Fulton County Farm Bureau

Equine Newletter

Equine E-Letter (June 2010)
Wednesday, June 02, 2010

AMERICAN HORSE COUNCIL NATIONAL ISSUES FORUM FOCUS ON EMERGING DISEASE
Source: United States Animal Health Association

The American Horse Council has announced the theme for this year's National Issues Forum is "Emerging Diseases: a Challenge to the Industry." This forum, which will be co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), and the AHC will be held June 21-22 in Washington, DC, as part of the AHC's annual meeting. The annual meeting will run from June 20 to 23 and also include a Trails Forum, the annual Congressional Ride-In, AHC committee meetings, and a Congressional Reception.

The emergence of a major equine disease can have dramatic consequences for the horse industry. Such outbreaks have occurred with some frequency over the last several years, most recently involving Contagious Equine Metritis in 2008 and Equine Piroplasmosis in 2009. These outbreaks have affected the interstate and international movement of horses, which is critical to the horse industry. When barriers to movement are raised by states and foreign countries concerned about the spread of infectious diseases, this affects sales, breeding, racing, competitions and recreation.

These outbreaks have caused USDA-APHIS and state authorities to spend a great deal of money and resources to identify the diseases, trace the horses potentially affected, and contain the outbreak.

"The highlight of this year's forum will be a USDA-AHC hosted workshop that will provide an opportunity for the horse industry, key federal and state authorities, and others to discuss how each sector can ensure the health of our horses and the commercial health of the industry in the face of emerging and re-emerging diseases," said AHC President Jay Hickey. "We appreciate USDA-APHIS taking the initiative on this meeting."

More information on these Forums and the entire AHC annual meeting, including registration and hotel information can be found on the AHC's website at http://horsecouncil.org/events.php or by contacting the AHC.

WYOMING FACES HEAT OVER NEW HORSE SLAUGHTER LAW
Source: National Institute for Animal Agriculture

CHEYENNE - A plan to give the Wyoming Livestock Board an alternative to selling abandoned horses is getting stiff opposition from animal rights advocates. And it is coming even before the new law goes into effect July 1.

The plan by members of the United Organization of the Horse is to set up something like a triage operation for abandoned or unwanted horses. The horses would be screened and provided rehabilitation, training or slaughter, depending on their condition. The plan is ultimately to market horse meat in the state.

Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Gillette, was the prime sponsor of House Bill 122, which was signed into law by Gov. Dave Freudenthal. "The animal rights people have put this on their agenda," Wallis said last week in a telephone interview.

She said members of the United Organization of the Horse met April 2 and developed a plan for a "unified equine system." If people have horses they cannot sell or keep, they can donate the horses to the nonprofit United Organization of the Horse and get receipts for tax deductions for the value of the horses, Wallis explained.

Brand inspectors and law enforcement officers who find starving horses can turn them over to the organization if they can provide clear titles, she added.

If the horses are in reasonably good condition, they would go into a rejuvenation program with special food and care. If they have any potential and are in good shape, they can go into a rescue and training program. Horses unsuitable for slaughter, such as horses with foals, will be held.

Horses that are old and past a productive life or are dangerous and untrainable will be slaughtered, but in a humane way, Wallis said.

Her group, she said, is working with Dr. Temple Grandin at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, an animal behaviorist and scientist who is autistic and has special empathy for animals. Grandin, Wallis said, will design a humane system for the slaughter of the unwanted horses.

Federal law allows horse meat to be shipped anywhere for animal food, but not across state lines for human consumption, Wallis said. Yet since Wyoming is one of 22 or 23 states that have meat inspection programs, Wallis said the horses can be slaughtered and used for human consumption in state restaurants or state institutions. "This always will be a small operation," Wallis said.

Her bill, which easily passed the Legislature, addressed a problem the Wyoming Livestock Board had because state law allowed only sale at auction of "estrays, livestock and feral livestock." Livestock is defined to include horses. With the new law, the board can sell the horses, send them to slaughter or destroy them.

One section of the new law says the Livestock Board can enter into agreements with licensed meat processing plants to process meat from livestock disposed of by slaughter. The meat must be sold to state institutions or to nonprofit organization for no more than the board's costs. For-profit entities would pay market cost for the processed meat, the bill says.

Jim Schwartz, the Wyoming Livestock Board director, said the new law will not change the board's policy of selling horses at auction.

"Send to slaughter is not an option in my opinion, and I would never want to dispose of them, although I may have to someday," Schwartz said. It can be an expense, though. He said a bunch of ranchers gathered up 230 horses a while ago and said they were strays. So the Livestock Board had an auction in Rock Springs and sold all 230 horses to a buyer from Montana for $1. "It was a blessing, but we still had to spend $12,000 to $14,000 taking care of them," Schwartz said.

The buyer said he would save the good ones and try to train some of the others. "There's no market for them," Schwartz said. He said he has to answer about 40 letters opposed to the plan that were sent to the governor's office.

"In Wyoming, people love horses," he added. "We'll continue to do what we've always done and try to get them sold and find good homes for them."

While the new law says the Livestock Board can enter agreements with licensed meat processing plant to sell the meat to state institutions and nonprofit organizations at the board's cost, "That's not going to happen," Schwartz said.

First of all, he said, an operation must have U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection of horse meat for human consumption. There are no more horse slaughtering plants in the United States, he said. Wallis, he said, has her own ideas and is moving forward.

"In her defense, she's trying to find a positive way to take care of these horses instead of people turning them out to starve to death," Schwartz said…

Wallis said that for every letter or e-mail she receives in opposition to her plan, she gets 10 in support.

SOME TALKING POINTS ON HORSE SLAUGHTER
Source: The United Organizations of The Horse

United Organizations of the Horse ( unitedorgsofthehorse.org/ ) is a nonprofit educational and charitable organization providing accurate and timely info about the unintended consequences of bans on equine processing in the U.S. The group’s aims are to restore humane and regulated horse slaughter in the U.S., and control the overpopulation of wild and feral horses on federal, state, tribal and private lands.

The group provides these points on the horse-slaughter issue:

· Horse owners and people who make all or part of our living with horses are the people who care about horses. They clean the stalls, pay the feed bills and are responsible for the care of their animals.

· There are fates far worse than slaughter. A quick, painless death in a slaughter plant is far preferable to a slow and agonizing death of starvation. Death in the wild is often brutal, prolonged and horrific.

· Without the option of slaughter and use of the meat, those who can no longer afford to keep a horse, and can’t sell it, have literally no option – you can't bury a 1,000-lb. horse in the backyard like a cat or a dog.

· Some Americans always have and always will eat horse meat. In fact, it was on the menu at the dining room at Harvard until the late 1980s, and you can still find horse sausage in Scandinavian butcher shops in the Upper Midwest; 72% of world cultures consider it just another protein source.

· All animals, including horses, take nature that humans can’t use and turn it into nature we can use.

· People have a right to use animals, and a responsibility to do so humanely. We believe all animals are sacred and must be harvested with dignity and gratitude, but the most horrific crime is to waste their sacrifice. Contrast that viewpoint with the total waste of at least 200,000 horse carcasses/year, which become a colossal disposal problem.

· One billion people on Earth today are hungry, and another billion don’t get enough protein and nutrients for health. In addition, 10 million children/year die of starvation. From a moral standpoint, can we afford to put any viable protein source off limits?

· Because of the closure of the U.S. slaughter plants in 2007 by state action in Illinois and Texas, the entire horse industry has been decimated. A $1.2-billion industry supporting 460,000 full-time direct jobs and another 1.6 million indirect jobs has been cut in half.

· The animal rights radical agenda offers no viable solution, creating only a mechanism to shovel taxpayer dollars directly into the pockets of animal rights organizations. The ultimate goal of these groups is to end all human use of animals.

FEI WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES 2010 COMING TO KENTUCKY
Sources: Regarding Horses, Kentucky Horse Park

The FEI World Equestrian Games, featuring top riders from around the world in eight equestrian disciplines, are being held outside Europe for the first time since their inception in 1990. These world championships of equestrian sports will be held at our very own Kentucky Horse Park September 25-October 10, 2010.

The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2010 are comprised of the world championships for eight equestrian sports show jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting, reining and para-equestrian.

The FEI World Equestrian Games are held every four years, two years prior to the Olympic Games, and are governed by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI). The FEI is the international governing body of equestrian sport recognized by the International Olympic Committee. It is the organization which establishes rules and regulations for the conduct of international equestrian events. Today the FEI has over 130 member countries.

'SECRETARIAT' BEGINS FILMING IN KENTUCKY
Source: ESPN

DOSWELL, Va. - In an era defined by a dispiriting war and a surreal Washington scandal, Secretariat gave Americans and their bruised psyche something to cheer about when the big thoroughbred captured the Triple Crown in 1973.

The racehorse considered by many to be the best ever and the housewife-turned-breeder who soared in a male-dominated sport are now coming to the big screen.

"Secretariat" has begun filming in Kentucky with Diane Lane portraying owner Penny Chenery and John Malkovich cast as trainer Lucien Laurin.

Mayhem Pictures, with the backing of Walt Disney Pictures, is producing "Secretariat." Randall Wallace, who directed "We Were Soldiers," is directing.

Unlike "Seabiscuit," the 2003 movie based on the undersized thoroughbred who buoyed the spirits of a Depression-era nation, "Secretariat" will focus on Chenery's improbable success in the old money, bourbon-sipping world of horse breeding and the chestnut stallion's stirring, record-shattering run for the Triple Crown. Like "Seabiscuit," the nation's mood - in this case, the era of Watergate and Vietnam - is key to the storytelling.

A fall 2010 release is expected.

Save the Date - Illinois Farm Bureau hosts Equine Issues Forum
Source: Illinois Farm Bureau^® (IFB^®)

On October 23, IFB is planning to host an Equine Issues Forum in Bloomington, IL.

The 2010 IFB Equine GrassRoots Issue Team (GRIT) made a recommendation that IFB host a statewide equine issues forum. The purpose of the forum will be to discuss three primary issues that have an industry-wide impact on all equine owners and industry participants.

The three primary issues for discussion are the need for humane equine harvesting, the need for an Illinois equine census, and gathering strength behind a unified equine industry representation.

The draft agenda is being designed to utilize breakout sessions on each issue and obtain input from all participants.

Stay tuned as more details become available.