If she can do and do it right, then good for her. My concern is that she gets on her campains and is successful in the short run but in the long run has done a serious misjustice to our horse community. We have had lively discussions about slaughter houses, pros and cons, and I am not a big fan of slaughter houses but they do serve a purpose. Some people here were mortified that euthanasia clinics are sprouting up but what do we do with our old. lame unwanted horses that you can't give away, people don't have the money to buy them, people don't have the money to feed them much less their selves. Then you add the cost of health maintainence and people get overwhelmed. Rescues are seeing an increase in starving, abused horses and can only take in so many. Thank God for CMHR and everyone on this forum that supports them because we are at least stepping up and taking care of our own. I talked to Marty on the phone the other day and they are seeing an increase with many horses out there still to be rescued.
Many on this forum have big horses and realize the minis are much easier to afford than the biggies. I call my horses quarter horses as the feed and care is about 1/4 of the big guys. Feed in my area is $280/ton which doesn't go very far if you have a few big horses. It's the big horses that are paying the price in this economic environment. You are hearing way too frequently horses turned loose to fend for themselves because the owners don't have the resources to keep them. The rendering plant recently closed down in our area so if you have a big horse die or need to have one put down it costs between $400-600 to euthanize and dispose of horses. If you can't pay your mortgage or feed your family, where is your priority. While most everyone here are responsible owners, many out in the big bad world aren't. Slaughter houses at least gave horse owners an option to deal with the unwanted horse situation. Too bad that isn't an option and now horses are starving, turned loose to fend for themselves and are dire circumstances and we have Madeiline Pickens to thank for it.
Okay, let's address the mustang problem. Buying a million acres to house all the mustangs and having cabins and learning centers for the mustangs is a noble cause. While I admit I don't have all the info on what she plans to do, does she have a responsible breeding program to go along with her plans for a sanctuary? If she doesn't have a responsible breeding program and gelds all the stallions, then as the horses die with none to replace them, we lose our heretage of wild roaming mustangs. Very noble cause to save them now but what about the future? This sounds too close to the noble cause of shutting down the slaughter houses and saving our domestic horses.
