The thing I found sinister was that the horse slaughter industry in the US was completely stopped merely by defunding the inspectors. Apparently, it is illegal to sell meat that hasn’t been inspected, but the US government isn’t required to provide inspectors. That’s a remarkably sleazy way to implement a ban.
Karl, the meat was never intended for sale in the United States. It goes to places like France.
The problem with the ban is that it resulted in a lot of starving horses. Prior to the ban, even the most crippled horses would have some salvage value as meat. After the ban, owners who couldn’t afford the cost of disposal might be tempted to cut back on feed. Reprehensible, in my opinion, but it happened. This was a well intended law with undesireable consequences (passed by people who didn’t understand horses).
Given the age and physical condition of the typical slaughter horse, I do have to wonder about the quality of the meat. The fact that the French consider it a gourmet item seems rather strange. Haven’t they ever heard of beef?
The meat had to be inspected anyway, even though it was intended for sale elsewhere.
Yes, that’s why the slaughterhouses closed down.
I can’t believe ANYONE is worried about Canada ‘hurting’ the little horsies.
They probably take the horses out for a couple Moose Heads and some poutine before they shoot it. Or maybe some coffee and Tim Horton’s donuts. But I can’t see them hurting a horse.
Mexico…now THAT’S a horse of a different flavor!
Besides, the real issue is, was and shall be EATING Black Beauty, Trigger or Mr. Ed. Americans are WIMPS when it comes to meat. WTH is wrong with horse meat?
It’s better than monkey meat. Monkey is gamey. And tough.
It’s better than dog. Dog is stringy if it doesn’t cook long enough.
(good kim chee helps with that some)(mmm…kim cheeeeee)
Horse is not as good as venison, or bear, or raccoon, or armadillo, but it’s not bad. It’s kinda like beef only, for some reason, I always eat it faster.
(but seriously, armadillo really DOES taste like chicken)
Armadillos carry leprosy. I hope things don’t start falling off you.
I’m hoping the restaurant checked for that BEFORE cooking it! But I have lost a bunch of weight in the last year. But not in ‘chunks’, so I’m OK I guess.
I have it on very good authority that short haired dog tasted better than long haired dog. Also, I’m told that dog adobo tastes very good.
The Korean restaurant we used to eat in, in Olongapo City, raised the dogs on the roof, above the 4th floor of their restaurant / home. They were short haired, with curling tails.
I suddenly have an urge for kim chee, lumpia and a San Miguel over ice.
WTH is wrong with horse meat?
Tell you what. I’ll show you the receipts for all the mess by boy has gotten recently and let you ask again.
Unlike animals that are raised for meat, horses are not regulated for what you can put into them.
I wonder how many people who think horsemeat is a gourmet item insist on buying hormone-free, antibiotic-free, natural-fed, free-range beef?
But– but slaughtering the nice horsies is mean! Horsies are our friends, they’re like unicorns only real and without horns! Which is a good thing because if horses had sharp pointy horns there’d be a lot of dead thirteen-year-old girls who learned everything they know about horses from reading My Friend Flicka.
Ahem. Anyway, I’d like to know what was in the minds of the people who came up with this ban in the first place. Did they imagine that once it was made illegal to slaughter horses, that these horses would all be kept in a lovely old-horses-home with flowery meadows, and be allowed to die of old age attended by singing cowboys and horse-mad teenage girls?
I mean, horses are very pretty, but they are just animals. Which means you can eat them.
I assume your question was rhetorical.
Did they imagine that once it was made illegal to slaughter horses, that these horses would all be kept in a lovely old-horses-home with flowery meadows, and be allowed to die of old age attended by singing cowboys and horse-mad teenage girls?
The luckier ones are. There are also non-profit retirement facilities, but there are more horses than they can handle right now. The problem is not generally private owners but larger operations with lots of low-value horses.
To be fair, the problem has been greatly aggravated by the economic downturn, for which the animal rights activists are not responsible.
This is a sensitive subject for me because I have a 24-year-old gelding that’s been having some health problems for the past several months. No, I am not considering slaughter as an option, but there are millions of horses in this country and many do not have good options.
No one’s asking you to drag the family horse to a slaughterhouse.
Wilbur, what are you doing with that carving knife?
FYI, there were only a few slaughterhouses left in the US before the ban was enacted. Only two, If I recall correctly. The percentage of horses ending up at the slaughterhouse was quite small. Again, these weren’t family pets, they were the really hard cases.
Hay, I guess it really doesn’t pay to be one of the neigh-sayers…
Just like the pigs when they shipped Boxer off to the glue factory.
The thing I found sinister was that the horse slaughter industry in the US was completely stopped merely by defunding the inspectors. Apparently, it is illegal to sell meat that hasn’t been inspected, but the US government isn’t required to provide inspectors. That’s a remarkably sleazy way to implement a ban.
Karl, the meat was never intended for sale in the United States. It goes to places like France.
The problem with the ban is that it resulted in a lot of starving horses. Prior to the ban, even the most crippled horses would have some salvage value as meat. After the ban, owners who couldn’t afford the cost of disposal might be tempted to cut back on feed. Reprehensible, in my opinion, but it happened. This was a well intended law with undesireable consequences (passed by people who didn’t understand horses).
Given the age and physical condition of the typical slaughter horse, I do have to wonder about the quality of the meat. The fact that the French consider it a gourmet item seems rather strange. Haven’t they ever heard of beef?
The meat had to be inspected anyway, even though it was intended for sale elsewhere.
Yes, that’s why the slaughterhouses closed down.
I can’t believe ANYONE is worried about Canada ‘hurting’ the little horsies.
They probably take the horses out for a couple Moose Heads and some poutine before they shoot it. Or maybe some coffee and Tim Horton’s donuts. But I can’t see them hurting a horse.
Mexico…now THAT’S a horse of a different flavor!
Besides, the real issue is, was and shall be EATING Black Beauty, Trigger or Mr. Ed. Americans are WIMPS when it comes to meat. WTH is wrong with horse meat?
It’s better than monkey meat. Monkey is gamey. And tough.
It’s better than dog. Dog is stringy if it doesn’t cook long enough.
(good kim chee helps with that some)(mmm…kim cheeeeee)
Horse is not as good as venison, or bear, or raccoon, or armadillo, but it’s not bad. It’s kinda like beef only, for some reason, I always eat it faster.
(but seriously, armadillo really DOES taste like chicken)
Armadillos carry leprosy. I hope things don’t start falling off you.
I’m hoping the restaurant checked for that BEFORE cooking it! But I have lost a bunch of weight in the last year. But not in ‘chunks’, so I’m OK I guess.
I have it on very good authority that short haired dog tasted better than long haired dog. Also, I’m told that dog adobo tastes very good.
The Korean restaurant we used to eat in, in Olongapo City, raised the dogs on the roof, above the 4th floor of their restaurant / home. They were short haired, with curling tails.
I suddenly have an urge for kim chee, lumpia and a San Miguel over ice.
WTH is wrong with horse meat?
Tell you what. I’ll show you the receipts for all the mess by boy has gotten recently and let you ask again.
Unlike animals that are raised for meat, horses are not regulated for what you can put into them.
I wonder how many people who think horsemeat is a gourmet item insist on buying hormone-free, antibiotic-free, natural-fed, free-range beef?
But– but slaughtering the nice horsies is mean! Horsies are our friends, they’re like unicorns only real and without horns! Which is a good thing because if horses had sharp pointy horns there’d be a lot of dead thirteen-year-old girls who learned everything they know about horses from reading My Friend Flicka.
Ahem. Anyway, I’d like to know what was in the minds of the people who came up with this ban in the first place. Did they imagine that once it was made illegal to slaughter horses, that these horses would all be kept in a lovely old-horses-home with flowery meadows, and be allowed to die of old age attended by singing cowboys and horse-mad teenage girls?
I mean, horses are very pretty, but they are just animals. Which means you can eat them.
I assume your question was rhetorical.
Did they imagine that once it was made illegal to slaughter horses, that these horses would all be kept in a lovely old-horses-home with flowery meadows, and be allowed to die of old age attended by singing cowboys and horse-mad teenage girls?
The luckier ones are. There are also non-profit retirement facilities, but there are more horses than they can handle right now. The problem is not generally private owners but larger operations with lots of low-value horses.
To be fair, the problem has been greatly aggravated by the economic downturn, for which the animal rights activists are not responsible.
This is a sensitive subject for me because I have a 24-year-old gelding that’s been having some health problems for the past several months. No, I am not considering slaughter as an option, but there are millions of horses in this country and many do not have good options.
No one’s asking you to drag the family horse to a slaughterhouse.
Wilbur, what are you doing with that carving knife?
FYI, there were only a few slaughterhouses left in the US before the ban was enacted. Only two, If I recall correctly. The percentage of horses ending up at the slaughterhouse was quite small. Again, these weren’t family pets, they were the really hard cases.
Hay, I guess it really doesn’t pay to be one of the neigh-sayers…
Just like the pigs when they shipped Boxer off to the glue factory.