Look at it this way

by Niki
(Stamford, CT, USA)

I don't think horse slaughter is all that bad. I can understand the sentimental connection with your backyard pony, but when it breaks its leg and you barely have enough money to feed it every month, how exactly are you going to deal with that. Will you shoot it and bury it in your own backyard? I don't know. I do know that slaughter houses, HOW THEY USED TO BE are cruel and horrible. I understand the anti-slaughter side. My idea is that instead of banning it all together, we make more, smaller, slaughter houses so that no horse has to drive more than 5 or 6 hours to get there. That way the transport doesn't hurt them as much, and the smaller houses will be able to be looked after easier.
Animals, unlike humans, do not worry about death. They do not know that when they get on the trailer that day, it is the end of their life. Slaughter is a way to get rid of your horse when there is no other option. I'm not saying people shouldn't strive for other options, but when it is between leaving your horse to starve, or slaughter it and get money, the sad fate is that everyone would want the money. I know I would much rather see the horse go to slaughter and die that day than to see it starving in a field somewhere.
Think about it. Horses are very vocal when they get emotional. If they are standing in a small pen, barely able to move, with 50 other horses, they are going to stress out and get vocal. Then add the noises of another horse being slaughtered? You are adding to the stress and noise. If they made it so that no other horse could hear what was going on inside, there would be less noise. This was a big concern for the people who lived around the slaughter houses. They didn't like to hear horses screaming in fear all the time. Who can blame them!
And again, just so everyone is clear, I am a horse lover myself. I am a college student who is studying equine business management and have been riding my whole life. These are the kind of things we research in depth in some of my classes, and that is why I am posting this, so that people can see another side to the situation.