I love Horsetopia. Truly I do.
First we have this filly that these folks picked up at the "sell barn" for $70.
After someone observes that she looks like she might be bred (she's a two year old so, yes, it's possible), their response is not to, you know, call the vet and find out or anything. This is their response in its unedited entirety:
"We dont think is is prego so she mite have a critter or 2 but we have her out for just a bit longer & then bringer her back in to pour more feed to her & get her checked-out then she will be turned out again & As for her name my husband just calls her blue cause we have a pally & his name is yellow horse 7 then we a dun colt we are breaking & his name is dunny so they kinda get there name from there color & i think they need to have real name beside there reg. names"
They have another thread going about whether or not their baby palomino is show quality (if you have to ask, you shouldn't be breeding!). After several posters observe that it has a hernia that should be cared for, they respond (again, unedited) "I could be a herina but we havent even had her outta the pasture since she was born but we are bringin her in in a few days!!!"
Of course, they have, and again I quote "There are 24 mares 5 geldings 6 yearlings & 11 babies & 3 studs!!!"
See, I just don't know how there will ever be enough responsible people to clean up the unholy mess that is continually created by people like this, who live in their own world where, lalala it is just fine to let horses breed willy-nilly like bunnies in the backyard. The palomino filly IS cute (though not a halter filly) but the rest of what they've produced is a study in mediocrity.
You know, it's just like dogs and cats. I used to live in L.A. and if you mentioned casually at a cocktail party there that your dog wasn't neutered, at least one person would have thrown a drink on you. Then I moved to Oregon and almost immediately, a teenager bragged in front of me that they'd just had a litter of Shar Pei/Rott/Pit mix puppies and everybody in Oregon was like OMG that's so KYOOT (admittedly this was in Gresham, meth-cooking loser capital of the PNW). I was aghasted.
It seems fairly easy to educate the city folk about things like responsible breeding, but how do you get through to people whose families have been churning out horses like popcorn for the past 100 years that it's just not okay to do that anymore? I keep thinking the only thing that is going to teach them is not being able to sell and not being able to feed, but the horses suffer so much in that process. I'm curious, are any of the organizations like FFA and 4-H in your area actually addressing the changed market with the kids and talking about how reckless breeding is not such a great idea? Or are they still encouraging kids to breed, breed, breed?
