Would you eat horse meat?

Personally no, but I think like any other animal destined for meat, they should be ethically farmed and killed humanely.
An animal should have a good life and a quick and painless death.
 
I have done, dont think I would make a habit out of it though as I really didnt enjoy the taste!!
I have no problem with it though, and would eat it regularly if I liked it!
However I would never want any horse/pony I've owned to end up in the food chain and be eaten by me or anyone else.
 
Happyhappypenguin said:
Watching countryfile :o And they are on about horse meat, that it will fix the amount of abandoned horses. Would you eat it?
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Can only comment about my views and choices and my family and the answer is ................. NO way hose....... no chance in a million I have never eaten it never would. Too me its like eating cats and dogs I could not bring myself to contemplate trying it.
 
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I might go down in history as a hippocrite as I do it pork, chicken, duck, beef, lamb, various game but no, I wouldnt eat horse meat, I see horses as companions like dogs are whereas although I like to see sheep and cattle and birds out and about they are not my companions.
 
I often threaten mine with"findus"!
Have eaten horse meat, it's nice. It's really no different to eating beef or lamb or pork. As long as it's been raised well and dispatched in a proper painless way.
 
I used to look at the butt on my little Dartmoor stallion and think what superb meat he would make - he's got a great butt! If he had been a git, instead of a wonderful ride and drive pony, it would have been ideal if I could have taken him to the local abattoir and brought him back for the freezer, like we do pigs or sheep. It just isn't rational that this isn't possible, and the result is many more unsuitable horses out there.

...and yes, I have eaten, and enjoyed horse meat, and will do so again.
 
BroadfordQueen said:
I have done, dont think I would make a habit out of it though as I really didnt enjoy the taste!!
I have no problem with it though, and would eat it regularly if I liked it!
However I would never want any horse/pony I've owned to end up in the food chain and be eaten by me or anyone else.
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This :) I totally don't have a problem with it as long as it is done humanely and they aren't exported to be slaughtered/don't suffer.
 
I wouldn't eat horse meat myself - for me it would be the same as eating my dog or cat. But, I would have no problem with others eating it, provided it was ethically and responsibly farmed and slaughtered.
 
Yes, I have done and have no problem whatsoever. I have also eaten kangaroo and didn't worry about that either. If you have a dog or cat there is every chance you have bought it in their tins of food. Where else do you think native ponies end up after the yearly round up?
 
fatpiggy said:
Yes, I have done and have no problem whatsoever. I have also eaten kangaroo and didn't worry about that either. If you have a dog or cat there is every chance you have bought it in their tins of food. Where else do you think native ponies end up after the yearly round up?
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We are not discussing what our cats - dogs-zoo animals eat. The title is would "you" eat it and the answer is no, what my cats and dogs eat are not being discussed in this thread
 
As a horse lover and horse owner I actually feel it would be my duty to eat horse meat. I would think as owners we should be leading by example really, don't you think? :)
(obviously doesn't apply to veggies and none red meat eaters!)
 
Not knowingly.

And I don't believe that it would solve the problem.

There's not much meat on an abandoned horse, or on those that end up fly grazing. Most are abandoned (I would guess anyway) because the former owners see it as a way of getting their animal a place in a sanctuary.

I would worry that it would place a price on the head of field ornaments like mine, who are well cared for but obviously elderly and would present a quick buck for theives to sell as ideal for meat. After all with the NED out of action and passports easily forged anyway, who would be to know that they have been signed out of the human food chain and that one of them is on bute every day?
 
Friend of mine puts it on his menu in Edinburgh when he can get hold of it. he only sells horse meat from a producer he can trust and knows. this particular producer in france produces percherons. the ones that dont make the grade for breeding go for meat.
its a really good use for them.
thing is when he first started to produce it he immediately got hate mail and a facebook page against him. that didnt stop him and the publicity was great, he has been on sky and all the news channels about.
these people are narrow minded and dont think about it properly. if you dont have a good outlet for your breeding excess then you have a welfare problem in the making.
look at dairy farmers and their excess bull calves, we dont eat veal so many are shot at birth or worse exported to an uncertain future. if we ate them, as veal, welfare would be much better.

eat horse meat create a demand, ensure welfare is high problem solved with cheap and abandoned horses.

horse meat is lovely, steak tartare ;-)

d
 
No. I don't eat red meat at all and avoid white if I can help it. My family has no qualms eating horse meat so for me it is a personal choice.
 
YorksG said:
I have in the past and would have no problem with doing so again, provided it was ethically raised and slaughterd
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Yes, I would eat horse meat again (as far as I know, I've only done it once), ditto YorksG, if they're ethically raised and slaughtered.


Personally, I wouldn't want to eat my cats or dogs, they've slept in my bed and it would just feel wrong. I also don't think it sounds as the smartest choice to hypothetically, first raise e.g. a cow, to then feed it to carnivorous animals such as cats and dogs, with the only purpose that they should become meat for humans to eat. Would it not be smarter to just eat the cow yourself? And another thing, how much meat could it possibly be on e.g. a cat? Looking at my somewhat skinny Cornish Rex cat, I find it difficult to think that there would be enough meat on her, to make a dinner for even a single person.
However, besides that, if cats and dogs was ethically raised and slaughtered, I wouldn't really object about if people wanted to eat such meat.
 
HGA-12 said:
We are not discussing what our cats - dogs-zoo animals eat. The title is would "you" eat it and the answer is no, what my cats and dogs eat are not being discussed in this thread
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Yes, I KNOW that thanks. But if people aren't happy about about eating horsemeat for whatever reason, they shouldn't be happy about buying it at all. That's double standards otherwise. Since many people don't seem to know what goes into their own food, they aren't likely to know what their pets are eating either. After all, how many non-farmers knew that chickens were being fed ground up chicken, and cows, ground up flesh of every description - and look where that got us all.
 
3OldPonies said:
And I don't believe that it would solve the problem.
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I agree. The problem we have is much bigger than horses bred for meat being fly grazed, starved, dumped, neglected, etc. We need people to stop breeding - including poor quality coloured cobs, TB rejects from the racing industry, etc., etc., etc. Horses are a dime a dozen atm and the people who are facilitating the huge amounts of poorly bred animals are not those who would be interested in abiding by ethical farming laws. Plus, horses need very different management from cattle or sheep, you can't graze as many per acre and they are very expensive to keep. It would take a long time to set up a proper farming system and there's no guarantee there would even be a market for it tbh.
 
3OldPonies said:
Not knowingly.

And I don't believe that it would solve the problem.

There's not much meat on an abandoned horse, or on those that end up fly grazing. Most are abandoned (I would guess anyway) because the former owners see it as a way of getting their animal a place in a sanctuary.

I would worry that it would place a price on the head of field ornaments like mine, who are well cared for but obviously elderly and would present a quick buck for theives to sell as ideal for meat. After all with the NED out of action and passports easily forged anyway, who would be to know that they have been signed out of the human food chain and that one of them is on bute every day?
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I think they were saying that it could, properly managed, stop the problem in the future, not that all the abandoned ponies at the moment hould be used for human consumption.
 
fatpiggy said:
Yes, I KNOW that thanks. But if people aren't happy about about eating horsemeat for whatever reason, they shouldn't be happy about buying it at all. That's double standards otherwise. Since many people don't seem to know what goes into their own food, they aren't likely to know what their pets are eating either. After all, how many non-farmers knew that chickens were being fed ground up chicken, and cows, ground up flesh of every description - and look where that got us all.
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Well for me I cannot comment what goes in my pets food, if it was labeled on the tin horse meat i would buy alternative one without.
I know what goes in my food and its not horsemeat, what others do is their choice and cannot comment on it.
 
I still don't think it would solve the problem.

As someone else said, raising horses for meat just isn't so practical as say a sheep, cow or pig and the cost of the meat would be prohibitive if it were done to correct welfare standards.

As a by product of over breeding, like the percherons someone else mentioned then it would be feasible, but to raise just for meat, I don't think so.

And anyway, what's to stop the unscrupulous idiots who overbreed unsuitable scrubby ponies at present who have in part caused the problem carrying on regardless? I can't see them sticking to any welfare laws and standards, they don't stick with what we have now, can you really see them registering themselves and doing things above board? I certainly don't.
 
I think it would further increase theft of horses into a black market trade and any horse would be at greater risk of being stolen.

To reduce numbers of abandoned horses I'm not sure that would fix the problem of the cause but just the symptoms. Surely more control over who breeds horses and what they breed would be an improvement and I guess that would be a minefield in itself to implement.

Back to the question would I eat horse meat I thought perhaps I could (probably unknowingly have) but when I watched the bit on country file at the abattoir with the beautiful horses waiting to go for meat I surprised myself by blubbering and nearly choking on my dinner!! so maybe not..
 
Personally i would feel uneasy, and probably not eat it. I know it is hypocritical but i'm an ex veggie so meat is weird for me anyway. I don't eat fish if i can help it cause of how many other animals die for the fish.
 
I wouldn't eat my own horse, in the same way that I don't eat my own chickens - they are mostly (garden digging aside) more use to me alive.

I do however support ethically raised meat on any description - be that horse, chicken or dog.

The problem with this country is the association game - horses are seen by most as a pet and not a commodity.

We slaughter an obscene amount of dairy bull calves each year in the UK because they have no market and fattening them on is often not a viable option when there are so many better beef breeds to finish for slaughter. Veal is a great meat and a way of using a resource which is otherwise going to waste, but the general public do not want to eat cute calves - I often wonder whether they are misinformed about lamb because that never seems to receive the same raised eyebrows and limited markets.

I would happily eat ANY meat I feel had been ethically produced in the UK - far rather that than the foreign crated pork which graces the supermarket shelves.
 
RunToEarth said:
I wouldn't eat my own horse, in the same way that I don't eat my own chickens - they are mostly (garden digging aside) more use to me alive.

I do however support ethically raised meat on any description - be that horse, chicken or dog.

The problem with this country is the association game - horses are seen by most as a pet and not a commodity.

We slaughter an obscene amount of dairy bull calves each year in the UK because they have no market and fattening them on is often not a viable option when there are so many better beef breeds to finish for slaughter. Veal is a great meat and a way of using a resource which is otherwise going to waste, but the general public do not want to eat cute calves - I often wonder whether they are misinformed about lamb because that never seems to receive the same raised eyebrows and limited markets.

I would happily eat ANY meat I feel had been ethically produced in the UK - far rather that than the foreign crated pork which graces the supermarket shelves.
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I don't eat veal on principal, not because it is cutesy little calves, but because of the traditional methods of raising them in crates - which still goes on if the dog kennel sized boxes I saw on a Derbyshire farm a couple of years back, each with a calf in, is anything to go by. Poor little things couldn't even turn around.

Don't forget the number of billy goat kids that are slaughtered at birth too because of the limited market. A friend of mine had a herd of rare breed goats bred for showing and milking. Every year she would despair at the number of billies that were born especially since she needed more nannies to increase the numbers. They were immediately taken by the owner of the billy that she used and slaughtered.
 
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Nessa4 said:
I think they were saying that it could, properly managed, stop the problem in the future, not that all the abandoned ponies at the moment hould be used for human consumption.
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If it won't stop the current problem then what's the point? It's the sheer numbers now that are the problem not in 5 years time! Although if people don't stop breeding then in 5 years time the problem will be far worse.

Rather than discussing whether creating a market for horse meat would help, that would lead to more breeding and more regulation (which would most likely end up affecting any legitimate horsekeeper not just those raising them for meat), perhaps we should all be discussing whether a cull is more appropriate? If it is, then I'm sure the various zoos keeping carnivorous animals would be glad of some cheap meat.
 
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How exactly would eating horsemeat in the UK help the welfare of horses ? If there was a market for eating a meat that has long been taboo, it wouldn't be the abandoned, sick horses with a dubious and an untraceable history consumers would want. It wouldn't be the one's that might have had bute and other drugs. It could be the wretched ones in need of bute, but kept suffering until slaughter day.

If there was a demand for eating horse, which I doubt, as even in France, it's popularity is declining, the horses would be specially bred and farmed for the purpose, so increasing the population. The meat could not be ethically produced on the cheap in a regulated market.

So, no, I would not eat horse. Why would I, when I live in one of the world's richest countries and the supermarket shelves are stacked high with every type of food produced from all over the world.
 
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