By the time this magazine is in your hands, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) will have released a report they commissioned to answer some of the questions raised in the industry about horse slaughter. The TRF is, of course, strictly a Thoroughbred rescue group. However, the issue of slaughter is one that touches every horse owner, so the information they provide is important to anyone who owns horses. TRF states that two of the principal arguments used by those who support slaughter are first, if slaughter is eliminated, horse neglect and abuse will increase dramatically. Second, that the legal status of horses as livestock could change, leading to problems in other areas of equine health and welfare.

The Pennsylvania group that did the report has put together numbers that have not been available before. While there is no doubt of the slant of the TRF’s paper–it unapologetically pushes the message that to abolish slaughter is to help horses–this is the first time the message has been presented with facts and figures that actually make a sound and solid case that abolishing equine slaughter in the United States, and prohibiting the transportation of U.S. horses to other countries for slaughter, might not force tens of thousands of horses each year into a life of neglect and abuse.

The number of U.S. slaughter horses has declined dramatically since the 1980s, from nearly 350,000 in 1989 to 62,000 in 2001, the report noted. Estimates out of Washington suggest that 42,000 horses will be slaughtered this year in the United States, with 30,000 exported for that fate