When we arrive at the collecting station of the slaughterhouse Clay, we immediately realize that the horses still have no weather protection whatsoever. The broken shelters still have not been fixed although December is one of the hottest months of the year. The horses are kept in paddocks that offer no shade at all, not even from trees. Several of…

Today we visit another rodeo, called “jineteada” in Uruguay. Again, the horses are tied to a wooden post and blindfolded until the rodeo starts. They are very frightened. One horse falls down once and another twice while tied to the post and trying to free themselves. When the rodeo starts and the blindfold is taken off, the rider kicks the horse…

When we arrive at the collecting station of horse dealer Bardanca in Tranqueras, we see about 20 horses on the fields at the edge of the forest. The land Bardanca rents from the forestry company Weyerhaeuser is vast and there are likely more horses inside the eucalyptus plantation but cannot be seen from the road.

We note that several horses are…

At 9:30, driving north in direction of Rivera, we see a huge pen area with cattle and horses next to the road and decide to stop by. Gauchos on horseback tell us that a livestock auction sale took place yesterday and that the animals are going to be loaded today.

Most of the pens hold cattle; there are three pens with horses. Two of these pens…

While we are following the horses in our car and listening to the radio commenting the “raid” (long-distance race), we hear that a horse went down shortly before the finish. When the three horses winning the race approached the end of the 105 km distance, the second placed one broke down. According to the radio commentator, the horse rolled over…

The Bar S Feedlot in Shelby, Montana, is operated on behalf of the Canadian horse slaughter plant Bouvry in Alberta. The massive feedlot holds approximately 1’600 horses and serves as a collecting station for US horses purchased for Bouvry in various US states. The horses spend sometimes months inside the feedlot to be fattened up before they are…

The horse auction in Billings is one of the largest monthly horse sales in the country. Due to its close proximity to the Canadian border, the sale is very popular among kill buyers. Each month, approximately 400 horses are sold to slaughter.

The “slaughter prospects” are kept in an extensive, shelter-less outdoor pen area. 30 to 40 horses are…

We return to the weekly horse sale in Sugarcreek operated by Ohio’s largest kill buyer, Leroy Baker. He is currently shipping approximately three loads of horses a week to the Viande Richelieu plant in Québec, Canada.

There are approximately 125 horses inside the pen area when we arrive at midday. We note a severely emaciated gelding in a pen by…

We arrive at the New Holland Sales Stables in the early morning. We immediately note that there are several horses with multiple cuts on their faces in the loose horse pens, injuries likely sustained in transport. A Paint horse is especially affected with a bleeding forehead injury as well as another serious cut above his left eye. In another pen,…