More(or is it mare) to come

[julesapple]

Wow...must be a tantalising place for your doggy to have a shampoo & set. All those smells....

[petal]

Ex racehorses that can't be given away are the ones in the food chain IMHO. I've too many friends who rescue them and then can't ride them. I've lost a second cousin to riding one on a country lane. Their retirement is usually not a happy one unless they were winning stock, becoming stud.

I have to correct you there. There are many charities and responsible studs that now do their utmost to retrain and rehabilitate ex race horses. There are many success stories yet they are clearly only for the most experienced. I used to think racing was evil because of the waste but it turns out that they do their utmost to provide great, athletic horses for competitive people. Accidents happen on any horse-! When I lived in Denmark I retrained many a slow harness racer and the occasional one that was unsuitable had to go for meat, thats what happens there !. Better that than a dead rider.

Back to this thread- I see nothing wrong in people choosing to order horsemeat - goodness knows with the over breeding of substandard stock in this country(by certain communities that breed ponies that could be mistaken for cows quite easily...) - it can't be buried and cremation is not environmentally friendly - however it smacks of criminal activity if it is sold as beef.!!!! I for one am very, very cross indeed. Both my horses have been given bute - pain relief for a bad back on one and for laminitus in the other. They are not pumped full of drugs but I have had to sign an area on their pass port stating they are not fit for human consumption.
If they are destroyed, I will get the local hunt out to do it and to dispose of carcass. I won't cremate them - bad for planet and, if memory serves there was a horse cremation service that was exposed recently as having not actually cremated the horses - or has anyone forgotten that.....mmm... small amount of ashes returned to owners - so erm where did the horse bodies go....? that were put to sleep by injection - big no no for food chain.....bet they havn't investigated that one?

[Rocketron]

I have to correct you there. There are many charities and responsible studs that now do their utmost to retrain and rehabilitate ex race horses. There are many success stories yet they are clearly only for the most experienced. I used to think racing was evil because of the waste but it turns out that they do their utmost to provide great, athletic horses for competitive people. Accidents happen on any horse-! When I lived in Denmark I retrained many a slow harness racer and the occasional one that was unsuitable had to go for meat, thats what happens there !. Better that than a dead rider.

Back to this thread- I see nothing wrong in people choosing to order horsemeat - goodness knows with the over breeding of substandard stock in this country(by certain communities that breed ponies that could be mistaken for cows quite easily...) - it can't be buried and cremation is not environmentally friendly - however it smacks of criminal activity if it is sold as beef.!!!! I for one am very, very cross indeed. Both my horses have been given bute - pain relief for a bad back on one and for laminitus in the other. They are not pumped full of drugs but I have had to sign an area on their pass port stating they are not fit for human consumption.
If they are destroyed, I will get the local hunt out to do it and to dispose of carcass. I won't cremate them - bad for planet and, if memory serves there was a horse cremation service that was exposed recently as having not actually cremated the horses - or has anyone forgotten that.....mmm... small amount of ashes returned to owners - so erm where did the horse bodies go....? that were put to sleep by injection - big no no for food chain.....bet they havn't investigated that one?

Forgive my ignorance, but how does your local hunt destroy and dspose of horses?

[Potstubsdustbins]

The horse is shot by a licenced huntsman, the corpse is butchered and fed to the hounds.

Colin

[VirginVegGrower]

I have to correct you there. There are many charities and responsible studs that now do their utmost to retrain and rehabilitate ex race horses. There are many success stories yet they are clearly only for the most experienced. I used to think racing was evil because of the waste but it turns out that they do their utmost to provide great, athletic horses for competitive people. Accidents happen on any horse-! When I lived in Denmark I retrained many a slow harness racer and the occasional one that was unsuitable had to go for meat, thats what happens there !. Better that than a dead rider.

Back to this thread- I see nothing wrong in people choosing to order horsemeat - goodness knows with the over breeding of substandard stock in this country(by certain communities that breed ponies that could be mistaken for cows quite easily...) - it can't be buried and cremation is not environmentally friendly - however it smacks of criminal activity if it is sold as beef.!!!! I for one am very, very cross indeed. Both my horses have been given bute - pain relief for a bad back on one and for laminitus in the other. They are not pumped full of drugs but I have had to sign an area on their pass port stating they are not fit for human consumption.
If they are destroyed, I will get the local hunt out to do it and to dispose of carcass. I won't cremate them - bad for planet and, if memory serves there was a horse cremation service that was exposed recently as having not actually cremated the horses - or has anyone forgotten that.....mmm... small amount of ashes returned to owners - so erm where did the horse bodies go....? that were put to sleep by injection - big no no for food chain.....bet they havn't investigated that one?

She'd ridden for over thirty five years - that's experienced. Every horse coming to folks I know who are horsey mad are ex racehorses and in many cases a £1 is handed over. I can only go on my local experience and we will see which horses it is coming into the meat market. I certainly don't think it's pony club pets though, do you?
There may be rescue for ex racehorse stock, but they can't take all and if my friends' experiences are anything to go by, they are looking to offload for peanuts.

[petal]

no, we considered an ex racer and its not that easy - you have to pass a test to obtain one - then some go on a permanent loan where the owner pays for back. innoculations etc the rest of their lives. (final furlong racehorses) Other places rehabilitate - once trained properly they can command high prices. If they are unsuitable then they rehome as companions. Exracers have a lot going for them, good in traffic, in crowds, good to clip, shoe etc. The racing industry is really starting to take more responsibility and are no longer over breeding. However, ones injured on track will of course enter the meat chain- thats a different matter.
Equines supplying the horse meat trade will be those bred and dumped (usually colts) by some 'communities', new forest foals, dartmoors, welsh, shetlands - all irresponsibly over bred. some of theses are also bought up by zoo keepers at their sales. Any pony successful at pony club is hardly going to enter the food chain for people-!

[VirginVegGrower]

The horse is shot by a licenced huntsman, the corpse is butchered and fed to the hounds.

Colin

It's enough to turn me back veggie.
An animal not bred for meat should be considered a pet for life - theirs not ours.
That includes their ending.

[Alison]

How do you know it's those animals you are buying?

There's a lovely little story about a bloke who runs a pub who has a few chickens in the garden and sells eggs at the bar. Boxes and boxes of them a week he sells. With just a few chickens in in the garden.

I am perhaps far too cynical. :-/

I buy majority of my meat from a couple who farm organically and produce a range of meats. They can tell you pretty much anything about what you're buying and having known them for several years trust them. Re eggs, driving to the place I buy them from runs the risk of running over their chooks and ducks. The number of eggs is in keeping with the volume of very free rang birds. Basically you have to make the effort - yes you should be able to trust what is on the label but I was never under any impression that the "meat" in convenience foods was exactly good stuff, didn't think it might be horse but didn't really think it was exactly traceable and "nice" either. We've become rather lazy really and many people like their food in nice easy to use packets. The supermarkets have driven down the prices so much that it actually encourages this sort of criminal behaviour and to say that they're not to blame as it's their suppliers is an easy cop out, as experienced retailers they know the price of things, if they're getting things at such knock down prices then they should have looked into it - if something looks too good to be true then it usually is...........

[bearded bloke]

One thing that truly concerns me about all this,given the low price of the "products" in question,how can it be commercially viable to transport the "ingredients" over such distances given the current fuel costs.

[veggiechicken]

........and where the packaging costs more to produce than the contents!
(I made that up but I think its probably true)

[VirginVegGrower]

We use Eon as a provider which gives us T*sco points. Cheeky blighters have used my reward card email this morning to send me an email about their reassurances over meat. We never buy from there

[Potstubsdustbins]

It's enough to turn me back veggie.
An animal not bred for meat should be considered a pet for life - theirs not ours.
That includes their ending.

The only excuse I can think of is if the horse is in pain from some injury or diesease, then its much the same as having your dog put down. Not pleasent but necessary.

Colin

[Rhona]

I've made the odd sausage in the past but this whole thing has made me start up again...these fellas took an hour or so this afternoon with a chunk of organic local pork shoulder, minced in front of me, with homegrown leeks, apples, garlic and sage. We're going to bbq them at the allotment tomorrow for a sunny lunch with the children.

Also nipped into the Real Meat shop...the butchers there could barely serve me for chortling over the 20% increase in profits in the last two weeks...

[bubblewrap]

I haven't bought a "ready" meal for years.
The main reason being they are generally rubbish.
It takes very little trouble to do a chilli / spag bol etc from scratch.(do at least one a week)

[bearded bloke]