Killing Horses for Humans to Eat!

[OldChurchEggery1]

Quote:

It could be called the fancy French word for horse- "cheval." Doesn't that sound like a meat that would be lightly seared and moist, garnished with some parsley and a side of braised asparagus or the like? It's all in the presentation.

 

[EweSheep]

Yes I remember the word Cheval....in many of the Food Network and Andrew Z's eating a horse. He said it is delicious!

 

[tdgill]

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It is a very touchy subject. You need to remember, for most horse owners, their horses are pets. It'd be the same as saying "Well, I'll just have my dog/cat processed into meat when it starts to get old." Most horse owners have a very deep relationship to their horses.

My horses were my pets. And so are my dogs, cats, chickens, ducks AND fish. I wouldn't eat MY pets... but I might eat YOURS. lol.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
It is a very touchy subject. You need to remember, for most horse owners, their horses are pets. It'd be the same as saying "Well, I'll just have my dog/cat processed into meat when it starts to get old." Most horse owners have a very deep relationship to their horses.

My horses were my pets. And so are my dogs, cats, chickens, ducks AND fish. I wouldn't eat MY pets... but I might eat YOURS. lol.

Nope, none available right now.

 

[PintoPasoFino]

I think that slaughter of horses done in a humane way is a neccessary evil. I work in the horse industry, training horses and teaching riding lessons. Horses are livestock, but many people see them as pets, which is where the controversy comes in. I personally would not send my horses to slaughter. I have taken a skinny, blind, foundered old Welsh pony out of the hands of a kill buyer at an auction. I have taken in a starved, sick, horse and rehabbed him. I have adopted from a rescue. I would not allow my horses to have a fate, but I understand the need for the service for others.

It does cost a lot of money to get a horse euthed and then to pay for disposal. To many people it's just not an option. Many good, reputable breeders have gone out, due to the flooding of the horse market. Many auction houses have closed. It again costs money to haul a horse to auction, pay for the sellers fee, and then to only get $10 for your horse, it costs the seller money to do that.

I have seen sellers drug a horse and pass it off as a child safe mount. New owners get it home to discover it was drugged and now they have a dangerous animal on their hands. Is it worth risking the health of others to dump a horse? A boarder at the barn where I work at went to her friend's barn one August afternoon. She agreed to ride someone else's horse, a horse that was a dumped horse from a racetrack. The horse threw her, she landed chin first, yes, she was wearing a helmet, but as she hit her chin it did no good. She died 2 days later of severe head trauma. God speed, Nikki.

If this provides a way for a dangerous, or completely unsound horse to be a useful equine citizen and benefit others in some way, IE providing food, then so be it.

Rescues are completely flooded. I have heard stories from multiple people about people putting their unwanted horses in people's horse trailers at forest preserves, at auctions. Seen way to many starved horses. Farmers around here are converting their hay fields to crop fields, as they get more money that way. As a result, the price of hay is way up. The price of grain is way up. There will be more horses left out in the back pasture to eat what they can find and slowly suffer.

At least this gives the USDA a chance to do inspections of any horse plants. The industry will have to have the same standards as beef and pork plants.

There will never be a solution, or an end to the unwanted, unusable horses. Perhaps this will help some.

 

[darkmatter]

Meat is Meat, whatever the source:

 

[Midwest Lizabeth]

I am very pleased that they finally came to their senses and have again opened up the US killer market. Whether we like it or not, horses are livestock. Livestock is valued on the price per pound in the killer market. When they shut down the market, then the prices fell to nothing and horses were dumped all over the place because their was no market.

Horses were a big deal for many years. It got to the point that many weren't willing to pay fair market value on even trained horses. There are good horses that end up in the killer pens for whatever reason. My first horse, a very tricked out upper level-probably dressage horse, came out of a killer pen. We have our "for life" horses and we used to train horses. I'm horrible at auctions and if I bought a horse, I'd have to sell a horse. The challenge for me was training a horse and moving on to a new youngster. When the bottom fell out of the horse market, we quit going to auctions because you couldn't get a decent price for a trained horse. We weren't alone.

Whether you eat horse or not (we don't), there needs to be a market for the livestock. Overall, it's a good thing. I don't know if we'll be able to sell our oldsters when the time comes or end up keeping them on the property with us. A gruff acquaintance tells us "you can either sell them or smell them". . .he was referring to cattle, but the same thing does apply to horses. So many of us have gotten too far removed from having to make hard decisions. If the economy doesn't get better, there will be more of us having to make hard decisions. If you can't afford to euthanzie a horse and have it properly buried when it gets old, you can sell it and put money into your pockets to feed your family. Not saying it's right, but it is a tough choice.

 

[PotterWatch]

I don't have a problem with horses being slaughtered for meat as long as it is done as humanely as possible. I would rather eat a humanely treated horse steak than a poorly treated beef steak...

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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X2

Game is meat.
Insects are meat.
Livestock is meat.
Pets are meat.

People are meat. "Donner, party of seven!"

 

[draye]

Don't think I'd want to eat it myself, but...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................



I don't think that there is anything wrong with it. Just think of all the unwanted horses there are out there, and people just keep on breeding them anyway trying to get that perfect one. To me this is a way that can and will feed people. Now that being said.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................




I just hope that they do it in a humane way and not put them through all the torcher that alot if big time horse dealers do, you the abuse that alot of horses go through in a feed lot.........................all therm horror stories that you read about.