Absurd #2

It has to be me. There is no way that there are this many people with such absurd expectations.

I just read on yet another thread where someone wants to sell a lame horse for a a little bit of money. It's not a lot of money but more money than what should be expected for a lame horse with unresolvable lameness issues.

What I don't get is that the owners go on and on about how much they love this horse and how the horse probably had the best life with them. How he's lived a full and happy life with them. But wait, now they want to dump him because the hay crisis and instead of doing the right thing by putting more money into him by putting him down, they want to make a few bucks by selling him.

What's even worse, no one wants him for multiple reasons (lameness, hay crisis, name any other reason). If YOU don't want your horse, how do you expect anyone else to want YOUR horse?? especially if there are health issues.

I've seen ads where people say they want to find a good home for their horse otherwise they will euthanize. Honestly, I know I'm opening a can of worms, but I would rather a horse with health issues be euthanized than be dumped into the auction circuit and eventually end up in the slaughter pipeline. I guess that's why we still have Dude. He's lame, unsafe to ride but yet we still keep him because we all know where he'd end up. Everyone wants a good home for their horses and the only way to ensure that is to keep them. Don't tell me that you want a good home for your horse and then tell me you're taking him to auction.

So back to this horse. The owner wants to make money on him but if the horse doesn't find a new home in a few days, he's going to auction. We all know what happens to a lame horse at an auction where there are known kill buyers. How can you say that you gave the horse all kinds of care and love him but are willing to let him suffer? I sign death warrants when I euthanize but I would never send one to an auction because it wont' be a quick death. It won't be some little kid playing with your lame horse in a lush pasture. It'll be hours and hours of standing on concrete or drylots trying to avoid other horses while you hobble around. It'll be hours on a trailer crammed in with others while you suffer in silence due to the lameness.

For the few bucks that the owner MIGHT make, wouldn't your conscience be clean if you did the right thing and spent the $150 to euthanize? If I die tomorrow, I know I'll go with a clean conscience because I'll know the horses I've sent before me went under supervision of a caring hand and my hand on them as they crossed over. I hope they will forgive me for ending their life and will meet me at the gate but I have a clear conscience knowing that I didn't dump them at an auction to suffer an unknown fate. I do not believe in out of sight, out of mind. What ever happened to doing the right thing?