November 26, 2008

They starve horses, don't they?

Kentucky is in a bind when it comes to the horse population. Most everyone cheered when the slaughter of horses was outlawed in the United States. We don't like to think about killing horses for their meat, either for personal consumption or for export.

But what's to happen now with the economy fallen on hard times and the agronomy barely keeping up with demand? My daughter owns two horses, and on a recent visit she told me how much trouble they had finding hay last summer. It looked for a while as though they would have to drive out west to buy a trailer load to keep their horses fed. The supply opened up again, but prices were high.

Horses are becoming an extravagance which ordinary people can no longer afford. What are they to do? If you can't find hay, can't afford it if you can find it, and can't find a buyer for your horse... then what?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What you see in Kentucky, stagnant and/or constantly deterioating horse market/starving horses, surplus horses, unwanted horses -- is a nationwide phenomena. There are a combination of factors involved.

To see what I mean, perform a search on 'unwanted horses'.