Wild horses are going to die brutally in slaughterhouses. It’s all legal | Opinion
Kentucky likes to call itself the Horse Capital of the World.
Unless, that is, you mean wild horses, in which case some elected officials seem perfectly willing to let them be shipped off to slaughter in Mexico or Canada.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about some herds of wild horses that live on abandoned mine lands outside of Jackson in Breathitt County. Some were released by owners for grazing, many more have been born there. They are a big draw for tourists, who see the horses with tour guides from the Appalachian Horse Project.
The horses are overpopulating and becoming a genuine nuisance to nearby homeowners, as well as a danger to motorists when the animals come down off the mountain in winter to search for food.
But for two years, the Appalachian Horse Project and the Kentucky Equine Education Project Foundation have been working on a solution: A sanctuary where the horses could get veterinary care, adequate food, and birth control to slow down the birth rate.
The Breathitt County Industrial Authority voted unanimously to support the project and was actively looking for land. Chairwoman Sue Clair said the authority remained supportive of whatever it can do to help because the horses have brought so much tourism.
“The horses have been a great drawing card here in Breathitt County,” Clair said. “People come from far and wide to look at them”
But in the meantime, the Breathitt Fiscal Court ignored that potential solution and voted to get rid of the horses — full stop.
That invoked the state’s stray-hold process, which allows anyone to come and get the horses, take them to be rehomed, or more likely to be sold to dealers who take the horses on a grueling journey north or south to a slaughterhouse.
Right now, there are 24 horses listed as stray holds on the website of the Office of the State Veterinarian. That means they are free roaming horses that have been picked up by their new owners if no one else claims them. The Department of Agriculture says this website is their only involvement in the process, and it’s entirely left up to county officials.
Five of the horses listed have been picked up by the Kentucky Humane Society, including Jasmine and Thor, a mare and foal I wrote about. They will be fed, taken care of and rehomed.
The other 19 were picked up by Brandon Ferguson, a horse dealer in West Liberty. In a phone interview, he told me that he will try to tame and sell the horses for riding. But it’s also possible, he said, that he will sell them to someone who will in turn sell them to a kill pen that holds horses until they can be shipped to slaughterhouses.
And Ferguson is playing by the rules, such as they are.
Witnesses in Breathitt County have reported that other horses are just being sedated with dart guns, and hauled off without even filling out the stray-hold paperwork. It’s unclear exactly how many have been carted away without documentation.
Horse slaughter was banned in the United States in 2007 because, as a culture, we have decided that while we eat cows, horses are companion animals. Other countries do consume horse meat, which is why slaughterhouses still exist in Mexico and Canada.
Does Breathitt County Judge Executive Jeffrey Noble care? Who knows? He has refused to return numerous requests for comment. Same for Jamie Holbrook, the county animal control officer.
If Kentucky really wants to consider itself the Horse Capital of the World, it needs to revamp our stray-hold laws to make sure it can’t be used to funnel horses for human consumption. Then the General Assembly could assist these non-profits with more funding for population control.
That work to help the free-roaming horses in other counties, such as Pike, Magoffin and Perry, will continue, said Elisabeth Jensen, who runs the KEEP Foundation.
“Since this issue came up, and we realized the Breathitt fiscal court would not be cooperative in solving this problem, other counties have said they would like to work with us to have this Appalachian Horse Center in their county,” Jensen said.
“We hope to find a solution.”
KEEP and other groups will also be working with legislators about new statutory language about the stray-hold pickup rules and what happens after that.
This is a complicated issue. But in a state that relies so much on horses — their breeding, their racing, their brand, their companionship — finding a solution is the least Kentucky can do.
This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Wild horses are going to die brutally in slaughterhouses. It’s all legal | Opinion."
