Kentucky Horses and Kentucky Horse Farms: High Cost of Horses in the Horse Capitol of The World: Adopt Rescued Horses
Last night I was dreaming I was writing this story. When I woke up this morning, I had the words that needed to be written down. I'm an optimist...but a worried one today.
I'm alarmed by some of the stories I have been reading.Horses are being abandoned, a bale of hay can cost up to $13 and horses can no longer be slaughtered (since 2006) in the USA for shipping overseas. That last one has caused horse owners to abandon the disabled horses or racehorses they can't afford to keep. Some Kentucky horses are in crisis!
Yes, it did seem like we won a victory when I heard that horses would not be suffering in some meat packing house and shipped across the ocean to those countries that eat horse meat. Little did I know that suddenly we would have too many horses to humanely deal with.
I grew up with horses and trained them for pleasure... I consider them as pets that are devoted, highly intelligent companions with feelings. In the picture I have included in this post were my own horses on our farm. It was a lazy day July 12, 1977 on a hill at Red House as they looked off in the distance. Well fed and happy. The white Thoroughbred/Appaloosa was my stallion, Santana, to his left...Velvet, Sweet Tart and Whiskey. Horses are dear friends not dinner. That's just where I stand on the issue.
For the last two summers, Kentucky has dealt with drought. There had been no rain (except lately) and our lush pastures that usually produce 3 cuttings of hay might have had only one cutting. I used to cut my own hay (the rectangular bale type) and sell the excess for some extra spending money back in the 70's. I don't remember it being over a couple dollars or so per bale. Last night, I was reading an article that it was now being sold for $7 -8 a bale (you might even have to buy it out of state) and it said in some feed stores here it was $13!! I'm absolutely shocked at how much it costs to feed a horse now.
Well, back to my train of thought. I wanted to be sure about the cost of horses hay now so I called around to check things out. On my first call, I found out that a bale of hay actually was selling at $6.95 for local orchard grass (approx. 40lbs), $13.95 for Michigan hay (approx. 8o lbs.). A 50 lb. bag of select feed: $6.75.
Even though I live in Central Kentucky, I am not into the everyday business of buying and selling since I placed all my horses in loving families back in 1992 before moving out to California. How do you sell a dear friend?
One call I made today to someone in the heart of the horse business says that all this has been caused by excessive breeding by irresponsible horse owners. Not every horse needs to be bred and therefore we have way too many horses each year. They say that the slaughter houses did serve a purpose in keeping the overpopulation in check. (This wasn't what I wanted to hear) I can see their point, but...
I've also been told that horses are being turned loose to roam in herds in Eastern Kentucky. Also, racehorses that no longer race need to be adopted. One Kentucky Horse adoption place I found on the Internet was Blair's Equine Rescue , Kentucky Equine Humane Center and ReRun. Here's a sample of horses that are available now for adoption. These horses are absolutely beautiful animals and they deserve a loving home.
One thing I do know for sure is that a horse knows love with his heart and mind and when you look deep into their eyes they love you unconditionally. Kentucky IS the Horse Capitol of the World....let's be proud of that and do what's right for our horses. Adopt Rescued horses if you can.
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Lizette Fitzpatrick - Baby Boomer Real Estate Relocation Specialist with Prudential Don Foster in Richmond, Kentucky.
Rated number #1 featured Kentucky Realtor on Activerain.com and Localism.com. Publisher/Author for the only Central Kentucky email newsletter on local real estate listings and sold properties, Kentucky relocation, local events, homeowner information and fun! For more information on Lizette, Kentucky Horse Farms, Prudential Don Foster, Madison County, Fayette County, Richmond or Lexington, Kentucky click on Lizette.us.
See for yourself what Lizette's extraordinary clients have to say about their Kentucky real estate experience.
Hmmmm...I wonder why it expired? 