- Mr. Smith, who runs a trail-riding operation and captures many horses to limit the herd size and protect the newly abandoned "dumpouts" from harm, thinks there is a solution that makes many people uncomfortable: the slaughterhouse.
From the WSJ:
Jim Smith rumbled down a dusty road in his truck to check on the herd of wild horses he has been looking after near this tiny Ozarks town for more than two decades.
The herd, which got its start when horses were abandoned during the Great Depression, is growing again as tough times have pushed owners who can no longer afford to feed their horses try to give them a fighting chance in the wild.
Mr. Smith, who runs a trail-riding operation and captures many horses to limit the herd size and protect the newly abandoned "dumpouts" from harm, thinks there is a solution that makes many people uncomfortable: the slaughterhouse.
"The horse industry has gone to hell in a handbasket," said Mr. Smith, a 67-year-old with a shotgun and a rifle in his pickup. "An old horse, a crippled horse, an unwanted horse, they all cost the same to feed, and nobody wants them, so they keep dumping them off here. Until there is a place to take them, it's not going to get any better."
For more, see: Reviving Slaughter of Horses
