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Watching Kail Mantle, it was obvious how important his horses are to him. What wasn't so apparent is how he feels on the issue of horse slaughter in the United States. Horses are his livelihood and he wants to see slaughter houses reopened in the U.S.

"I think it's a necessary part of the industry, unless we can get more money into the outfits that are down in the trenches, the rescue outfits and some of the people who are trying to save these horses," he said.

Equine vet Dr. Lisa Jacobson also makes her living with horses. She agrees more money needs to go to rescuing unwanted horses, but doesn't agree with reopening horse slaughterhouses.

"It's not a humane system in any way shape or form, from the sale ring to the time they're put on the truck, if they're put on a feed lot, the whole system is cruel," she said.

The last slaughter house closed its doors in this country in 2007, but American horses are still being slaughtered, just in other countries like Canada and Mexico.

Kail said he thinks things are worse now than before the closure of horse slaughter plants in the U.S. He said just as many horses are being killed, it's just not happening here anymore.

Kail added he believes the United States can do a better job of maintaining humane slaughterhouses with tighter restrictions and more monitoring. On the other side of the debate they disagree.

Dr.Jacobson said the whole process is awful and it's not any more humane in the United States.
Both sides say they are for the horse, they're not necessarily for slaughter houses or against them. They just want to see the animals treated right.

Kail compared it to another popular industry.

"I think all the horse people are on the same team, it's just being mad at the people in the slaughter industry is kind of like being mad at the funeral director because your mom died," he said.

Dr. Jacobson said she doesn't have all the answers and the problem shouldn't all rest on her shoulders just because she's against horse slaughter. She said it is a horse community problem.

At the recent Summit of the Horse convention in Las Vegas, local people met with others across the nation to discuss the problem. The one thing both sides agreed on is the fact something needs to be done. Horses are starving, prices are down and there doesn't seem to be an easy solution.

Both sides of the debate said people need to be more educated on the issue and take the time to look at all the facts.