NYRA latest to add anti-slaughter policy
 

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has announced an anti-slaughter policy that introduces harsh penalties to offending horsemen while encouraging them to support horse rescue and adoption initiatives.

The newly created policy is as follows:

Any owner or trainer stabled at a New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) track found to have directly or indirectly sold a horse for slaughter will have his or her stalls permanently revoked from all NYRA tracks. NYRA requires its horsemen to conduct due diligence on those buying horses and encourages them to support rescue and adoption efforts and to find humane ways of dealing with horses unable to continue racing.

“We are fully committed to protecting our sport’s equine athletes,” said NYRA President and CEO Charles Hayward. “This policy sends the message that horse slaughter will not be tolerated and that those participating in this practice, either knowingly or for lack of due diligence, will not be welcome at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, or Saratoga.”

In addition to its stance against horse slaughter, NYRA also supports numerous equine retirement, anti-slaughter, and research organizations, and has made donations to the following organizations within the past year:

• Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation – Mission to save thoroughbred horses no longer able to compete on the racetrack from possible neglect, abuse and slaughter.
• Columbia Green Humane Society - Dedicated to the protection, humane treatment and well being of all animals.
• Grayson Jockey Club Research Foundation – Committed to the advancement of research to enhance the health and soundness of horses of all breeds.
• Exceller Fund – Providing a future beyond the finish line, the Exceller Fund works to transition thoroughbred horses to a second career off the track.

Good for NYRA...

Directly or indirectly? That is way too vague.

Vague only to you:zz:

It is perfectly clear to anyone who can comprehend the written word.

This is what a horse's retirement SHOULD look like and if Owners and Trainers can't make the financial commitment or spend the time to provide for or guarantee their well being, then they shouldn't be in the game.

Thnx to Ryan for posting in Dee Tee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnh4gg85hRs

:tro: :tro: :tro:

Great news..

Super.

Chuckles is right. If a trainer gives away or sells a horse very cheap to someone who they believe is going to retrain it and it ends up at a killer auction or feedlot, is he to blame?

Many small outfits do take horses for retraining but they are not rescues they are businesses hoping to sell for a profit. They are usually small farms and don't have the ability to provide a permanent home. If a sore horse doesn't come sound enough to go into work or a horse proves unfit for retraining, they have to get rid of them. They don't really want to send them "away" but most don't have the choice, they cannot care for them all.

Using terms like "undirectly" is very vaque when you announce a "zero tolerance" policy. How many degrees of separation is required before a trainer is absolved of responsibility?

Leave your number and tell the people to call you to get the horse if things don't work out.. It's not so complicated to do the right thing

It can be part of the contract also, "If for any reason you are unable to meet your obligations in regards to said horse, you will return said horse at no cost"

I doubt NY is the problem but kudos to NYRA.. When horses are running for 3k purses the kill pen cant be to far away

I hope that the policy will mean that trainers will be wiling to take back a horse that doesn't pan as a retraining project.

C'mon, he's talking about the guys who represent themselves to the trainer or friend of the trainer as having a kid who needs a backyard horse, etc., but are really bunchers for auction/killers. These guys know most don't want the horses to go to killers, they lie and know what to say if they need horses.

Good for NYRA.

That's a good suggestion. It's a very common contract insert in many purebred dog sales contracts, and it's rarely followed, and expensive to try and enforce in a court of law.

I get around it with my dogs by saying instead that at any time in the animals life, they return it no questions asked, I will refund the entire original purchase price. I got one dog back at 5 years of age, and I'm darn glad he came home to me and not off into the ether somewhere.

I never put that in the bill of sale for any of my own horses. I did go back after 10 years and try and find the horse I sold when going into vet school, and couldn't trace the horse. Wish I had put something like that in there, for that horse.

I think the only way to really ensure you will ever get back an animal you have sold is to always be the highest bidder.

You can have due diligence though and if someone goes to a certain point to lie to you, well there are repercussions. Just letting someone you haven't checked up one side and down the other leave with a horse is not something I'm comfortable with. Also maybe people will knock it off with the 'free to a good home' thing. As a kid I'd eat up the idea of going and getting a free horse. My parents of course knew better. If you can't afford to pay for a horse, you definitely can't afford to own them. What about that woman that hauled the 12yo mare planning to race her who started bawling in the paddock or whatever saying she couldn't afford to bring her and not run her...I don't see why the former owner let her have the horse when she'd just been laid off. How was she gonna pay the upkeep?

Kill buyers will only pay so much right? I get that some trainers almost feel like they're gonna have to pay someone to take the horse off their hands, but I'm sorry we owe'em a duty. Charge a little something and if you can do all the other work to get and race a horse, some research is in order to let one go to someone else.

I completely agree.

What's a "buncher"

A middleman. He goes auction to auction, place to place, collecting ("bunching") horses in a group to send in a trailer to slaughter.

This is the guy that won't pay over $400-$500 per head, and never for a skinny horse, at local Amish - county livestock auctions. He'll buy obviously lame horses, horses with sores, etc.

How much does it cost to put a horse down?

Okay.I take it they like to buy Draft horses{more per pound}?

Yup. It's why Keeneland minimum bid is $1000. Slaughter buyers won't pay that.

Here (mixed practice, rural around Lexington) farm call, euthanasia $110-$140. Then you use your own backhoe or get the renderer to come out.

I don't know what racetrack vets charge - Chuck?

So your choice is spend 125 or receive 350? Its a 475 dollar decision.

Exactly the choice. Different people make different choices, for different reasons.

Emotionally, I do think it's important to recognize that it is much easier for people uncomfortable with the emotions involved with making the euthanasia decision to put a horse through auction, leave a dog at the pound. It is like having one blank in a round of five firing squad bullets.

Many people, seriously, do not like to "play God" by making an active life or death decision, especially if it is an animal they have a deep emotional attachment to. Many people feel incredible, overwhelming guilt.

That is not my personal viewpoint for my own animals, but it is a viewpoint many people hold, and one has to recognize it exists.

This, obviously, is different from those that really don't give a darn about the animal.

Euthanasia sucks but a trailer ride across the country over the border to a slaughter house in Mexico seems less human?

I would rather kill my animals by my own hand than send them to slaughter. For some people, sending to auction is just an easy way of sliding out of taking the responsibility. That can't be denied.

I dont disagree..Its a tough equation if your 2 kids are sitting at your dinner table with mac and cheese for dinner instead of a hamburger broccoli and potatoe because you dont have the money to buy the ground beef.

I have said this on riding horse boards and been creamed for it but here goes.

I'd rather that there be a slaughterhouse in every county. It is not the killing of the animal I detest, it's what happens to an infirm, sometimes old horse during transport, auction, time in pens etc. Here is an animal that has learned to trust humans. People have tended to it and cared for it, fed it treats and brushed and bathed it. Suddenly he's in a truck without his people, scared, getting kicked, bitten and injured by all manner of creatures. He doesn't understand it. He's abandoned.
If owners had the option of taking their horses to a local slaughterhouse, rubbing their nose and giving them a last treat just as they might before eithanasia the horse's final days and even months are not sheer Hell. Owner gets a few hundred $ and not a bill for a few hundred. To the horse the difference between euth and slaughter is not that great, if done properly.

You have a lot of guts.. Your theory in a perfect world is sensible. You assume the owners are like yourself, not sure that assumption works.. Recently had to put one of my dogs down, "vet asks me are you ready?" I responsed "i'm not she is"..Not every horse owner thinks of his horse's as a pet. I certainly don't, doesnt mean I would ever want them to suffer.

I agree.

This might be a good time to read or re-read the American Horse Council Code of Ethics and support it.
http://www.horsecouncil.org/pressrel...elfareCode.php

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I believe this is a great step by the NYRA and hopefully other tracks will follow suit. We still will need other measures to help save the athletes of the sport.

However the best thing we can all do now is to help your local or favorite horse retirement foundation. So find out who they are and send them a small check to help save a horse and bring you some good karma in 2010.

I agree with this somewhat, though I personally would rather take my horse behind the barn and have someone who is experienced shoot the horse in the head, I unfortunately have had the opportunity to witness the kill pen at a slaughter house, and it took virtually every ounce of self-control I had to not break down and cry in front of the class I was in, the reason is, unlike cattle that did not appear to have any emotion about the atmosphere, the horses were TERRIFIED, they were nickering and calling out in absolute fear, they could see, hear, and smell the death of the prior horses and were just getting worked up with fear as they stood in line, as someone who has had horses for 30 years and knows them inside and out, that was harder to watch than the actual killing, which was bad in and of itself.

I once took the cowards way out and had the stable manager of a stable I was boarding at handle my horse, to be euthanized, I left a check for my Vet and told him I couldn't be there for obvious reasons, later the Vet called me at work and asked why I changed my mind, he told me the stable manager called and cancelled the appt for me. I went down there as quick as I could and as I was getting out of my car, the manager walked up and said he took care of my horse for me with his Vet, he handed me my check. I immediately became suspicious and asked for the Vet's number to verify, at which he began coming up with bullshit excuses, I than went off and demanded to know the whereabouts of my horse, I even called the police, who informed me the horse was at the auction awaiting shipment to slaughter, I recovered my horse and did what I should have in the first place, been there with him to insure a humane death. There are all kinds of money grubbing a-holes involved in the horse industry who will take every opportunity to bilk every dime they can get out of them, even if it's not their horse. :mad:

that is a very sad and disturbing story. what the **** is wrong with people?