Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Horse crisis update: Prices down at select sale

The latest example of trouble in the horse industry may have come at this year's National Western Stock Show in Colorado, where well-pedigreed horses failed to fetch decent prices at the Mile High Select Sale. "The bad economy, the closure of the last U.S. horse slaughterhouse in 2007, overbreeding, an abundance of mid- and low-grade horses, and the high cost of caring for horses have all conspired to cause horse prices to plummet across the country," Ann Schrader of The Denver Post reports.

"There's no bottom to the horse market any more," Scot Dutcher, chief of the Colorado Department of Agriculture's bureau of animal protection, told Schrader. In 2008, quarter horses and paint horses sold for an average $4,800, with the top-seller going for $30,000. This year, the average price was $3,521 and the top-seller brought $12,500, Schrader reports, adding the "prestigious sale is limited to 100 horses screened for pedigree and training."

Dutcher told Schrader reports of neglect and abuse have doubled in the past four years in Colorado, and reports of stray horses also have risen. The number of horses abandoned at stables and dumped on the plains and mountains is also on the rise and rescue facilities are faced with six times the number of horses they can accept, Schrader reports. In November state officials discovered a horse that had been shot in the head and left to die along Interstate 70. The horse survived and is currently recovering. (Read more)

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