After the Finish Line: The Race to End Horse Slaughter in America

A hard knocking, "real" view of our Thoroughbred industry and the wicked way that we so easily dipose of our horses! No other animal that works so hard for us is disposed of in this manner. We should be ashamed! Well writted and factual.

This book tells it like it is. There is a dark side to the owning/training/showing of horses, and there are the equine "angels" who do their best to help equines when their days of profitability are over. The only negative is that the book is a bit outdated since the 3 American slaughterhouses have shut down and the horses are now going to Mexico and Canada.

I needed this book to help me write an essay for college. It was a great tool to have along side my work. It is against slaughtering horses on US soil and it is filled with insightfull information and helped me tie all my lose ends up. A graphic read but good.

There are many, many nice people in the Thoroughbred industry. But if it solely comes to judging those in influential positions who can make positive change, the handling of the beautiful equine athletes after the finish line has been nothing short of criminal. Bill Heller exposes the ties that the horse slaughter industry has to racing in this brutally honest and very important book for fans of the sport at any interest level. And don't think for a second that the slaughterhouses who "process" the meat for foreign consumption become the final vestiges for the runners who are just not good enough, too old or battered to race anymore, or too old or just don't have the pedigree to stay in the breeding shed. There are runners that have regal bloodlines and/or major stakes victories who plummet through into the sales ring to be sold for pennies on the dollar or sold privately for shipment to the plants; crammed together in double-decker semis, without adequate food and water and oftentimes even more brutally treated during the final hours before a bolt is fired into their heads, hopefully putting the Thoroughbreds quickly out of a misery that may have built up for years. After the Finish Line is not an easy read. But there is some hope captured in several chapters, with Heller discussing the horse sanctuary and adoption movements, with a listing of organizations throughout North America. You may not look at the regal days of the Triple Crown or Breeders' Cup Championships the same way after reading the book. It hopefully will get you involved in some way to assist those who have the resources to make a difference before that last race is run.

If you love horses & want to help save them from slaughter this is the manual. Bill Heller tells the truth. Along with the stories & information about the horrible practice of horse slaughter there are websites listed for every state where you can find horse shelters if you want to adopt a horse or need to find a permanent home for one you love. I found a shelter in Michigan that I send a little gift to monthly. My first foster horse there was a blind palamino named Billy. His owner put him there before she passed away of a terminal illness. Billy passed away too so now I foster one of his companions. For a city person it's fun to help lovely creature. There are two reasons to stop horse slaughter besides being kind. One, horse theft has risen because someone can make a profit selling a stolen horse to a slaughter auction. Children wake up to find their beloved pet horse has been stolen. It's too heartbreaking! Two, personally, I believe that horses are being more frequently injured on racetracks because there are not enough of them running. I think they are fatigued by running too often. HR 503 passed in Congress. If you love horses please contact your senators about saving them from slaughter. I am editing this review because the horse slaughters have been shut down. Now we need laws where horses cannot be transported in double decker trucks to go to slaughter in Canada and Mexico. Fifty nine Belgium Draft horses tipped over in Wadsworth IL in '07. It took all the local fire departments five hours to cut the truck open. Some of the horse had been so horribly maimed I cannot say how bad it was in a review. The horses that had to be put down as soon as the truck was opened suffered agony for the entire five hours not to mention riding in a truck where it was too short to hold up their lovely heads for G-d knows how many hours. Where is our humanity?