Why is it a good idea to slaughter horses? A lot of folks are having a knee
jerk reaction--like Black Beauty is going to end up in a Big Mac. You posted
something a while back bringing up issues I think people don't realize. Care
to reiterate for your old pal?



Thanks for asking, pal.

We don't actually slaughter horses, but support the continuance of legally
processing horse meat governed in the US.

Horses are considered livestock (governed by the same laws/transportation
rules/FDA/USDA/etc) and taxed as livestock. Because there is still a real
market for horse meat, and because they are private property, there must be
a utility value for the commodity. Granted, the US widely regards them as
pets and the country rarely eats horse meat, but there is still a base level
of utility entrenched in the agricultural world and highly
regulated/taxed/governed by animal agriculture institutions.

When you jerk the utility value out of the market, you instantly turn
hundreds of thousands of horses into this ambiguous classification, and
drastically reduce the value of the property. It's literally a "taking".

In real world speak, here's the nitty gritty:

When a horse is "unwanted" (or crippled, dangerous, sick, old, unrideable)
or has no other higher or better use or isn't someone's pet, he can be sent
to a processing facility and some value in meat can be retained. He has
monetary value, though at the lowest level. He feeds the masses. I've eaten
it, in Switzerland, weird, but not bad - won't probably do it again. Horses
die, just like humans, but their natural end is to slowly starve to death
because they can't process feed after a certain age. Humans almost always
interrupt the starvation, by putting them down. Most responsible owners do
it humanely - some use a vet, some use a gun, some send them to a processing
facility for meat, and some horses die horrible neglected lives from shitty
owners who don't feed them or put them down humanely.

Until 2007, there were US regulated meat processing facilities in the
States. The well intentioned (but completely out of touch) animal activists
could not get a bill passed in Congress to outlaw horse processing after
many years of attempts, so they outlawed it through the backdoor - they
unfunded the federal meat processing inspectors, who were mandatory in the
US to process meat for human consumption. In one stroke, they put four US
facilities out of business. There are still facilities in Canada and in
Mexico processing horse meat. They are still processing as many horses as
before, except now the horses travel ungodly hours to facilities in Canada
and outright macabre unregulated facilities in Mexico. It is truly inhumane.

The utility value of the horse dropped to ZERO. So, those owners who might
need to put down their horse now do not have humane processing as an
alternative (where they would in years past have even seen a value for the
meat in the amount of about $300 per horse - for reference, ours cost an
average of $2400 to purchase and cost $700 a year to feed, so you can see
this isn't much, but at least something). Most can't afford to feed them,
let alone hire a vet to put them down, and most don't have the ability (or
balls) to do it themselves. US slaughter was a HUMANE alternative to
starvation and neglect. (More regulated than cattle, by far.)

Recently, after the GAO released an in-depth study about the unintended
consequences of the end of US slaughter facilities, Obama signed a bill to
re-fund the federal meat inspectors, which opens the door for construction
of US regulated and owned horse processing facilities. If in the US, we can
keep them humane and re-establish the value of the horse. (Even PETA praised
it, as well as the Vet Associations, not just the horse industry.) This is
why you are seeing a rush of end-of-the-world freak-outs.

Unfortunately, all the activists did was cause the SAME NUMBER of horses
slaughtered each year to endure trips to unsavory out of country facilities.
In addition, those who might have fallen on hard times and were no longer
able to care for their horses just turned them out to starve or fend for
themselves, because they knew if they went to the sale they would likely get
charged a disposal fee instead of being paid for the meat.

Like I said, we don't slaughter our horses, we put them down on the ranch
when their times comes and end their lives gracefully. The owners of Black
Beauty would not turn him into a Big Mack. But the reality is: Humane, US
regulated horse processing of unwanted horses does need to be available as a
choice.

No, I don't eat horse, but many people do. That's their choice. It would be
the same if some group (like the HSUS dinks) decided it was inhumane to eat
chicken, or beef, or fish - and went about stopping all beef processing. OR
better yet, if perhaps the anti-smoking crowd decided it was wrong to smoke
cigarettes, but knew an all-out ban was impossible, so passed a bill to
un-fund the licensing process.

Long enough explanation?!

Thanks for caring enough to ask -

R



Montana Horses, Inc.

Kail Mantle & Renee Daniels-Mantle

9700 Clarkston Road

Three Forks, MT 59752

(406) 285-3541 | (406) 285-0918 fax

info@montanahorses.com

www.montanahorses.com