For many years, horses that are sick, old, or otherwise unwanted were sent to slaughterhouses.  When I was a teenager, you based the price of a horse on the minimum it would get at a slaughterhouse.  This didn't mean the horse would go there if it didn't sell, but it was a reasonable minimum to begin with.

There have definitely been some major issues with how equine slaughterhouses are operated in this country.  I remember being horrified at a documentary depicting the horrible abuses horses bound for slaughter endured.  This should never have been allowed, nor should it ever be again.  It is completely possible to humanely care for and slaughter a horse both on the way to and during slaughter.  Anyone who hunts or raises their own meat (our ancestors, for example) can attest to that.Outlawing slaughterhouses for horses was intended to help combat the abuses, but it has led to even more suffering and cruelty.  Horses in the United States are in more dire situations than they ever were.  As the economy began to decline, the ability to feed and care for horses became less attainable by some people.  The result was massive abandonment of horses across the country.  The bottom has completely dropped out of the horse market, making it difficult to sell horses even if one wanted to.  Now, instead of being put down in one quick motion, horses are left to suffer and starve to death when their owners either turn them loose or are unable to feed them.

The old system of slaughter didn't work, but the new system that completely eliminates that option isn't working either.  We need to work with our policy makers, horse owners, and slaughterhouses to find a solution that will end needless suffering and restore a free-flowing market to the equine industry.