[Linny]

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.