Home > Opinion > Bonnie Erbe > Kentucky Horse Council Offers Breeders Incentive to Limit Births

Kentucky Horse Council Offers Breeders Incentive to Limit Births

Reader Comments
Back to blog

There is no reason to slaughter a horse and for those who think it is humane, better research some more. I don't know how abortion has anything to do with the slaughter of horses so that it a moot point. Consumption of horse meat is not legal in this country. Horses should not be consumed if for no other reason than the medications that we give them that are not allowed in any other food animals. Carcinogens are included in the list of medications that are commonly given to horses to keep them pain free and healthy... want to eat that? Big AgriBusiness doesn't care what the public eats as long as they make their money so of course they will support horse slaughter.. there's big money in it. Responsible owners and breeders will limit their herd production if they want to keep prices up. Slaughter is not the answer but rather a part of the problem.

Terri of IN 9:25PM June 10, 2009

Horse slaughter was banned in the US acouple of years ago. That meant lost jobs AND more greenhouse gasses to ship live horses else where to be processed. Alot of these were used for meat that was shipped overseas for human consumption, as well as,dog food and other products. What else should be done with these animals? At least their not roaming the streets reproducing several times a year. The shipping and destruction is humane.

Rosie of KY 4:13PM June 07, 2009

The Kentucky incentive to control breeding is one of the more intelligent acts in the horse world and should be copied world wide.
Its inconceivable to me that people can treat animals like a head of cabbage - to be grown then thrown away if not useable. Those of us who know and love horses for the special beings they are, find it difficult to understand the brutality and insensitivity many breeders and trainers have with these selfless creatures. To treat them like commodities that can be discarded for economic gain, is to commit a crime against all life on this planet.
Responsible birth control should be legislated for horses and other domesticated animals. Breeding animals to see if they can get winners from which to make money or pad egos creates a surfeit of unwanted creatures that are doomed to lives of misery, brutality and too many times, gruesome deaths.
DO on to others should be the golden rule applied to all our four legged inhabitants on this planet. What right do we have to bring them in to this world without the proper respect and responsibility to care for them as we would our own. Are they not God's creatures?

Judie Stein of CA 3:10AM June 06, 2009

This article reflects the decision to provide an incentive to breeders to limit their breeding just as we urge the dog and cat breeders to do. And for that matter we should encourage some people to limit their own human population control. There are just as many humans having babies that should not be having them, same as puppy mills who allow dogs to keep having puppies when clearly we have an overpopulation of dogs or the people who also don't fix their barn cats and continue to allow them to have litters. The incentive is an excellent idea!!

Sharon of MD 10:30PM June 05, 2009

I have only read Bonnie Erbe’s posts for a few weeks, but from that time she seems to have two topics. Anyone who harms a horse should be put to death, and anyone who either sucks the brains out or uses a saline solution to burn the skin off a nine month old fetus is just a kindly soul who loves all life.

wr of GA 10:04PM June 05, 2009

If abortion is not "killing a baby" then what is it? If you have ever witnessed first hand a late miscarriage, then you would no the answer to that question, my guess is that you have no idea without seeing it what you are talking about.
No one in the pro-life movement advocates "killing" of any sort, that is why the movement is called PRO-life.
The murder of Dr. Tiller is as equally heinous as abortion.

Kathleen Sullivan of FL 7:43PM June 05, 2009

I'm in basic agreement with this piece, but I think we have a little consistency problem.
Let me see if I have this straight. Horses have souls, but third-trimester babies do not?
And a modest little program to geld horses is "jump-for-joy good news," but 3,500 late-term abortions per year (according to your Dr. Tiller piece) are nothing to get worked up about?
Look, I'm not surprised by your enthusiasm for gelding, but let's get real here.
I had a horse when I was a boy -- a gelding, at that. He was a fine saddle horse. Good disposition, sure-footed, and FAST. He was pretty smart for a horse, too. I miss him.
He did not have a soul. Horses do not have souls.
Dogs, maybe, but not horses.
But I digress. Since you acknowledge the existence of the soul, at least in the case of horses, let me ask you this: when does a human baby acquire a soul? The moment it's born, but not the moment before?
What if it's a botched abortion, i.e., a live, premature birth -- soul, right? What if it's a "successful" abortion of a baby at the same stage of development? No soul?
Think about it. Or better yet, pray on it. Ask the Creator of horses, dogs, and people at what point in time the eternal human soul of Bonnie Erbe came into being.
(Hint: it was before the doctor announced, "It's a girl!")

B Foster of VA 5:23PM June 05, 2009

why not let the market determine what breeders produce? So what if horses go for slaughter? As long as the shipping and destruction is humane it shouldn't be banned. Why do we ban horse slaughter but allow thousands of cats and dogs to be destroyed. At least the horse meat and hides can be used.

vsedriver of OH 1:59PM June 05, 2009

Why do we ship 100,000 horses to Canada and Mexico for slaughter? Can't we turn 'em into dog food here? Seems like a lot of green house gas is being created shipping horses thousands of miles just so someone else can have work making dog food. Is "ALGORE THE GREEN" aware of this insult to our fragile planet?
And, why am I not surprised that Bonnie is in favor of gelding?

R.L. Schaefer of CA 1:28PM June 05, 2009