guess it all depends on whose mud they are walking on   and guess it would again depend on the type or weather at the time

Priceless.  And no hay?  Nothing to munch on but dead tree limbs?  Whenever I see horses turned out there is always either fresh grass or hay.  Just saying.

I guess this just proves how hypocritical they are…. They have quite the herd of horses there, if horse slaughter was legal in the states we would not be in the current situation we are in now.

Sure looks barren.. MUD is everywhere….anyone see the condition of the horses after the Derby? COVERED in mud..
Looks like what is good for the goose.. is not so great for the gander.. Nice work. Great video.

I have been to this facility—and yes, in Oregon (annual rainfall of 40+” mostly in Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb) all horses except those locked in stalls have to stand on mud. It is true, any snap of video can show bad things about a place, but you have to see the whole picture to know how this place is managed.

Looks like it’s a rainy day . If you’ll notice all horses shown are well fed. I don’t see how they can afford a groom for every 5 head.Horses are expensive to own or care for. Looks to me like they’re doing the best they do.

I think what the main scenario here is the fact that yes, some place get mud which cannot be helped.

But this is suppose to be a rescue place for horses, so the standard of the facility should be top notch.

It’s like rescuing a horse out of a sand lot with no grass and putting him in a muddy pasture with no grass.

Not sure where these horses came from, whether rescued or abandoned or just taken.  They look healthy, but a horse standing in mud can cause thrush and other hoof problems.  That would be my biggest concern for my own horses if I lived where it was muddy.

Where’s the grazing? Why aren’t the dead trees removed? The HSUS must be talking with both sides of the organization’s mouth if this is a representative of a “sanctuary”. And what do they do when these horses die? Bury them? Maybe that 3.5 million donation paid for a backhoe…

Oddly enough, a week or so ago, I posted a comment to someone else’s topic on the Facebook site regarding what actually happens to elderly, ailing horses now that the slaughter bill is in effect: they are turned loose to die. In this economy, and with no other resources (such as a slaughterhouse), how many horse owners have the land or the equipment necessary to bury a horse? e Personally, I also believe that it’s a wasteful practice, when humanely slaughtered animals can be sold to other countries where they are an important source of protein.

Undoubtedly, most people who don’t own horses, and many that do, feel that horses are special-and they are. But an emotional decision made to shut down slaughterhouses leaves horse owners without resources to bury such a large animal little option.

I was a horse owner for most of my life, and have practical experience with this.

So, what will happen to the horses at the “sanctuary” when they die? Will they bury them under those green pastures that are promoted on their website?

As someone else said—priceless.  I don’t care how much rain Oregon gets, horses at a *sanctuary run by the richest AR organization in the world* should not be walking around in ankle deep mud, period.  If they are unwilling to properly care for the horses, they should give them up. Just like they tell every *other* horse owner, a sentiment that apparently doesn’t apply to them.  Sure is a far cry from the advertisement on the website, isn’t it?  When is Animal Control gonna be called in to confiscate the horses, is my question?  Why haven’t they been called yet?

Most places that board horses have lots for rotation in order to protect the horses from thrush.  While this is obviously a large feed lot with some covered areas that nearly every boarding facility has, it also appears that is is one lot without any rotation of animals.  That rotation issue helps to sort out difficult behaviors that result from over crowding.  Rotation also allows the used lots to dry up, and also be treated with agricultural lyme for parasites. 

I have NEVER seen a boarding facility that would allow horses to be kept in mud that is so deep that the horses literally slide as they step. While it will happen when there is a season of heavy rains, most boarding facilities will rotate the horses in indoor barns for exercise rather than risk injury.

This is setting up the conditions for injuries that will likely result in the euthanization of horses on the site if it is not addressed.

Definitely NOT the top standard of care that Pacelle would like people to believe.

I think the Arkansas judge needs to be sent the video clip of the HSUS rescue land in Oregon for comparison.  Might be yet another interesting ‘undercover video” moment.

1,110 acres and $3 million dollars? HSUS had better hire a new manager for the facility. When horses were sold for slaughter, the auction barns had better conditions.

So, are you saying that it would be better to slaughter these horses rather than have them stand on a little mud?

@Dr. R. DVM:

If your comment was directed at mine, I suggest you read my comment again. I said nothing about slaughtering horses standing in mud or inadequate pasturage. Let me see if I can make it a little simpler for you.

For example, when your 30 year-old, ailing horse that you have kept in a boarding facility is at the end of his life, what do you do? You personally have no land on which to bury your horse. Your boarding facility is just that-a small facility that has room for a few horses. Will they have the equipment necessary to bury your horse? Not likely, in the ones I’ve seen personally. These are usually what used to be small working farms-note the “used to be”. There is no large equipment, just pasturage and barn space.

So, what do you do? Currently, many have been releasing their elderly, ailing horses to die in the wild. Can you explain how this is more “humane” than a humane slaughterhouse?

For the record, nowhere in my comment did I state healthy horses should be slaughtered due to” a little mud”.

Just wondering, do you have a small or large animal practice?

If you wish to see my web site, you will know in my 64 years I’ve owned and loved as many horses as they have in the video.

These horses in the video are NOT underweight, as a matter of fact, I’d say most are unhealthily OVER WEIGHT! 

As for the slaughter issue, if you could see the suffering of older horses who are abandoned because there is no place for them to go and no market to sell them, you too would be in favor of the humane slaughter of unwanted horses.

I agree, some horses that could be loved for many years ahead go to the kill room, but if you don’t want your horse to go there, don’t sell them to slaughter.

Yes, Dr. R. DVM, some of us DO believe it would be better for them to be slaughtered (whether it be for human consumption or not) than to be a drain on resources for the next 30 or so years a piece. The financial, emotional and environmental drain the thousands of unwanted horses have on our society could be avoided if horse slaughter were an option.

I’ve owned horses all of my 41 years and have been fortunate to be able to financially care for many an aging animal, but that’s not so for many owners.  The cost of euthanasia and then the ‘what to do with the body’ aspect of horse ownership leads to more abuse and neglect.  We personally have hundreds of acres and the finances and ability to bury our dead but most horse owners don’t have those options.

And if I were an owner who had sent my horse to that facility to live out its day I would be LIVID that it was living in such conditions.  I’d expect it to be belly deep in grass somewhere on those 1,120 acres of prime Oregon land.

Sorry Dr. R., but Arkansas receives over 48”+ of rain each year and according to HSUS our horses aren’t allowed to stand in the mud. If memory serves, the woman who had her horses stolen by HSUS was dealing with a 10” rain event. Imagine the mud this created! We’ve had several cases of horse abuse locally and yet HSUS is no where to be found until there is a media blitz. I too feel that this video needs to be viewed by the judge and anyone else that will view it. I imagine that Wayne Pacelle is really have a fit over this one. We need a few more people out there taking video. I wish someone would have documented the Katrina events on video. I think that the American people would have a real awakening if they could see the disaster that was!

I would love to see the H$U$ warehouse (AKA shelter) in VA that takes in 100’s of stolen dogs, and what happens to them there, we need volunteers to go undercover and start taping the truth about what happens to all those dogs.

OK, I am still in awe at the looks of this place for the money they were given to care for the horses.  However, I am still hearing of lots of horses for free around where I live and still see horses being turned out in the desert to fend for themselves, only to be chased off by the multiple bands of wild horses and unable to survive.
We need the re-opening of the slaughter houses.

I would advise those commenting to delve a bit deeper into the subject, rather than rush to a hasty decision and posting hurtful comments.  How many of you are horse owners who have lived in Oregon?  Are you familiar with the landscape, weather conditions and difficulties that a horse owner in that State would have to deal with?  None of us (with the exception of the videographer and those present at the facility) knows what the weather was like that day.

No, Dr. R., we’re saying that a $100M organization like H$U$ should keep their sanctuary animals in perfect showcase condition at all times no matter what the weather is like - exactly as they expect all other horse owners to do.  If conditions like these cause H$U$ to call other horse owners abusive, well… pot meet kettle.  Goose and gander.  You get my drift.

So, are you saying that it would be better to slaughter these horses rather than have them stand on a little mud?

If they belonged to someone else, HSUS would confiscate them and say yes to your question.  And your comment about them no being able to afford help to groom is a bit of a double standard too.  HSUS expects people to be able to afford for every animal to be housed in conditions better than most humans, and charged “felony cruelty” to Denisa for not having her horses groomed.  Give me a freaking break!!!  I’m so sick of the double standard HSUS seems to want to live by and their claims of being “experts” in anything related to animal husbandry makes me want to puke!  John Galt is correct, the judge in Arkansas needs to see this video and compare how it is any different than what was found at Denisa’s.

So, the conditions in the video are not great, and not the “Highest standard of Care” that it is claimed, but in Oregon, muddy pastures are unavoidable to some extent, and we are not seeing the pastures in the video.

But Mary, the point is the HSUS would use and has used video just like this to allege cruelty on someone else….but it is okay if their horses are living in the exact same situation.  I agree mud and horses pretty much go together.  I had a horse growing up that loved to be caked in mud and would roll in the swamp any chance she got.  Does that make me neglectful and an animal abuser??  Not on your life, but HSUS would use pictures and video of her if they could to call me every conceivable form of animal abuser in the book and I completely resent that and refuse to allow them to live by a different standard than they want to hold everyone else to.

IF there were humane slaughter (which they have not come up with because slaughter houses are about doing things fast and to hell with how the horse feels, frightened, whatever) and IF there was a way to get them there without slinging them around a a truck, the injured horses, the very aged horses, the foals, then I would be all for it.  But it’s not and it’s also not likely to change because, gosh, it might cost money to do things a little differently.  So slaughter now consists of cram ‘em in and kill ‘em as fast as you can, never mind that the horses are terrorized and sometimes not completely dead before the slaughter begins.  Added to the fact that so many people who work at these places get a kick out of killing and hurting.

The conditions of the video are unacceptable.  Period.  If this is supposed to be an example of how horses are cared for….something to hold up to everyone and say “see?  Humane!”  Which is exactly why HSUS should take the ‘H’ out of their name.  Ground can be prepared so that drainage is occurring.  I don’t care that it is Oregon.  A little mud is acceptable.  An entire field where horses are crammed together is not.  Crammed?  Gosh, didn’t I just use that word to describe a double decker truck where they are hauled off? 

I’d love to see their feet but then, maybe that is why they are standing in mud, no one can see the feet and they don’t have to be done.

No one has to hire grooms.  I’m sure many would be perfectly happy to take a half dozen horses and brush them down good a couple of times a week.  But then, maybe people would take videos, too…and we can’t have our precious HSUS coming under fire with the same exact way they treat others, now, can we?

I can’t see the video here at work but it really doesn’t matter. It’s probably filmed with the same basic idea that HSUS uses to discredit other organizations/farms/individuals and I think that is great and I hope this is far from that last video that gets posted. I would LOVE to see a bunch of videos of HSUS and their methods taken completely out of context and distributed to the masses.

I’m sure that these horses all have thrush (foot Fungus) from standing in all that mud. Horses are grazers so I don’t care how much mud is in that turnout field, 1.Those horses should have adequate access to at least some quality round bales. 2.They should not be so over crowded. 3. Those limbs and down trees should also be removed. What kind of show are they running here? I think these horses with now stimulation would be better off going to a humane slaughter house and be utilized for human consumption. There are lots of starving people out there….

Budweiser has a herd of horses and they are all kept in pristine conditions..their animals are an example—a showcase.
H$U$ has no problem coming in and stealing horses and other animals or promoting this idea that animals shouldn’t be warehoused, and yet their own facility is kept like this?
I don’t care what rain there is. H$U$ uses videos like this to steal our animals and promote their agendas. Their facility should be an example of what they want. (tho we all know what they want is no animals for pet or use)
If Budweiser can keep their herd of horses clean and with hay or grass, so can H$U$. Walk the talk.

Millie, horses being slaughtered are NEVER dead upon being stunned and strung up by their hind end. That’s the point. Their hearts have to be beating to drain the blood. They are supposed to be unconscious, which is what I think you were getting at, but they are not always completely unconscious when their throats are cut. Ugh. Don’t get me wrong… I’m not any less disgusted by the HSUS’ double standard of care. Just pointing out a fact about the current incarnation of horse slaughter. Slaughtering horses with methods intended for cattle is not okay.

They do have the ability to plant rye grass in the winter in Oregon don’t they and the ability to build a lane from the open pasture to the barns?

What I question is why are they standing in small pasture with mud?

What are they doing with the other 1000 plus acres? 

Build a lane to the barn, plant the mud pasture into rye grass and leave the horses out of it for a couple of months.

Maybe they need horse management classes.

Mary,
Hearts are the largest muscle in the body. When an animal or human is shot in the head they are killed instantly everyone including animals are going to have muscle spasms of some kind. It is not like the movies where your body goes limp instantly. An animal’s heart does not have to be beating for it to bleed out. As for your comment about methods “used for cattle”, if you are really concerned about the welfare of animals going to slaughter why is it okay for cattle to be slaughtered one way and horses another? As a beef farmer that shows horses as well I treat them both with the same love and respect… That said if either can help society by feeding them I am all for it! Most cattle and horse slaughter methods are the same(Stunning the animal with a captive bolt gun). So your argument makes no sense to me?

TOO CHEAP FOR HORSES

Someone should forward the video to the folks behind the Animal Rescue Site, which raises money to feed and care for these horses as well as animals at other Fund for Animals/HSUS
direct care facilities.

If the HSUS was concerned about the welfare of horses, why didn’t they and other animal rights organizations get together and fight the BLM ‘s irresponsible and horrific roundups that have been and are currently taking place in the West. The tragedy and conditions that our wild horses are experiencing is deplorable. The American Mustangs should be allowed to roam free, where they belong, in the West. With the economy being what it is, having the taxpayers put out millions of dollars a year for the BLM’s roundup of these beautiful and magnificent creatures is nothing more than total mismanagement of our public lands and wild life.

It’s pretty evident that when they shut the killing plants down the HSUS bit off a little more than they could chew. Where im from if you have so many horses that you cant take care of them you get rid of some of them and they’re kind of stuck cause nobody wants to adopt a 30 year old horse that dont ride and has a gimpy leg and in my opinion thats how the horse killers did us a favor by weeding out the ones that wasn’t able to function right. If you ask me keeping a horse alive like that and letting it suffer is worse than having a killer shooy a air compressed bolt to their head. I know Denisa Mallot very well and she has a 36 year old pony that had a stroke so when it lays down it can’t get back up it is blind in both eyes and cant hardly move because of arthiritis but shes not allowed to put her to sleep because “the horses are still under the care of the HSUS” so whos being “inhumane” now? And one last piece of my mind. The horses that this video showed are thinner than Ms.Mallots her’s at the very least had hay and a clean water source and as for mud well I guess you could complain to God about that.

Good Video…no ribby horses..a lot of mud, and not the best conditions.but then THIS is HSUS….
If you were expecting better than filmed…........TS..If you were expecting worse than seen TS..It is what it is..
Mary In NYS

Jen,
You are incorrect as to what Mary means, I believe. I think she is trying to say that alot of the animals, horses or cows, are still Conscious when the slicing and skinning begins. Many, many videos prove this to be correct. I don’t believe it is right for any animal to endure our cruel, evil ways.
    “..if either can help society by feeding them I am all for it!” Why should old horses or cows who have dedicated their lives to pleasing humans, or giving milk to humans have to such a horrible death? Because we say that we are above all animals, and thats the way it should be. When did humanity lose it’s way. When did humans become so sick and twisted?

    And as far as the other comments, I would prefer my horse stand in some mud. Please note that you only see a small portion of this proerty, and its probably fall or spring when the ground is terrible. These horses could have been starved or beaten. And now they get to move and stretch their legs and interact with other horses. So there is mud? Really people… are you saying you horse has never stood in mud. Yes, if they have removed horses from a peoples homes that were muddy, I understand. BUT, what you may not understand is that maybe these places were knee deep in wet, bacteria infested, manure filled mud that the horse can’t get out of. You cannot say that in that video those horses were abused. You cannot say that. But if you were to see a video of skinny horses in a small nasty, muddy, wet lot with no where to go…you would believe they were abused.

    And about where horses go when they die, there are trucks called “rendering trucks” that will come and pick up horses for a small fee, or free to larger facilities or rescues, and haul your horse away. They use the carcasses for various purposes. So no, they dont bury these animals under the pastures!

Ok..so many of you think the conditions are unacceptable…How many of you own more than one horse? or keep your horse/horses at home? How many of you have had two or three weeks - or a whole summer of rain whilst caring for said horses?

I do not approve of HSUS…........but Since they do not publish ‘our’ whole picture we should publish theirs to teach them,(probably not possible - but one can dream).

I am completely bemused at all the AR supporters that felt the need to try to defend this video! They COMPLETELY missed the point. Especially the person above this message, Alison, who said

“that alot of the animals, horses or cows, are still Conscious when the slicing and skinning begins. Many, many videos prove this to be correct.”

Ok, folks, what part of “HSUS VIDEOS ARE EDITED TO SHOW THE WORST POSSIBLE SCENARIO TO ATTEMPT TO PROVE ABUSE/NEGLECT” are you not getting? It should be occurring to all of you who have defended the HSUS in this comments section that you have been duped by the HSUS every time you have watched one of their videos. That is the point. Another point this article is making is that perhaps it’s a bit more complicated to properly care for animals than the HSUS would have the public believe, that just because something works in theory doesn’t mean the animals will cooperate and follow the game plan.

@Wiserthansome

I am in no way supporting HSUS or defending this video. I just do not see that much wrong with it. I have never seen, nor heard of anyone who has had their animals removed by the HSUS that did not deserve for them to be removed. I cannot imagine that they are removing animals just for the fun of it. That costs money! I’m just one of those that thinks it’s funny when people start criticizing one’s every move. And yes, they are extreme cases in videos, but they still happen! And they should never happen. And that comment, IN NO WAY, was defending HSUS. That was defending horses not going to slaughter, and rebutting someone who claimed that horses hearts may be beating while slaughtered, but they are still dead and unconscious, which is NOT always the case.

I agree that this in not ideal situations in the video, and IF they are removing horses for these same conditions…there is a major problem. But until I see THAT footage of that or proof, I see nothing wrong with those horses, or the conditions they are kept in. Although it is not ideal pastures.

Good job, HumaneWatch!  A dose of their own medicine won’t even slow HSUS down, but it sure might open some eyes.  In a week or two, it would be interesting to see the uncut video, just for contrast…

With animals, it is extremely unusual to be able to keep every single one in ‘ideal’ conditions.  Ever.  To do so with horses, you practically have to have a groom for every 3-5 horses working full time unless you have plenty of well-planted hayland to turn them out onto.

That’s something that most horse owners realize, and make allowance for when viewing such videos.

BUT MOST PEOPLE ARE NOT ANIMAL OWNERS AND DON’T HAVE THE EXPERIENCE TO KNOW THIS. Sad but true; we are no longer an agricultural nation, and the voting power lies in the hands of city folk who may never have seen or touched the animals they are voting to regulate.  HSUS counts on this when appealing to the ‘common voter’.

I grew up with draft horses; we were fortunate enough to have a ranch where we could raise them well.  Our penned studs still had to stand in mud in wet weather—there just was no way, despite all efforts, to either divert moisture or drain the pens better.  But they never suffered—no bad feet, no rain rot, no downed trees and attention at feeding time each day.

It would be nice to see HSUS give animal owners the same kind of consideration as many of the commenters are giving this video, but unfortunately all bets are off and no holds are barred when there is media attention in the air…they will do almost anything, just like their parter PETA, for publicity.

I can walk into any farm and make it look hideous as I take still photos or video.  ANY farm.  I can take things out of context, ask for demonstrations of things that they condemn (to show how good they DO do things), and I can edit it down to make it look like Freddy Krueger’s daycare center.

THAT is what HumaneWatch is trying to show you…that situations may be drastically different than what the publicized portions of the ‘undercover videos’ show you, and that people need to THINK when they see something like this, and THINK, “So what aren’t they showing us?”

Think.  It’s good exercise for your head.

If the HSUS (and other groups with similar agendas) does not have something to sensationalize they do not receive the large funding they currently do now.  The worse conditions they find to publicize the more money flows in.  That is what is trying to be portrayed by this video, that poor conditions can be found at their facilities, too.  By editing and cutting you can come up with some pretty incriminating footage about just about anyone.

Alison ~  You can’t take a video as the gospel truth because it can be edited and chopped up to show what you want to show.  Isn’t this video proof of that? Have you personally been at these slaughter houses?  Although I’ve not been at any huge slaughter houses, I’ve seen many an animal butchered, and they have all been dead, they may continue to have muscle spasms giving the look of being alive, but they are dead.

Sara and Alison—i just want to add to the conversation because I’m a student of agriculture. I have been to a slaughterhouse (at school) and I have been on the kill floor. The deaths were completely painless (on account that they were rendered brain dead w/a captive bolt) and they (a sheep and a pig) continued to jerk after the heads were removed. If that’s not proof of twitching nerves, I don’t know what is.

Children..grow up..face reality..things can not always be changed…......Yes it would be wonderful if all horses got to go to heaven when it’s ‘their’ time….........and all dogs got to have good homes and all cats lived as they wished….......BUT this is not a perfect world..we humans can only do so much….....Mary in Central NYS

I find it amazing that some of you have sent and/or wouldd send your horse to slaughter just because they grow old! Hell, we all grow old and most of us humans die in a nursing home not murdered in a horrifing fashion such as with slaughterhouses. Your compassion so underwhelms me! Really send your horse to a slaughterhouse? You much be joking. Would any of you like to be murdered when you grow old? Let your horses live and die, and bury them, someone you know must have a backhoe. Right? It costs nothing to bury on your farm.

I suppose some of your responces to the wet conditions at this facility, are very much opposed to the Wild Horses and Burros living conditions after being terrorized and removed from their family and placed in short and long term holding facilities, until someone “adopts them” and many of those adoptions wind up at slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.

Just what side are you on concerning all horses that are healthy and being removed from their lawfully protected lands? If you really are horse people you would fight tooth and nail against any horse being butchered alive ( for many) at slaughterhoues. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HUMANE SLAUGHTERHOUSE PEOPLE!

Xanda, you should know better than to say that as a student studying agriculture as your major. That the industry will tell you that it is all humane, but you know that is not true. The bolt gun is designed to stun the animals, where they then are hung up by one leg on a chain an have their throats cut and bleed out while their hearts are still beating and many are conscience even after the stun gun ( which is not a very precise tool as you well know), especially after a long shift and the bolt gun operator starts making mistakes after already ( hopefully fully stunning) 100’s of animals, it becomes a very tiresome and very monotonous job. Let’s not paint a rosey picture of a place full of horror for the animals.

To all of you who are arguing that slaughter is humane and painless, I ask…HOW EXACTLY DO YOU KNOW?! Last time I checked, you haven’t personally been slaughtered. There is nothing calming, pleasant or humane about slaughter. That is just the honest to god truth. It’s really not something that I am willing to argue. They are shoved, pocked, zapped and smacked into scary areas, with the smell of blood lingering in the air and walking to their death beds. Please explain to me how this is humane? And that isn’t even talking about all the accidents that can happen. My horses will die here on my farm, and I will continue to be a vegan. That is how I sleep at night. Ignorance, however, is how YOU sleep at night! I do not partake nor support cruelty to animals, and I am ashamed of those “Horse people” out there that are arguing for it!

Alison, you poor little twinky AR kool-ade guzzler… The whole point of this article, before you derailed it with your snivelling about “ookie-booboos slaughter housie-wousies”, is twofold:

1) Selective editing of video footage can be used to make the best-run operation in the whole known universe look “cruel” - a tactic your buddies at the H$U$ have used repeatedly to slander private owners of livestock;

2) Your buddies at the H$U$ want to hold private owners of livestock to a standard of care they themselves can’t be bothered to provide at their “flagship rescue facility”.

I realize there are side-effects to the intellect associated with guzzling AR kool-ade, but is the above explanation simple and straightforward enough even you can comprehend it, honey?

ok here to say who ever took video of them horse in the mud well god put the mad and trees there not them people who lives there , i have mud in pasture if the weather is right that mean i’m a bad person seems like to me the person who took it was a chicken why didnt’ go look to see if there was hay in the shelters no they were afraid to may see the good in something god forbid if they see something good theres alot of horses out that need help so stop pickin on the ones who is tryin to help i help locally with the humane officer to save but some arent’ worth it cause there to dangerous or injuried in some way can’t be fixed so what we suppose to with them keep them till they kill or hurt someone real bad , cause there want to know whats goin on goin in cking on the horses they thnk is being abused B-S give us a break were tryin people like u all is killing it for those who care connie

I’m against slaughter practices currently being used.  There I said it.  If I need to eat, I’ll shoot an animal before I use a bolt gun on it.  Bolt guns are innacurate and I don’t miss with my shotgun.  I had my 22 year old QH step into one of the cattle guards a while back and thought I might have to shoot him because he was jumping around and couldn’t have broken a leg or landed on me while I was trying to free him.  Luckily, he got out of it and, although somewhat lame, is okay.  I also have a retired pacer who suffered a lot of injuries on the track.  Would I ever send them to slaughter?  NO.  Would I send my cattle to a slaughterhouse?  Only if I couldn’t do it myself.  Blood doesn’t coagulate as soon as death occurs, any good hunter can tell you even after an hour you can still get blood leaking out of a deer carcass.  I’ll never be a vegan or vegetarian, but I’d never allow any of my animals to be “stunned” by a bolt gun either.  The closest to humane way to kill an animal is to shoot it in the head.  You can kill pigs that way too, just have to shoot them from behind.  I don’t own a backhoe anymore, so as far as burying my animals I’d either have to rent one, which is very expensive, or burn my animals.  So I have something to say to all you people out there, if you have an animal, or plan to get an animal, you should know how to properly dispose of the animal post mortem as well as feed and house it properly.  If you can’t provide care, and I don’t care who you are, if you’re HSUS or a private citizen, you shouldn’t have that animal.  That being said, for all you horse boarders out there, they offer horse cremations at most large animal clinics, and although expensive, it’s a good alternative to rendering trucks.

This video is incredibly suspicious.  First, it is extremely short and so poorly shot (intentionally?) that one can’t really see any details like how deep the mud really is and what condition the horses hooves are in.

No matter how much land horses have, they tend to stand near the feeding areas, especially at dinnertime. Are they really crowded into a small area or are they waiting for dinner? They look pretty fat to me.

Moreover, any place with horses has mud in these areas if it rains for just a few days.  And this was taken in February (perhaps the muddiest month) in one of the rainiest states in the union.

In the last scene there appears to be green hills in the background. Are the horses free to graze there?

In other words, this video is useless as evidence of improper care.  If the care really were as bad as implied by the titles, then there should be plenty of evidence, not just shaky scenes.

Everyone, Slaughterhouses and abandoned horses would not exist if there was laws in place to LIMIT OVERBREEDING—period. And if any off you think that there can be such a thing as a humane slaughterhouse, expose yourself to some of the devastating undercover videos on YouTube, exposing the so-called humane Canadian slaughterhouses-that our American horses are indirectly sold to. Those who consume horse meat deserve every ill health effect possible from eating antibiotic, steroid saturated horse meat.

OK Millie….......you go out and look at the horses feet..You also have no idea how many horses were in that field at that time. Millie I shovel 365+ days a year…and I love my horses, but when they are old an infirm I call in the ‘renderers’.—Mary who has owned a lot of good horses and a few bad ones.

How about I make it real simple. If you were owned and old, would you think begining cut in two while alive was “humane”? Yes, that happens, dispite whatever Dave and Sue, from United Horseman Front tell you. They are in it for the money and are as cold in their care for horses as I have ever read about. For those of you that have cared for your horses for many years, you must NOT be aware of what happens in a slaughterhouse. Especially for horses! Do those of you that prefer to turn over your responsiblity to a slaughterhouse when your horse gets old, have any clue the horror you are inflicting on something you once “supposedly” cared about? Horseman for Horses in Horror Front is more like it, and they don’t deny it, much! If an organization uses a species in their Title, I for one would hope they would be not for killing that species in one of the most horrfiying ways, rather to protect and care for them till death in a peaceful, caring way.

When it rains THERE WILL BE MUD IN the pens around EVERYONE"S BARN! Period. My guess is that the comments on here are spoken out of ignorance. We have 60 acres and 6 horses in Missouri and you know where the horses like to hang out? YOU GOT IT, up by the barn. Where they get fed. All of the horses look healthy and fat, not mis-treated. Dangerous sticks? Is that all you’ve got to cling to? Really? What do you think s in the 100 acre pastures? The big ranches? The HSUS is the biggest joke. I cannot belive this is allowed to happen

I am a horse owner and i know that horses easily tear up fields, so with that number of horses in one lot its going to be muddy; but at the sametime they are suppose to own atleast 1000 acres so spread them out!!! Also when a horse has a clean place to live they can and will take care of their self, and are much happier that way than being bathed everytime they roll in the dirt which they do instinctly (it acts as a fly repelent and sunscreen).

I have to say from that clip, it looks like one of many dairy facilities in Texas, same type of “pasture” / dry lot condition and sheds.  You treat a horse like a cow, they act like a cow.  What I see is a livestock facility, not a horse sanctuary.

LMAO!!! If you’ll look at the photos of “What the HSUS WANTS you to think the sanctuary looks like” you will notice there are NO horse in the pastures. http://www.knightsbridgefarm.org/whatsnew.htm
The only horses are those against the fence! Don’t ya think those glorious pastures would have looked more convincing if there were a few actual horses in them?