Who can tell me about Horses.?

It's not so much that horses are abandoned and left to die. It's more subtle than that.

To tackle causes first, as others have noted, horses are expensive animals to take care of. They need regular foot care, at the very least having their hooves trimmed every eight weeks or so. They need preventive vet care (worming, vaccinations, teeth) on at least an annual basis and many horses, especially older horses, need to be seen more regularly to treat problems related to age or wear-and-tear. If you don't own a place to keep a horse, you have to pay board for someone else to keep it, and this can be very expensive. If you do own a place to keep a horse, you have to buy feed (most places don't have adequate pasture to meet the needs of horses) and find the time to care for the horse.

One of the segments of the horse industry that's hardest hit, and where most of the issues arise, is the horse breeding industry. With the economy still very fragile and sluggish, people aren't spending money on luxuries like horses. Particularly race horses. This year alone, the foal crop for Thoroughbreds is down 14.2 % from last year (http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/58... Broodmares that are marginal or unprofitable for the commercial owner are taken out of production, and in most cases that means selling the mare for the value of her meat or turning her over to a rescue. Or euthanizing her.

People who have racing stables are cutting back on the number of horses they race, which means that there are yearlings and two-year-olds aren't being sold. The people who bred these horses have to either race them themselves, which is expensive, or sell them for what they can get.

One of the things that's happening a lot on farms that board horses is owners just stop paying board. Once the owner is two-three months behind in board, the farm or stable where the horse is boarded has to make a quick decision to get rid of the horse if the owner can't/won't come up with the back-board owed. The longer they keep the horse, the deeper into the hole they get. If they can't sell the horse for the value of the board owed, and can't make a quick sale so someone else starts paying board, the stable or farm owner has to get rid of the horse so they aren't digging themselves deeper into debt. If the horse might find a home with someone else, donation to a rescue is an option, but even the rescues are getting choosier about the horses they accept.

Horses are a luxury, and an expensive one. A horse that can't be useful for what you want to do with it, or profitable if you're in the horse business, is a luxury that most people can't afford.

Wow, this would take a book to explain :-) Horses eat a lot and do not behave like dogs (as some new owners seem to think) and too often people who either cannot afford them or don't know enough about care and health care prevention wind up with a sick or untrained horse, so they just abandon it or send it to auction. Part of that problem is from what we all call 'backyard breeders' which refers to people who breed horses who are not particularly built well or have not proven themselves in competition or under saddle simply because they either 'want a cute foal to raise as their own' (and don't know how to train it, so it OF course misbehaves) or they are under the mistaken impression they will be able to make money by selling sub-standard horses (they may know so little about the industry to think that their generic horse is fantastic just because he's a pretty color or has papers- both poor reasons for breeding) So that's why there are so many horses in need of homes. Of course you'd have to instate breeding laws that don't interfere with breeding exceptional athletes and don't keep lower income people out of that endeavor, so adding fees would be a waste of time, it would just have to be a contract that people were held to. There is no feed shortage, so I can't answer that. If you know how to properly care for a horse and can pay for it's feed and environment then there's no problem there, decent feed stores are everywhere. Maybe you mean not enough feed for the rescues? Because they never get enough donations. Simple. What can be done, is for breeders to take responsibilty, maybe sign a contract stating that since they bred this horse, they promise to provide for it if they cannot find a suitable home. Or have breeding approval futurites and a stud book like Germany. General public education on equine care would be good too. Part of the problem with that is that most 'horse people' think they are right but when they start talking, they all disagree, so who would be the agreed upon teaching method? The BHS makes for a decent program in any case. Eh, that's all social problem and not likely to be repaired in the US very quickly. As for helping the rescues, if communities would get together and everyone chipped in $8 a month, that would help TONS. It's simple, not enough money, not enough help, not enough people acting responsibly enough to treat the problem. Hope this helps you some. A further problem is that even though Premarin can be made synthetically, and the real stuff causes cancer, there are STILL premarin farms in operation. They are basically breeding farms to collect pregnant mare urine and disperse with all the unwanted foals in any convenient way. A CRIME in my opinion. They are not saving human lives, they are cursing equine lives.

http://www.userl.org/

http://www.rvhr.com/wordpress/

http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/VA-HorseRescue...

Horses are abandoned and left to die for many reasons. If a person has a horse and cannot afford it anymore and can't find a home for it, he has few options. Most private rescues are full and won't take a horse in good health. The pound, which will take dogs/cats/small animals, will not take a horse. It costs about $500 for private euthanasia and carcass disposal. That person already spent his last $ trying to feed the horse; how's he gonna pay for that? He probably feels he has two options: send it to auction for slaughter in a far away country under inhumane conditions or turn it loose and let it try to fend for itself.

There is plenty of feed to supply the farms. What's lacking is the money to buy the feed.

In addition, many so=called "rescues" are actually hoarders, who take in far too many horses and cannot take care of them. This is a real, dire problem. These people seem like normal, humane, productive people doing a good thing, but in fact have a mental problem that keeps them from properly caring for the horses they can afford.

There are too many horses. I don't think anything can be done to save them all.

Here's a blog you may find interesting (snarky, but interesting):

http://fuglyblog.com/

Read through the back posts for more if you're interested.

Owners can take unwanted cats and dogs to the pound, and society will take care of the problem for them. Owners can take unwanted cows and pigs to the butcher, and they'll take care of them. Only owners of unwanted horses have no options. That blogger would not agree, but I think the only solution to the horse problem is to have more slaughterhouses. THey need to be local, to avoid the long haul problems and so that we can control how they operate. Now, horses are shipped internationally and slaughtered in uncontrolled facilities we have no control over. If they were local, we could control them.

Probably not the solution you're looking for. I hope you find my other info helpful.

Horses are very expensive to keep, and in a recession people will cut back where they can, and that includes care of fheir animals. Also, some people view horses as commodities, not companion animals, and will abandon them or send them to slaughter when they can't earn their keep. There are more horses in need than there are places to take them.

Here are websites of some organizations attempting to deal with this problem. You can probably get all the info you need.

http://www.unwantedhorses.org/

http://www.unwantedhorsecoalition.org/

(Especially check out the 2009 Unwanted Horses survey)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8tijUA2DBE

(posted by the AQHA)

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Unwanted-Horse&id=42...

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/article/artic...

Also, here are a few rescues in Virginia that will probably be happy to give you some information about their efforts:

http://www.eaglehillequinerescue.com/

http://www.rvhr.com/

http://www.equinerescueleague.org/

Some rescues focus on the plight of particular types of horses; for instance, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation focuses on rescuing racehorses (www.trfinc.org). Others work to rescue wild horses

http://www.virginiawildhorserescue.com/Home.asp

or draft horses

http://www.gentlegiantsdrafthorserescue.com/

and so forth.

Hope this helps!

Go to your local tack store, and see what they have there. Also, Barnes and Noble, and regular book stores should sell a book called the Horse and Pony Encyclopædia. this is a great book for that.

Through the eons of time the horse developed from the diminuitive, multi-toed creature into the modern powerful one-toed horse

It passed through many stages of evolution, losing its toes one by one, gradually growing larger, and altering its denition to cope with each newly available form of herbage.

Unsuccessful mutations died out, but the advantageous features were retained, the horse remained fleet of foot and kept its almost all-round vision.

Today's oldest surviving form of horse is the Poljakoff or Wild Horse of Mongolia, discovered by Colonel N. M. Przewalski, a Russian explorer, in a remote region of the Gobi Desert in 1881.

Przewalski's Horse is considered to be part ancestor of all modern breeds and is conserved in zoos and parks throughout the world where it breeds successfully.

History of Horses

Man probably domesticated the reindeer long before he attempted to tame the horse which was then hunted for meat.

Eventually the first members of the equine family were captured and subdued. These were the asses or onagers which were initially used for pack purposes until the development of the wheel encouraged their use in harness.

The spoked wheel and light vehicle could be pulled faster by onagers than by oxen.

The true horse was probably first harnessed about 5 000 years ago by the ancient Chinese, and before long, replaced the wilful and often stubborn onager when speed and obedient response to commands were required.

Although the horse had evolved in North America, it became extinct there for some obscure reason, returning only to the continent of its birth when the ships of Christopher Colombus first landed the animals on Haiti in 1493.

Meanwhile, in the areas in which wild horse herds roamed, they were caught and tamed, and were brought into the service of man by many peoples of Asia, Europe and North Africa.

From pack and haulage work, the horse was elevated to drawing a chariot into battle.

Horses were selectively bred for specific purposes and prized for their powers of speed and endurance. Man learned to ride them and devised sophisticated bridles and bits to help control his steed.

The saddle was invented, which allowed riders to remain astride their mounts for longer periods, and after many more years had passed, the addition of stirrups added to equestrian stability.

The military horse has played a great part in the fortunes of war for many nations.

Perhaps the greatest of the charioteers were the Hittities who left records showing that they excercised great skill in breeding horses and in their care, training and feeding.

In the 14th century B.C, the Hittite empire ranged right across Kurdistan, Armenia and Syria. The Chinese, too were skilled horsemen and, as long ago as 1 000 B.C, were using horses in cavalry work as well as for pack and draught purposes.

In Egypt the horse replaced the *** about the year 1650 B.C. Chariots were used by the Pharaohs for hunting gazelle and other game as well as in battle.

One of the earliest and most original of all writers on the subject of horses and equitation was Xenophon, an Athenian who lived from 430-355 B.C.

He showed great understanding about all aspects of the animal's needs and psychology, and was able to convey this to others through his works.

We are indebted to Xenophon for much of our knowledge of the Ancient Greek Horses and their methods of training and riding.