a good home and just think if he was 25 to 30. Am I supposed to keep all the horses we can't use and let everything starve. I live on a working farm that raises longhorns, we halter break them, love them, show them and yes, they have names, but "To eat, something must die." I pet them on the head, take them to the slaughter house (crying) and pick up the head/with horns that afternoon. Notice I said, "WORKING". In the old days if it didn't have a use it was destroyed.
We all have choices and what must happen must happen.
It is a choice that will be a hard one but if I had had to do it, I would rather had him put down than countinue suffering and cried the entire time. I Loved him but again it is a working farm.

[julie]

Puttinng a horse down is not cruel. I have had to have several euthanised. The method in which they are handled at the slaughter house is what is cruel.
I had an old horse, very rideable, but was 32. I donated him to a "therapy riding program". I talked with the owner months before, explaining he could not graze, and had to have senoir pelleted feed, due to his teeth. She was very well educated in horse care. She let him starve. I checked on him, or tried several times, and she always had an excuse why I couldn't see him. I finally showed up and walked out there, and found him down. He had colicked several times, and she did nothing. In fact she was hosting a horse show at this time! I left, got my trailer, picked him up and he was euthanised the next morning. He was the gentlest, kindest, most kid broke horse you have ever seen.

[katie reed]

which program was this so that i dont ever make that mistake?
thats horrible!!!!

[Sue Bible]

Never mind the horse market and the dollars and cents of it all, horse slaughter is responsibility horse ownership. Do you want to see horses starve? That is what is happening with people who have lost their employment in the recent hard times. Do you want to see horses not get proper vet care? Would you rather see horses suffer rather than have a humane end? We euthanize dogs. We euthanizes cats. They are "surplus domestic animals". Our horse rescue shelters are so over loaded. Can YOU adopt another horse? Can you afford one? Can you vet another one and feed it? It is not inhumane. It is responsible. Ask anyone who has ever had to put down a suffering horse.........

[Danielle]

Did they pass the bill??? If they did I think I'm going to vomit! My Granddad worked in the slaughter market for a while and he told me that they do not make it a quick death like the cows and pigs.

He told me that they actually scare the crap out of the horses to get their addrinalen running and most of them beat them over the head with a baseball bat untill they die! It's supposed to make the meat more tender.

If you're gonna kill the DAMN horse shoot it!

[julie]

Do you think no horses starved when the slaughter plants were open? Think they all got good vet care?? Have YOU ever rescued a horse?
I have 4 rescues now. I can't afford another one now. It is about $45 to euathanize a horse here. I can afford that.
Slaughter and euthanasia are two totally DIFFERENT things. I worked as a vet tech for ten years. Euthanasia is humane. Slaughter is not. Once again I will state there is nothing wrong with euthanasia. Or shooting a horse. Responsible horse ownership is taking care of the horse. Healthy and sick, and euthanasia is a part of that. But learn the difference.
Once again, I will state, if slaughter was performed HUMANELY, I would be all for it!

[Virgil]

Well said Julie !!!!

virg