Monday here and gone

short weekend .......long Monday and almost time for bed.

I took some time to read my usual spots on the internet, plus my email and craigslist...

ugh.....craigslist....where you can find every horse imaginable....for sale because people "don't have the time", or "the kids lost interest" or "I don't know how to train it"......

I am not sure how folks expect to sell a plain grade horse or even a pedigreed horse if they cannot demonstrate it's ability to walk, trot, canter, load/unload in a trailer........or if it hasn't even got the basics of halter training down. This is part of that responsibility and commitment thing that I have previously spoken about....

ladies and gents......there are lots of BAD homes waiting for your cheap horse. If you want your horse to have a chance.......please make sure it is well trained with good manners...and then CHECK out the new home. If you cannot do this......you do not deserve an animal. Get references! Go visit the new home. Call the references. I worry myself sick sometimes when I see a horse being advertised for 100 dollars. Any lunatic can get your horse and YES, I have seen it happen. Folks who got a ex race track mare for 120 dollars and then took her home in a cramped rented trailer......tied her to a tree and let her eat grass and gave her nothing else because "someone" told them a horse can live on grass........the mare got thinner and thinner, got tangled in her rope, got a bad rope burn.......then they moved her to the back yard, tied her to a large cement drain pipe......the mare got nothing else to eat and dragged herself and the drain pipe down the road to a neighboring farm......the large drain pipe cut through her tendon. At this point the humane society was called (by the concerned and kind neighbors). The mare was emaciated and horribly injured. The new owners "didn't want her anymore"....and neither did anyone else. She was permanently lamed by the drain pipe cutting her tendon. A beautiful mare ruined through no fault of her own besides just being a cheap horse for uneducated morons. The classic Black Beauty story.

Sad story? yes, but there are much worse.......horses who literally starved to death over winter and lay paddling in frozen mud puddles while they were dying....horses who had been given away as "free to good home".......but no one checked where they were going....didn't anyone care? Just get the horse off my dime...off my back.

I want people to think about these things when they buy a horse....when they sell a horse. Commitment....responsibility. Common sense. You are not buying or selling a stick of furniture.....this is a living creature who is dependent on you to make the right decision for him or her.

And yes, there are still those folks who will come and pick up your "free to good home" horse.....young, old, purebred, grade.....and take it right to the auction....where they can make a quick buck......on your horse....it might be 25 dollars......it might be 100 or they could get lucky and make 400 on a good night. Your horse might go to slaughter.....and probably will if it is lame, old, very young, ugly, unbroke, not halter trained or lacks manners...... it is a crime and horses deserve better.

For those who say that slaughter is illegal in the US......you are right.......it is........BUT that does not stop the transport of thousands of horses purchased at auctions by "kill buyers" to Mexico or Canada (where slaughter is not illegal).......this is what we call the slaughter bus....I hate to talk about the slaughter house. It is pure evil. For anyone who tells you it is a humane way to go.....umm.....have them google horse slaughter and then watch the linked videos.......(caution: the videos are graphic and shocking and sickening)

Make a plan........plan ahead. Commitment, responsibility, and be proactive. Keep your horse safe.