{"id":51,"date":"2020-08-20T12:29:03","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T12:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horseycounsel.com\/?p=51"},"modified":"2021-01-03T15:08:32","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T15:08:32","slug":"are-horses-pets-or-livestock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horseycounsel.com\/are-horses-pets-or-livestock\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Horses Considered Pets or Livestock in the United States?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Are horses pets or livestock in the US?<\/h2>\n
Back in the day, nearly 100 years ago, horses had a well-defined role in our society, and there was no question regarding their usefulness and purpose. They used to pull anything from carriages to plows and heavy weapons during wartime, and when they weren’t doing that, they served as the primary means of personal transportation for pretty much anyone.<\/p>\n
Almost everyone owned a horse, and while people respected the animal, they also kind of had to – they depended on it. The healthier the horse was, the better it would perform.<\/p>\n
In those days, while humans did bond with their equine companions to a certain degree, and surely enjoyed their company, the question of whether horses were pets or livestock wasn’t a question at all. Horses were livestock period. They served a purpose, and they fulfilled their role to a fault. However, the line between pet and livestock is a bit blurry nowadays.<\/p>\n
Are horses pets or livestock in the US? As it turns out, horses are officially regarded as livestock in the United States. So no, they are definitely not pets, not officially anyway.<\/strong><\/p>\n
To clarify, and to delve deeper into this interesting subject, let’s start with the official classification given by the ASPCA<\/a>.<\/p>\n