Take a look at THIS. For some reason I thought that this practice was stopped here in the US years ago.
Why would you think that? Is it any different from a cow slaughterhouse?
I just don’t get this outrage.
I mean, I’m a horse lover - I was horse-crazy as a young girl. I rode. I worked at a stable. I do like horses.
But I don’t get my panties in a twist because some people across the ocean like to eat them for dinner.
I don’t know if I would knowingly eat one for dinner, and I wouldn’t want to eat a horse I’d know in life, but c’mon folks - how is this REALLY different from eating cows, sheep, goats, deer, chicken, fish, ducks, buffalo, rabbits, and ostrich? (All of which I’ve sampled). Sure, OUR culture is creeped out by this, but others obviously aren’t. When it’s time for a horse to be put down how much does it matter if it’s eaten rather than tossed in a landfill or rendered for fertilizer and glue? (Because the truth MOST horses do not wind up in pet cemetaries)
Maybe I’m just weird…
I don’t really get the outrage, either. I’ve eaten horse meat on plenty of occasions, and have yet to see why it should be treated differently than beef or pork.
ditto
I find it pretty tasty, actually. It’s a much better, richer flavor than beef.
I’d willingly buy it here in the States if I could, but it is sadly unavailable. I used to eat it from time to time when I was stationed in Sicily.
Definitely normal. The Petards and Humaniacs are the weird ones.
We’ve always slaughtered them. Animals have been eating horse meat for a long time (not to mention the glue by-products).
I don’t think I’d like to eat a horse (mental block I suppose), but I see nothing inherently wrong with it. It’s another form of flesh.
My sister-in-law is a horse lover (all animals, actually). She won’t even give her horse up for slaughter when it’s his time. She puts them in formal graveyards for horses and has reserved a spot next to him (much to the dismay, I’m sure, of her husband!).
ok, current and long-time horse owner checking in.
i can’t get the link to connect, but it may just be my computer being funky today. what is the problem here? are there still people who haven’t figured out what goes into dog food, and how it gets there?
this is as sad as people who think meat for human consumption just “comes” from the grocery store, complete with plastic wrapping.
slaughterhouses ain’t nuthin’ new. several years ago there was a rash of horse thieving in the Eastern states, with the stolen animals more often destined for slaughter than for resale. (this when exporting animals for slaughter was still an option, and horsemeat was commanding good prices.) now THAT was something to get into a lather about – as well as indiscriminate slaughtering of wild horses, burros and donkeys, just to keep ranchers happy!
but an equine is a big animal, even when you’re talking about a pony. for all the will in the world, most people don’t have the place (or zoning permits) or money to bury Ol’ Paint when the time comes. i had to shell out about $600 each to a kindly local man to bury my two horses when i had to have them put down last year. i was lucky :rolleyes: enough to be able to afford that. but i can certainly see where many owners or small-time dealers just don’t have that to spare. or have the space to keep old or crippled animals that can no longer be used.
and yes, i’d probably try horsemeat some day, if the opportunity arose. 'course, if i’m willing to eat roasted rat…
I buried my mare and her foal when she died in foal. No one eats one of my animals. To my mind, the premarin mares have it much worse. Cathaterized 6 months at a time, not allowed to turn around or lie down during that time, kept pregnant constantly. The foals are brought up to market weight and sold to slaughter while the mare pops out another one headed for the same fate. After 8 or 9 years, they too are headed for the slaughterhouses.
Premarin is an estrogen replacement made from Pregnant mare’s urine. There are synthetic HRTs available. To my mind, there is no excuse for treating animals inhumanely. If they are destined for slaughter, let them be treated well up to that point. Don’t torture them for years first.
StG
Gah.
**St. Germaine ** I never knew that about premarin. If I ever have HRT, I will definately not consider that.
In my state, Indiana, it’s illegal to bury a horse carcass. I found that out last winter when a friend’s 19-year old horse died. My friend hired a backhoe to bury it. He explained that he could go to jail for the burial, but his wife would definitely kill him if he sent her favorite horse to the rendering plant.
Every year, many horses die of old age and injuries. Many more become dangerous through bad training and (shrugs). What are we to do with all this excess horseflesh?
Me too either. But do you have a choice? I mean, how do we ask for the synthetic stuff? Do the doctors even know which are real and which are fake?
The PMU situation is not as bad as the previous poster is painting it. A lot of the ranchers are breeding top bloodlines now and selling the foals for sporthorses. Quite a few adoption networks exist to home the foals as well. Example:
http://www.pmufoaladoption.org/
About 30% of the foals go to slaughter. I’m not saying that is a good thing, but 30% is not “all” or even “most.”
I thought that you couldn’t slaughter horses for meat due to whatever drugs/vaccinations they may have had in the past? At least this is what I was led to believe during a discussion on horse meat on my ‘rawfeeding for dogs’ list. Isn’t this also why we can’t bury them in the back field?
I really don’t know much about horses other than I want to learn to ride and get a couple in the future. That said, the idea of horse slaughterhouses doesn’t truly bother me. I don’t plan on eating my horses but the idea of eating horse isn’t repellant to me.
I’d try it at least once. Just like I’ve tried muskox, caribou, yak etc. The raising and slaughter of meat animals doesn’t bother me in the slightest as long as they’re raised and slaughtered humanely.
Horse slaughter is a fairly contentious issue on some of the horse boards I frequent.
Many who are opposed to it are more concerned with the conditions leading up to the slaughter (especially with respect to transportation to the slaughter house) than they are with the death itself. Horses are different from cattle. They are much quicker to panic and tend to kick, bite, and fight when crowded tightly together. So transportation to the slaughter house and movement through it could be much more traumatic for a horse than a cow.
On the other hand, there are lot of unwanted horses out there and no one really knows what would happen to them if slaughter wasn’t a legal means of disposal.
Then there are those concerned about whether future legislation aimed at protecting the human food supply will restrict the vaccinations, drugs, and supplements currently given to horses.
Personally, I have a horse and could never consider eating horse meat, but I can’t say my reasons are logical. Mostly it would give me a serious case of the oogies (like eating a dog or cat).
The medications and wormers that I administer my horses also clearly state that they are not to be fed to an animal that will later be consumed.
As most of the horse meat in this country is shipped to France or Belgium maybe it’s America’s secret revenge. 
That said, I object less to the actual slaughterhouses than I do to the conditions in some of the feed lots and the way horses are shipped to slaughter.
However, as long as horses are regarded as commodities and as long as breeders continue to churn out horses, we don’t have a ton of options.
Slowly starving to death in a field or dying of benign neglect isn’t any better.
I look at my guys as companions rather than livestock and will do my best to ensure an honorable death for them when the time comes.
I figure it’s the least I can do but not all horse owners shared that attitude.
I have eaten horse, and you can buy it for private use [at least in Ct.] The place I use is run exactly like any other meat packaging plant anywhere, inspections and all.
FWIW, Amfran Packing CO Inc Gendron Road, Plainfield, CT 06374
Leaner, and as far as I am concerned, no different than a cow, pig or buffalo. i would not eat a pet of mine, or another friend, but there are animals raised for meat and not companionship. Do you think I would raise chickens or sheep and not eat them? I know that meat does not come from some amorphous entity wrapped in plastic, it comes from animals that die for that purpose and should be acknowledged as such. I am grateful we have agriculture and can produce food for ourselves.
It’s said (I forget who by) that people of Celtic origin consider eating horse meat to be sacrilege because the ancient Celts worshipped Epona (the horse goddess) …
I used to be on that horse urine HRT, when I went to the doctor to request a change, he laughed at me …
I own several horses, and would eat horsemeat if the opportunity arose.
Not that I’d eat my own horses, when they die, they’re off to the zoo to feed the lions 