Quote:
Originally Posted by jaxie
Re the eating horses discussion, while I wouldn't want to eat a horse because I find them beautiful and girls and ponies and stuff, many horses will have medication in them that people shouldn't eat. Race horses for instance aren't meant to go into the food chain.
I also don't eat lobster, or any shellfish boiled alive.
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I used to run a horse yard and have always owned horses. Horses that are on any sort of medication or who have recently been on medication, cannot be sold to the meat chain, not even for pet food. That being said, there are unscrupulous slaughtermen. There was a case about 12 years ago where stollen ponies were being taken to an unlicensed abattoir on the Isle of White. Fortunately, horses have to now have a passport, which means horses can no longer be purchased at market without full id and id means everything is traceable, including ownership veterinary records.
The horses and ponies that get sold on for meat are mainly Dartmoor/Exmoor and New Forrest wild ponies. Retired racehorses do end up in the meat chain but tragically, they usually get shipped on the hoof to foreign lands for that slaughter.
Whilst I agree with a lot of what Jack says about death being death regardless of the animal; having worked for so long with horses, I feel as though I've gained a spiritual connection with these wonderful beasts. For that reason, I couldn't bring myself to eat horse meat. Its the same with cats and dogs. I've owned and deeply connected with both and so eating them would be like eating my fellow man.