5-27 FB Abandoned Horses

 Love going to the county fair? The rides, the kids, the corn dogs, the 4-Hers grooming their animals and now abandoned horses. What? That’s right, it appears that folks are taking their horses to local fair grounds and dropping them off. For what purpose? I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back to explain. The Minidoka County Fair Grounds are located in Rupert, Idaho. It is a highly diversified facility. Events include: chariot races, high school rodeos, Hispanic rodeos, carnival and horse races during the July 4th celebration, etc. But speaking of horses and in the words of Magic Valley.com, an internet news service, “a tough economic climate combined with legislation that forced U.S. horse processing plants to close their doors in 2007 has weakened the horse market. Many can’t afford to keep their horses and have put them up for sale under the poor market conditions. When buyers can’t be found, some owners have simply taken their animals to fair grounds because, and in the words of Minidoka County Fair Grounds groundskeeper Greg Walton: “They can’t afford to feed ‘em.”

Minidoka County Fair Board Chairman Dan Kindig said a year ago the market was so bad the fair board took extra measures at the fairgrounds to prevent people from leaving horses there.