Thomas Mott Osborne: “I thank the chairman. In Nebraska, we have a great many horses that are used for roping, cutting horses, riding horses…”

“I thank the chairman. In Nebraska, we have a great many horses that are used for roping, cutting horses, riding horses and quarter horses. Not many racehorses. These horses are primarily for a function, and when a horse can no longer fulfill that function, something has to happen to the horse. Now, you can retire the horse and pay $2,000, $3,000 a year to house it, to feed it and to take care of it, but some people that own 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 horses simply cannot afford to do that. So I have been hearing from a great many horse owners, and these are people who care about horses, who love horses and who are concerned about horses, who have working ranches, and they say this is a bill that they cannot live with because of the cost. So I think we have to look at that. I certainly don't tolerate and don't condone any shipment that is, as has been mentioned, injurious. We don't want to see that. But we have to have some way, because this will decrease the value of the average horse about $300 simply because of the burial fees and the extra costs of taking care of horses. So this is not a solution to the problem. The people in my area oppose it, and I would strongly urge we defeat the bill.”