The Associated Press Reports:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – The New Mexico Racing Commission is holding a public hearing Wednesday on a proposal to adopt stricter standards for horse racing.
The commission will take testimony at its Albuquerque headquarters on model regulations developed by the Association of Racing Commissioners International.
The move comes after a New York Times story described New Mexico as having the worst horse safety record in the United States.
More of the story and video at KOB.com >>
RELATED READING
— CBS NEWS: Horse racing industry backs New Mexico reforms >>
— NEW MEXICO WATCHDOG: Stricter standards, tougher enforcement on the horizon in NM horse racing >>
Tuesday's Horse 
To quote from a blogger in Pennsylvania: “A horse that is slaughtered immediately ceases to contribute to the economy. A horse that lives adds constantly to the economy. He requires food, a veterinarian, a farrier, a dentist, and people to care for him. The ripple effect of that living horse across the economy is huge. Hay and grain will be grown and bought for him; he will require medication and vaccinations; he will require a place to live, like a boarding stable. From a purely economic point of view, it’s a no-brainer.”
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New Mexico officials have already stated publicly that they will not accept slaughter plants there. Udall commented on the situation with New Mexico racing and deaths for these horses.
Ending horse slaughter would close the escape hatch for the abusers. Whether racing ends or not, we have to have some way of saving horses lives before and after racing ends, if that is what is going to happen here.
Canada is dealing with its own issues after subsidies to breeders ended and the emotional blackmail and threats online are disgusting. Some may even be true. I have seen no reliable verifications of claims made re foal killings in media online.
Slaughter allows any kind of abuse to be covered up and continue. Racing can be reformed all day but horses will continue to be used and then sent to die as soon as they stop winning.
Racing’s longstanding issues are just part of the problem with abuse and the lies. Until horses are categorized as pets or domestic companions in all states, they have little or no protections. Enforcement has to be reliable and swift with quick reporting of incidents. Law enforcement has to be authorized to intervene in cases of neglect and abuse and taxpayers will be paying the bills for it all. We are currently paying 123 million a year for costs related to horse slaughter elsewhere. This has gone on for decades.
We need national law and national enforcement for abuses and to end slaughter. Until we can join together and work together, the calls for reforms will fall on deaf ears. If not issues with racing, then issues with other horses in other industries and on and on.
If we continue to refuse to contact Congress and demand an end to transport/slaughter, all of this will continue. When life itself is devalued, nothing else matters including humans.
What the illegal racing we have now? Who enforces humane treatment there?
Gary Stevens is right–racing has an image of killing humans and horses and yet, we do not act as the paying public and where it would do the most good–with Congress. Congress makes law and has the power of the purse re funds for enforcement.
First, end the killing and close the escape hatch for the abusers/breeders/killers. That forces the offenders into the open. They need to be held accountable immediately and not after years of violations. Racing cannot or will not act, so we have to. (www.Congress.org, HB2966, S1176)
The conversation after we rid ourselves of our transport to slaughter needs to be turned to how best to use the wealth of horses we have and how to grow the use of horses in the many areas they are of service to man. If you consider the value of each horse, you can easily see the years of income and service we can expect when we join with our work and play partners, the horses and other equines we have always had.
There is no friend to man like the equines. Look at how they have helped us for thousands of years and how they fit into so many needs today. We need every one of our horses and other equines as much as we always did. That’s what we need to discuss re the future of our best friends. We simply cannot afford to lose any of our horses to slaughter or misuse.
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mpclark, i wish i could speak as well as you, you sum it all up so nicely, you should be a reporter. Im living next door to new mexico in co an hour away, and im so thankful they are not putting up with a slaughterhouse. It is the paying public that needs to speak out against the abuse before during and after racing, i believe finally that the public are learning the truth about what really goes on with our horses.
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The only rational, sane solution is to these neverending horrors is for a ban by governments and casinos of any gaming which utilizes live animals in any manner whatsoever. Consumers in the gaming industry don’t support animal cruelty and are opting to spend their gambling dollars on the many far more humane gaming alternatives available, yet the racing industry and officials cannot see the obvious… while injuries and deaths of humans and horses continue to mount. And what sheer lunacy that a recent proposal to build a horse slaughter plant in the state of New Mexico would offset the reality that the industry is failing on every level.
Thank you for a fine article.
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