Around here, quite a few OTTBs that aren't bought by the sport horse people go to a horse dealer who then keeps them long enough to get them looking sad and sickly and then flips them to people with a sob story about how badly they were treated on the track and how they were saved from slaughter. If no one bites for a suitable profit (and usually she is given them for free), she euthanizes them and buries them in her back yard. It's a better end than slaughter I guess but it's still horrible. To clarify: this isn't a rumor... Digger was on the track last September and seen by my coach then, healthy and fit. A month later his previous owner bought him from the dealer, terribly underweight, covered in ringworm and nearly dead - she was told he had come off the track in July and the dealer had been trying to put weight on him ever since. Suuuure...

I've not dealt with any kill buyers and I can't get on the track so I don't know how many horses end up on the trucks. Given horses are slaughtered here, I would imagine another big chunk goes to slaughter but I can't say for sure.

Last Edited By: fleetingmaeris Jul 12 08 5:16 PM. Edited 1 times.