Obama Approves Slaughtering And Eating Horses

[tjdmom]

I'd never eat horse meat and if everyone did the same, there would be no issue. I guess other counties feel differently. Let's hope our doggies aren't next! Yuck!

[wildcard]

Before I became involved with showing/training dogs, I showed/trained horses.

The horses I owned had all had multiple owners (when you are 11 and you outgrow your 12 hand pony but still want to compete you sell the pony--probably to a 7 or 8 yr old who will ride him for 3-4 yrs then sell him to the next child etc, and buy a different horse until you outgrow him or become more skilled etc.). This happens because people rarely have the money to maintain multiple horses, and frankly, the horses are better off being ridden by someone else. Although I loved my horses, they were working animals, not pets. Even when I worked at a mini horse farm, they were not pets per se. Horses are usually treated as livestock, not like the dogs and cats that live in our homes. My horses were babied, but frankly they would have been just as happy with plain old handling, food, and exercise. They tolerated the kisses and hugging and baby talk but those things were for my benefit, not theirs. I know there are exceptions, there are always exceptions to everything. I had one horse that had the memory of an elephant and he recognized me when I saw him in a retirement pasture 15 years after I had sold him. I like to think he was happy to see me, the the reality is that he probably just wondered if I had the Tic Tacs he loved to eat so much.

For the most part horses are still a luxury item. With the economy still in the toilet, in southern Indiana we are seeing many horses that are being dumped in state parks because their owners can no longer afford to keep them (i.e. their farms are being foreclosed on so there is no place to keep them). These horses are being found in physically emaciated and mentally trashed conditions, having never been forced to "fend for themselves" like this.

Horse rescue groups are far more difficult to find than dog rescue groups, and very few county animal shelters have provisions for large animals like a horse. It is expensive to operate a horse rescue- you have to have the land, the time to groom and exercise the animals (to keep them tame they must be handled, these are prey animals and easily revert to beeing spooky and unmanageble), and the money to feed and vet them.

The realty is that humane, regulated slaughter, may be the best alternative for these unwanted animals. It is not very much different than what goes on in our animal shelters daily, except that at least the horse carcasses are being used for something as opposed to adding the cost of cremation or mass burial which is what happens to our shelter dogs and cats.

Stacy Newton (Papillons, Maltese, and a Marvelous Yorkie)

[yorkietalkjilly]

I realize the reason for the humane slaughter but I personally, having had my own horse and love those big dear animals so, I could never eat horsemeat ever ever ever just like I could never eat dog or cat meat. I just couldn't get it down or stand to see it on the plate - or smell it.

[Micah my love]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I realize the reason for the humane slaughter but I personally, having had my own horse and love those big dear animals so, I could never eat horsemeat ever ever ever just like I could never eat dog or cat meat. I just couldn't get it down or stand to see it on the plate - or smell it.