I just read my previous post through and perhaps I didn't get down exactly what I wanted to express the first time. I am against the slaughter of horses, and for that matter, against the slaughter of any animal for human consumption. What I was trying to say was that in my eyes, no animal deserves to be slaughtered, and if some animals are slaughtered, then it doesn't make any difference if they are bred for meat or as domestic pets, they all feel terror and pain, so in my opinion it shouldn't be done. Sorry if that wasn't clear before

I'm not sure if it's the same in the USA, but here, all horses are issued with passports which keep records of all veterinary treatment and other health problems and such. The passports eliminate some horses from being slaughtered due to some medication they ahev had in the past. Of course, that does not solve the problem but I think it contributes to the number of horses which are slaughtered.