Do you think horses mind that we eat meat?

[silvershadow81]

This is something i wonder every time I am at a show and my girl nudges me for a nibble of my cheeseburger!

Horses sense most things with us humans, and I wondered if they can sense that we eat meat and whether or not that un nerves some of them??

If they do sense it, than do you think that they can tell that it is not a horse meat smell??

Sorry, bit of an odd one!

 

[ladyt25]

My old pony was doing pony rides one day. I took my eyes off him for a second whilst he was nibbling grass and then realised he'd actually eaten someone's cheeseburger they'd left wrapped up with some bags etc beside me! So no, i don't think they care - funny thing though he ate the burger but left the bread!!

 

[Storminateacup]

The mongols ( Ghengis Khan) used to feed their horses ground up meat in their feed to give them protein. Not much grass on the Mongolian Steppes and they needed performance horses for battle.
We feed protein ( non - meat derived) in their mixes. It wasn't that long ago (before BSE) that cattle food had animal protein added to it, some horse feeds to had it though mostly fish meal I believe.
Horses my be fearful of the smell of blood, and not have teeth for meat eating or tearing chunks off a carcass, but protein is necessary for the growth and repair of body tissue in all living things.
There is plenty of protein in cereals, oat, barley, maize and grass.

As long as the meat protein is minced up, as in a hamburger or sausage a horse will eat it if he likes the taste.
Its not going do any harm in small doses.

 

[BarmyC]

Funny you should say that at shows when i was a kid me and my pony loved nothing better than to share an burger and egg sandwich.

I used to get told off but he would steal it from me and spit the bun out!!!

 

[catembi]

My friend had an ex racer & showed her an open tin of cat food once cos the horse wanted to see what she was holding. The horse got v offended & upset, ran off & wouldn't come near her. Never seen her behave like that before.

 

[Apalacia01]

Pony likes nothing more that a ham sandwich and orange squash. She has been known to eat mobiles though...

 

[blackcob]

[ QUOTE ]
My friend had an ex racer & showed her an open tin of cat food once cos the horse wanted to see what she was holding. The horse got v offended & upset, ran off & wouldn't come near her. Never seen her behave like that before.

[/ QUOTE ]

Reminds me of the time I'd just come from the feed merchants and I'd bought a dried pigs ear while I was there to give to the yard dog (only 40p and it makes his day!). Went up to fetch Beauty not realising I'd left the pig's ear in my pocket, and when she came up to me she had a little snuffle near my pocket and then went absolutely bonkers. She was snorting, backing up, spinning around and bolting away, the works - very bizarre but it was definitely the ear that caused the reaction!

 

[sidesaddlegirl]

Maybe it depends on the horse!

My mum told me when she was a little girl in the 1950's, that sometimes if they had beef the night before, she would run out the next morning and feed the milk horse some of it when the milk man made his rounds and he'd eat it!

 

[Forget_Me_Not]

I was taught by a natural horsemanship trainer that horses can smell what we eat, so they could smell if you ate meat. Her theory was before we made horses domestic they needed to know if the other animals were A, meat eaters, and secondly if they'd eaten recently or likely to be hungry for them (Remembering preditors don't eat daily).

 

[amandaco2]

erm i dont really think they notice tbh.
one of my friends horses pinches any food-and i mean burgers,bacon sandwiches- the lot.cant be good for him though.
i HAVE heard alot of horses dont like the smell or sight of pigs though.one of my friends horses was going mad in his stable once and they found a pigs ear the dog had dropped in the bed and he was calm once it had gone!not heard of one objecting to the smell of cooked pig though.

 

[Angua2]

Oh no if that is true what about curry nights!

 

[the watcher]

I used to know one that was keen on ham sandwiches on picnic rides.

 

[Cop-Pop]

I don't think they really care tbh, tho if you suddenly started eating horsemeat in front of them they might get a little nervy

I don't eat meat and horses don't seem to react any differently to me than meat eaters...

 

[Sooty]

I know you are not supposed to give horses animal products (I don't even feed cod liver oil), but our pony always tries to get the scotch eggs and pork pies at hunt meets. She hates grapes, which are supposed to be bad for horses (or is it dogs? Or both?), so can't be that silly.

 

[Storminateacup]

Pig meat is different.

Apparently the smell of pig is a heritable memory in equines, who have passed on the fear (in the genes) from generation to generation from times when pigs were a huge aggressive wild boars like creatures, roaming the dense forests in prehistoric times, ( another reason horses don't like going into woodland).
Wild pigs or boars as they were then, were ferocious and would attack other animals in packs ( like you see in gangster movies when the villan gets hurled to the pigs), probably picking off the weak or the young. They were hunted to extinction in medieval times, but the domestic pig is bred from them so although far less aggressive, still have that smell that triggers the response in most horses.

Pigs and boars are omnivores (eat meat and plant material) and have huge bone crushing teeth.

 

[Storminateacup]

We are predators, but we make the horse our friend, the horse knows we are a predator cause we smell of consumed meat, yet we protect him from other predators,
- who would you rather have as a friend, the predator or another herbivore who might get eaten too?
Hence the strong bond that can develop between human and horse.

When we are strong our horses peep out from behind us, saying if he says its safe, then it must be!
( well not always - but I hope you get my drift - the horse takes confidence from his owner/rider)