Surely people must have thoughts about the killing of horses? Not just race horses but recreation and working horses as well. I know that race horses are athletes but so are show jumpers, trotters and cross country eventers. There is no reason why recreation and working horses do not deserve good treatment upon death.

We now can,and do, trace individual bovines (cattle) from birth to death so there s no reason why the same method cannot be used for horses.

I hate the thought of more government regulation but I see it as inevitable. Horse owners will just have to pay for it and a reduction in breeding by regulation.

Thoughts please.

Good Job HenryL for putting this up.

Here's a link to the 730 Reports 'The Final Race'.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/the-dark-side-of-the-horse-racing-industry/11614022

Anyone that missed it should really take the time to see whats going on for themselves.
I'm going to leave commenting on it for now until later, as I might be tempted go too far in my reaction and opinion.

Well I'm going to stick my neck out and say
how dreadful I think it is.

I grew up with horses. And loved them very much.
I read the 7.30 Report and found it appaling.
We should all be shocked by it. The industry is
breaking all the rules and must be held accountable.

No ifs or buts.

These animals have served their masters well - they
deserve better than this.

Henry L you beat me to this subject, but my view may differ
Sack the fools who behaved so badly in that slaughter house, introduce training and employ only those who both pass and practice it
Racing Australia, in every state, some owners and trainers, are a total failure and must be forced to pay for that failure
BUT fact we eat meat, including horse meat, we export and make money out of these horses
Now more than ever [drought] we see the land can not hold endless numbers of horses
Be far better in handling them, tell the truth not deliberate lies about race horses
And above every thing ensure the method of killing is fast, effective and never cruel
But confront this truth, we kill chooks even pidgins, to eat, lets fix the problems demand better policing, but not serve the vegan cause by letting our heart get in the way of reality

Henry L probably should put my hand up here,took part in many home kills for food as a kid [cattle/sheep]
Then age 12 went with dad to a cattle slaughter house [pick up meat for grey hound] trained by dad owned by slaughter house boss
Then worked at homebush then Sydneys biggest slaughter house
Never liked it, hated it in fact
See near daily pleas from animal rights to stop people in Asia eating dogs, love dogs, not well, and my dogs know it, stay close because of it
So my support for clean killing is meant but my understanding unfortunately, is we will continue to eat meat

Belly,
Thanks for comment. The management of the works where cruelty takes place should face courts, as well as individual workers. Killing must be quick and humane. I have killed animals for meat and have killed animals (sheep and cattle) out of necessity because of illness or too low value to retain. It was never pleasant and had to watch vet put some horses down, then bury.

I have been offered shares in race horses at times but always refused, but what I cannot accept is that a horse wins a lot of money for an owner and reaches retirement and the owner sells him on without a care of what happens to him. Out of sight, out of mind. He ends up at a doggers for $380 or so and I ask how can this be so. Its all about money.

One must ask, where is the RSPCA in all this. I have seen farmers taken to task when trying their best during drought and I have seen a bloke threatened with court for tying a dog up at a gateway in an emergency after a gate was stolen, to stop sheep straying,for a few hours. Some RSPCA inspectors are like gestarpo and never should have authority of any kind. Yet where are they at the meat works where animals are killed. I think the truth is that big money is involved so big money talks. Big money runs racing so they get away with it.

If the ABC can get evidence of wrong doing so should the RSPCA.

It's disgraceful.

I find it a bit surprising that sound if slow race horses are going to the knackery. If it is the case it is yet another indication of the urbanisation of the country.

I have had a few thoroughbreds, a couple of slow young horses, that never made it to the track, & some that had finished their racing days. They were cheep so there was considerable competition for those that looked as if they may be able to jump, or be suitable for dressage or pony club. It was usually only those that were mentally unsuitable for pleasure horses that did not find a home.

I once had a couple of vets put down an old horse that had developed cancer. They did such a dreadful job of lethal injection, that I would never let it happen again, & have found my rifle much more humane.

Queensland is cruel to animals. My little stallion, after 16 years show jumping & eventing, including teaching 2 of my kids first to ride, then show jump, & one to be a pretty good eventer, spent another 12 years as a pet, but finally developed cancer from our Queensland sun. I had to shoot him, & I can still get a bit misty eyed when I pass when we buried him.

Would have thought this thread would take of
Truth is while understanding we do eat meat and will continue to, I know this was and is shameful
We should note the idiots in that slaughter house have helped the farm invaders and extreme animal welfare groups endlessly
City dwellers will not ever know the truth, such killing is every day and will continue
But in defending that nothing short of total training, total policing, and respect for the animals will do
Like Hasbeen the rifle suits me, not this stun thing, not even on religious grounds
The industry needs to shut down this slaughter house or force it to remake its self from the ground up
Some clearly should not be working their this morning

Firstly you can find a good home for a horse with all the promises of taking care of it and loving it everything my daughter always wanted etc etc. Then when they realise how much work it can be its hey ho get rid of it anyway they can. That's reality. You cant pin that on the racing industry. Go work in a stables and see how much love and care goes into keeping a horse.
ANIMAL Actiivists....where do you start maybe take a look at the slaughter of horses camels and other animals running wild in the north of Australia by using helicopters but that's ok that's CULLING injured left to die in pain foals without a mother and so on. But don't want to know about that cant parade done the coffee bar lined streets to make your point. If youre dinkum then then be active the RSPCA is a chocolate teapot useless be happy to procecute someone in suburbia where you don't have to get dirty. Abatoirs are heartless places and its employees have to be heartless to do their jobs but I don't doubt they have pets at home they look after.
Back to the racing industry, every step is taken to find a horse a good home, more homes are found for ex race horses than go to the knackers yard but its impossible keep check on the families they go to. Riding schools take ex race horses what happens to them when they are no longer profitable. Oh and lets not mention sheep or cattle or even roosters that would be outside of an activists concern.

westozzy,

I get your drift. Puppies for Christmas that often end up as unwanted, uncared-for dogs. The virtue signalling in set carefully selecting their animals deserving compassion. It's very hard these days to distinguish genuine concern from pure politics.

I've already decided I'm never going to bet on another horse race again.
Or at least not until the industry can change its ways.
I'm not going to subsidise their industry of 'wastage'.

The horses are the reason for their whole industry;
They couldn't have horse racing without the horses.

I understand that we raise and kill animals for food.
Those animals get to spend their lives out in a paddock eating, before being cut short in their prime.

I think that animals that are bred to perform as a sport for us are in a different category however.
They should be treated with dignity, and not simply valued as pet-mince.

I'm always hesitant about new regulations.
I don't typically support the creation of more rules.
All I want is for people to act with some decency in the first place.

I don't want to see animals treated like that.
I don't want them put to death simply because they did not perform as well as hoped or they outlived their usefulness in sport.
If that's what it is, then all it is, is an industry based on death.

You might as well just attack them with swords in a Colosseum, at least they have some kind of 'sporting' chance.

I don't want to see them killed inhumanely, nor do I want people who willfully inflict cruelty on the animals involved in the process of their demise.

At this point, I'm still angry about what I saw in the report a few days ago, to the point I'd be happy to support shutting the whole thing down.

Sending horses to the knackery. They've been doing this for hundreds of years.

Suddenly some misty-eyed City Dweller looks at their pet cat & cry's. What a load of codswallop.

I read somewhere once that in Europe there is more Horse Meat eaten than Beef. I have seen the Video of the Horse Round-up in Belgium.

Meat is meat. It doesn't matter where you get it from. I've eaten Buffalo, Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goat, Dog, Cat, Rat, Monkey, Possum, Anteater, Snake, Croc & even tried Cockatoo. The Rock was more tender though. It's all good.

Soft people are soft in the head first. They sooky cry at anything. Mostly attention getting.

We are getting away from reality westozzy has said it about right
BUT lets be honest every work place has or should have, training and key performance indicators
IF I was writing them for this slaughter house they would include
Do not ever miss treat any animal, never be filmed being an idiot
Remember animal activists and vegans want you to stuff up, even have PAID WORKERS to be filmed being cruel
Come out the back and watch me kill roosters [no one can use them all] quick fast, even out of sight of the rest
But we eat meat, we kill animals we need not be fools in doing it
Welcome westozzy

If this is really happening, & was not just a TV stunt, like the Indonesian stunt with cattle, yes where the hell is the RSPCA.

Even if it is happening, it is not down to the racing industry. The industry does care. If you want to know, try watching a TV show, late at night, called Jump Off. On the 7 network.

It is a national show jumping competition, funded by the racing industry for race horses, less than a year off the track. The prize pool is over $100,000, & the objective is to show the potential of ex race horses in the equestrian area. It takes years to train a show jumper, & this is to show how quickly ex race horses can adapt to equestrian work.

I only have one horse today, & you guessed it, he is an ex race horse. He is very big, but so calm & gentle that my grand son has been riding him since he was about 9. He always comes when he is called, isn't it a pity I can't get the dog, or the grand kids to be as obedient.

Interview with the Kill Buyer Who Takes Horses to Meramist
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/interview-with-a-kill-buyer-how-racehorses-end-up-as-meat-20191021-p532tz.html

AC you introduced pure emotion in to your post
I bet on race horses from age 5, gave it up after work ended but will give a hundred a run in the Melbourne cup
Others say, as I do, it happens and will continue to
And the best defense the industry has is clean it up at the killing end
Not to empowers the few, farm invaders extremist animal welfare groups
And the just I love animals, but not enough to home them city dwellers
By all means get upset but look for better ways not an end to the practice

Hey Belly,
Yes you got me.

"AC you introduced pure emotion in to your post"

Yes I'm still a little bit angered by what I consider needless cruelty upon the very animals the sport depends upon.
It's possible I may not be thinking logically or clearly whist I'm still peeved over what I saw.

AC ok so am I
No way round it every time I get near such a place, even well run, it hurts
Long time ago held security license, and worked as part of a team to stop major night time theft in such a place
Unpleasant work
BUT we do eat meat, we can do this better and must, my cup bet? tell you next week

Hope everyone enjoyed 'Pet Mince Cup Day'

AC think with me on this
So yes it was dreadful, we saw in other countrys racehorses killed in the last week, on the track
So we end the sport?
Turn every racetrack in to a housing development?
Every training or breeding place in to car parks
Sack everyone involved in the sport
Close thousands of studs world wide
Bankrupt hundreds of thousands?
Next! we must confront this, what happens to every race horse, every standardbred trotter?
For years to come unwanted horses by the millions world wide, will be sent to?
Nackreys

Hey Belly,
Hope your time away went ok.

I heard yesterday that a racehouse has been put down during every single Melbourne Cup except one.

I don't think they will ever stop horse racing in this country,
The government makes too much money and it employs too many people.
And Aussies that see going to Flemington as a kind of right-of-passage would kick up a huge stink if they tried.

I'm just providing a little pushback in the hope it somehow leads to them conducting the sport with a little more ethics.

Not for the sake of money in govt coffers, people employed or people who just want to enjoy the day like Aussies have done for a long time.

- Simply for the sake of the horses -

ArmChairCritic in fact old mate you highlight a very real problem
We MUST never ever stop looking for a safer better life for every animal
Horses do suffer, see the former best trainer in our country facing charges of true cruelty
Well my trip away hurt, on purchasing my 4x4 we knew it needed a clutch kit, young bloke starting out, offered to do the job
Costs blew out, ok, but my car sits 6 hours drive away pulled down but not near ready
Wacky stuff, but brother lent me a car to come home and he [one day] will, [at my cost] bring mine home
Back on topic, far better ways exist to treat every animal, we should find them not scream and shout like every animal welfare group I ever saw does
regards

Hey Belly,
"Well my trip away hurt, on purchasing my 4x4 we knew it needed a clutch kit, young bloke starting out, offered to do the job
Costs blew out, ok, but my car sits 6 hours drive away pulled down but not near ready"

I feel for you mate.
It really sucks when you travel long distance to buy a car that turns out to be much more of a pile of crap than you expected.

I hope your 4x4 isn't that bad as the 2009 Commodore I bought a couple years back.
I caught the plane to Sydney and a train out to Blacktown.
I paid just over 5 grand for that hunk of junk.
I drove about 20 minutes out of Sydney before the head gasket blew.
Let it cool down and topped it up and nursed it to a friends at Central Coast, it'd probably still be there except out of pure luck a mate of a mate driving a car carrier was coming back through from Melbourne to Brisbane the next day and I scored a ride in the dirty big Freightliner back to Brissie with my boat anchor Commodore for $400

The damn thing still sits out the back under an old carport.
Still haven't figured out what to do with it.
It's like I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.
- So I bought an i30 turbo diesel instead.

That's my Planes Trains Automobiles and Trucks adventure.

I sure hope you're able to get it sorted without too much of a headache.

AC thanks mate, well the 2001 4x4 is ok, but its clutch needing replacement got it cheaper
That mechanic?, young fella, he is starting out and offered to do it
So spent time with family and he pulled it down, quick smart, but left it up, more money!
Got it too, but still no car
Will arrive with tow truck and police next week and fix it myself, [help from brother and a mate]

Buying a vehicle a long way from home is always fraught.

My new next door neighbor, a city girl, single mother with a couple of kids has been buying truck loads of water, literally, at considerable expense for months now.

This gets expensive of course, so she had a bore put in. The first was salty, the second with good water at a couple of hundred gallons per hour is 400 meters from the house & at the bottom of the property. She bought a solar powered deep well bore pump, but it struggles to get water up to the house. She has asked my son to sort it for her.

She then bought a sight unseen 15 ton Volvo water truck, 500 kilometers away in Port Macquarie. The driver hired to drive it to here found it is overheating, but couldn't open the bonnet to even check the water.

My son has agreed to go down & try to sort it out for her, & bring it up here if it is possible. So Belly, it could be worse mate, your little Suzuki can at least go on a tilt tray.

On the horse subject, she bought the place, 12 acres, because her 12 year old daughter likes horses, & now has one to ride. The lady has bought a 4X4, & a large horse float. She even went rescuing bush fire threatened horses last month. I hope it works for her, but she really belongs in a city high rise.

Hasbeen interesting and not far from my position
You and I know with any new car truck or whatever the water system needs a very good look, many die on long trips if not watched
Well my old fishing ground Evans Head, has become home for a part of my family
Bought the last two cars there
In fact mine is not my beloved Suzuki this time
Hard working builder from, wait for it, Nimbin put this Pajaro on the market
Took a team with me we loved it, and he came down in price
New clutch thrust race was not good
Knew it and full kit needed doing, [but not right now!]
Young fella touted me for the work
Soft headed and hearted I said ok, told brother to get the fishing gear out for my over night stay
Young fella? well best not say but he seems addicted to the Nimbin turf
As my car rolls on the back of a tilt tray [if it must] his business will be closing its doors
Bores going in every place here but water is very hard and costs without pump ten thousand
No longer afford that but looking at a truck just for garden water

I am not sure if hooking a fish in its mouth and killing a horse for pet food or whatever is much different. Just saying.