Would you eat a horse?

[Doodlebugger45]

Some of us at the office have this discussion once in awhile. Out west here we have a terrible problem with wild horse populations. They are eating themselves out of house and home. The BLM truly doesn't know what to do with them anymore. They round them up and try to find homes for them but that market is becoming saturated. Just not many folks left who have a need for a mustang. The option of shipping them to slaughter is effectively closed because of well-meaning animal lovers.

Anyway, not to debate the merits of wild horses, but what is the answer? My solution, given halfway in gest, is to declare them a game animal and put a hunting season on them.

That leads to the question posed here. Would you eat a horse you shot? I say ABSOLUTELY! I haven't ever tried the taste, but when you look at them, they don't look bad. Take a look at the hind quarters of a horse. Can you imagine the size of a sirloin?

So, have any of you eaten horse? Would you eat a horse if it was a game animal?

[RimfireChris]

I honestly don't care much for horses nor they me, apparently, but that's fine, I stay outta their neighborhood and they can't move into mine. That said though, they are beutiful, I'd guess maybe only if I was in a survival situatio/hungry enough.

[Brian Pfleuger]

I don't see the problem with eating virtually ANY kind of "normal" meat.

Horse
Dog
Cat

Really, why would it be substantially different than cow, deer, elk, chicken....

Seriously, people eat monkey brains and squid intestines. I don't see horse being a problem.


It's a societal issue, not a fit to eat issue.

So, yes, I'd eat a horse.

I wouldn't HUNT a horse though. I simply have no interest at all. I doubt many others would either.

I wouldn't oppose a hunting season in any way, but I doubt that there'd be many takers.

[Crazy Carl]

I would, tho I haven't (yet) tried it. Supposed to be hight protein & low fat.

I believe that in the US, the sale of horsemeat is illegal, tho it's legal to sell for export. Institutional Bambi/"ew gross" syndrome? I dunno.

I know you can get it easily enough in Europe, tho I can't speak for how common it is.

[horseman308]

In a survival situation, all bets are off. If I couldn't catch and ride the horse to a safe place, then yes I'd kill and eat it. Having said that, I love my horses. I must admit to an emotional attachment that makes me unwilling to hunt or eat them in normal situations. I understand the logic, and I find no fault with the logic. I just don't like it. To me, it's kinda like hunting Zebras in Africa. I assume that they can cause problems when the herds get too big, like the mustangs here in America. But I can't help but feel like it's just a version of hunting horses.

[Stiofan]

They closed all the horse slaughter houses in the US a few years ago, the meat used to be exported. A google search will turn up that about 4.7 million horses are slaughtered for food worldwide, each year.

Some may remember the Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand. He was served up in Japan, forgive the pun.

Personally I have no desire to eat horse meat, nor would I want to hunt them. They are just not a game animal to me, and never will be.

[Neruda]

Down here in Chile, there are specialist horse-meat butchers - in the past indicated by a model of a horse's head above their shop. Some people, especially the indigenous Mapuche in the south, prefer horse to beef. Charqui, dried meat like jerkey, is also often horse. I've eaten horse on occasions - but in my experience it was pretty tough.

But hunting horses..... don't think I would.

[ZeSpectre]

I've tried a lot of pretty "strange" foods over the years. Never had horse but if I was hungry enough....yup.

[oneounceload]

The French love horse meat.

Ever see Andrew Zimmern on Bizarre Foods? I'll take horse over 99% of the stuff he eats.........

[GAR700]

I'd eat horse in a heartbeat. Open the Season!

GAR

[ZeroJunk]

What you eat is a cultural thing. I would have to be PD hungry to eat horse. But, if you are hungry enough you will eat anything.

[zukiphile]

Judging from my last visit to a Ponderosa a couple of decades ago, I've already eaten horse.

[publius]

I would definitely try it, and expect it would be good, cooked properly. If they are really a problem animal, I would also hunt them.

[youp]

It would probably take me a very long time to eat a horse. I am sure I would be tired of it by the time I got finished.:barf:

[Daryl]

I'm sort of a cowboy at heart. I've broke/trained several horses, and I get along with them pretty well. Given a choice, I'd rather ride one that eat it.

It would not be my first choice for table fare, but I'd certainly eat a horse if that's what was available. I doubt I'd go out of my way to shoot one for the purpose of eating it unless I had to.

But there are other uses for horse meat if they'd actually open up some processing facilities for it again. Right now they've all been closed down in the US by bleeding hearts that vote with their feelings rather than seeing anything for it's practical value.

A zoo would likely take it, and so would anyone who raises wolves or wolf/dog mixes.

Left unchecked, they do make a good example of why hunting is needed. Left unchecked, they're the same as any other grazer/browser that eventually over-populates and eats the species into starvation and disease.

With the price of keeping a horse, I bet is really is getting hard to find folks to adopt them. The idea of adopting a horse once appealed to people, but then the cost of it went up.

Hay in my area is something like $12 per 100 lb bale, and an average horse will eat 4-5 bales a month. Add in the cost of farier service ($75-$100 every other month), and vet costs, and it adds up quick.

Then when you figure that it costs the same amount to keep a GOOD horse as it does to keep an adopted one with no known pedigree, and that will likely need a LOT of work to break and train, it doesn't seem like such a great idea any more...

Unless one is independently wealthy, and just has a big heart for helping unfortunate critters. Folks like that are getting fewer and fewer, and the ones that will still do it are getting overwhelmed with the burden they place on themselves.

Daryl

[namlot1979]

I think I would be willing to try it. I know the french are big fans of horse meat. There are several places in the french areas of canada that serve horse dishes. I had this debate with my inlaws some time ago. I argued that a horse is just another animal like a cow, chicken or deer. I do not think I would hunt a horse until I have tried the meat first and LIKED it.

[FrankenMauser]

My grandparents swear horse meat is pretty tasty.

Where can I buy my tags?

[rantingredneck]

The French love horse meat.

Yep, ate some myself there 20-odd years ago. Wasn't bad. Would have been better without the sauce that was covering it. Not sure what the sauce was but it wasn't a good addition.

[jaughtman]

Horse meat is actually popular in France - and yes, it is considerably leaner/less fatty than cow meat. It is eaten as normally as you and I would a cow steak. So yes, I would eat it - if hungry and that was what was available - probably not order it or prefer it, however. On a related note, I saw an interview with an Alaskan musher (I think that is the term for the driver of the dog-sled teams) and when asked what the advantage was in this day-and-age of using dogs for transporation when you could use a snowmobile, he replied "you can't eat a snowmobile if you get stranded in a blizzard".

J

[m.p.driver]

Isn't bad,very lean with a close, but you know its not beef taste.Told what it was after i ate it,i had no problem with it,i'm sure that cow had feelings too before he landed on that bun.

[rickyjames]

during the great depression my grandma said there were butcher shops around that sold horse meat for much less than beef. i don't remember her saying that she bought horse meat but i'm sure she did her best for my dad and the rest of her family and at times i'm sure that included horse meat.

[Dannyl]

I'm with HORSEMAN.
To say the truth, I am not sure that I'd eat a horse even in a survival situation. I have a mare, and the bond is stronger than what one can explain unless it is to another horseman, maybe.

I live in South Africa, hunt regularly, but only bucks. I dont have interest in hunting Zebras for many reasons, but not necessarily their resemblance to horses.

If over-popualtion of any species becomes a problem, there are ways to resolve it without resorting to killing them, but that's another issue.

Brgds,

Danny

[kodiakbeer]

I'm not much of a horse person, but it would seem like a horse bred through five or six centuries of evolution in the wild would be hardier and smarter than any of the common domestic horse breeds.

I can't imagine why they aren't more popular to own. People are funny though, just like dogs - everybody wants some expensive and inbred papered dog rather than the healthy mixed mutt from the pound.

Would I eat horse? Sure, why not? Would I hunt them? Nope.

[hogdogs]

Cubed, ground, roast or steak? YES!!!! I would even try it rare!

Brent

[DiscoRacing]

Wonder if Pony meat is tougher than a big Horsie???