AQHA's mission statement says that they are dedicated to preserving pedigrees and maintaining the integrity of the breed. They further state that they actively protect the welfare of the quarter horse. That being said, it amazes me that no other breed of horse is sent more frequently to slaughter, than the American Quarter Horse, even though AQHA is the wealthiest equine organization in the United States.

If they are so actively trying to protect the welfare of these great horses, then why can't they set aside funds for the horse rescues that end up with a lot of these horses? Instead they choose to spend it to support horse slaughter and more horse breeding. I'm not going to pick on just the AQHA. There are other breed registries that are just as much at fault.

The American Paint Horse Association (APHA) registers about 35,000 horses per year. As you know there registry is based mostly upon color. Sure solid paints can be registered, but they can not participate in any of the APHA's shows. This makes their value go waaay down!

Palomino Horse Breeders of America (PHBA) boast more than 88,000 horses registered, again they are based on color.

Then there is the Jockey Club, with over 30,000 horses registered annually. Of course we all know what happens to those Thoroughbreds. They contribute largely to the Nursemare problem as well. These are just a fraction of the breed registries out there today. Breeding horses shouldn't be about color, size or shape, it should be about having a plan for whatever may come out, no matter what the color.

According to these numbers nearly 4 million of these horses were being used for recreation and more than 2.7 million being used for horse showing. The racing industry accounted for 844,531 and the remaining 1.7 million horses were used for such things as ranch work, rodeo, carriage horses, polo, police work and other competitions.

Of course, we can't forget about the Wild Mustangs that are now being added to the pot of unwanted horses. The BLM is continually rounding up wild horses and holding them in pens awaiting adoption. We can hardly adopt out the domesticated horses that we already have, how can they expect to adopt out any number of wild horses. Now they are considering horse slaughter as an option.

Most of the horses at auction, both trained and untrained, end up being purchased by a kill buyer. He then sells them at slaughter for a small profit.

First time horse owners have also, unwittingly, contributed to the problem. 80% of all first time horse buyers will sell their horse within the first 5 years.

People go out, uninformed, and buy a horse, thinking how much fun it will be to own a horse. They never consider the cost of feed, hay, vet bills, tack, hoof care or any of the many other cost involved with horse care. Buying a horse shouldn't be an impulse decision.

Money is a major consideration when making the decision on buying a horse. Believe me, it takes a lot of money to properly maintain a horse. There in a lot of ways, just like having kids. Their always getting sick or hurt, they always need new shoes (hoof care) or they need new clothes (tack), it's always something.


What Can We Do?

Horse rescues are desperately trying to keep up with the over abundance of breeding horses. The simply cannot afford to save them all. I think, we as horse lovers, should also do what we can to try and help the situation. The best things we can do is to donate time or money to these horse rescues, so that they can help as many as humanly possible.

We can also push the breed registries for change. These organizations were created, supposedly, to protect the welfare of these horses. Well, I say this: "Do what you say you're going to do!" Stop rewarding over breeding and start protecting the horses we already have. The AQHA alone, has over 345,000 members. You can't tell me that many people can't bring about change!

If you only take away one thing by reading this, let it be this: When you consider breeding horses, Read Before You Breed!!Know the consequences of what you may be doing.