Saw an ad in the paper looking for free horses of all breeds, is it a slaughter house?

I don't know as that's necessarily an ad for a slaughterhouse, Chloe, because they tend not to advertise openly, at least not in the US, because slaughter of horses for human consumption is illegal here. But it's all too likely that there's at least one killer buyer who's behind that ad. Any time anybody runs an ad like that one, it's an indication that he or she is attempting to collect horses to sell for meat. Most killer buyers only get paid pennies on the dollar for their stock, which is why they have to collect a lot of it before they can make a run to the actual slaughterhouses. So these people visit places like New Holland in PA and the Napoleon Auction in MI, and bid on whatever comes through the kill pens at these places. They don't care about the health or the behavior of what they're bidding on- only thing they're interested in is what they can get out of the animal in terms of value for its meat.

So yes, I'd say that there's a pretty fair chance that this ad is from a killer buyer. If you want to know more about who posted the ad, try calling the classifieds department of your newspaper, and see if you can get them to give you the name or names of the person or people who posted the ad. Then you can look them up by way of a public records search, if you want.

It may not necessarily be the kill buyers directly, but more likely someone who is trying to make money by selling horses to the slaughter house. Judging by what you said the ad said, it is most likely one of the two options. Sadly, they will probably get many people to give them horses who don't think twice about it and think they are giving their horse the best option for life.

From time to time a trader casts a net for fixable horses

The killer market is not the only market. . Trail rider concessions. Pack strings and public stables look for cheap sound horses too

In the big picture. ... over breeding feeds a soft market that produces surplus horses

I'd rather see a horse rendered than some that we foster here. Too many horses are too many folks

Yes that is what is called a kill buyer they get unsuspecting people to sell their horses to them, then they load them up and drive them to a slaughter house.

They put out adds like these to help fill their trailers to make their cut so they either get paid more for their work or were asked to bring in a number of horses that were asked for by the slaughter house.

Yeah, slaughter buyer.

kill buyers here will only buy horses 900 pounds and above.

i would not doubt it.