Eat or Ride?

The domesticated horse throughout the ages….things to ponder.

 Inspired  by Stephen Budiansky and his book, ” The Nature of the Horse”

Last week, our blog touched on the ideals of what is natural for a horse.  How the wild horse is managed by nature, and how the domestic horse is managed by man.  The viewpoint to come away with was …being smart about horse nutrition, herd management and horsemanship.

So why more controversy? 

With the domestication of the horse has come all the good things man can provide, supplements, deworming programs, & senior diet programs. By virtue of our efforts, we’ve also increased the life expectancy of horses.  Not only that, by managing them in ways of keeping them “safer” from “natural causes” we also have wayward animals that exist because we feed them and house them well.  Is this good in consideration of population/overpopulation of the domestic horse? 

OH, NO, now it’s been said.  ……What to do with the “unwanted domestic horse” especially since the slaughter houses for horses are closed in the United States.  Not to mention, the expense for an owner that would prefer humane euthanasia over the economically cost effective method of a bullet and a ranch burial!

OK horse lovers …hard to hear as we treasure these beasts!  Tough reality ….though when we go back to the horse as an animal of the survival for man. ….. man has evolved  …and the horse is caught up in a totally different  perspective. 

 IS SLAUGHTER BAD?  YES-It is a bad word, ……it is also a very emotional and debated subject for many modern horse people …so let’s just go back to the past to see how horse populations were controlled and managed by our forefathers.

As we travel back we see that first, they did not have manufactured diets, supplements, and dewormers  that may have included manmade chemical additives and hormones.    In the past, the most unnatural thing man did with horses was put metal in their mouth and metal shoes on their feet!   Gunpowder and cayenne pepper were the choice for dewormers.

Thru the ages, the horse was mostly a status symbols of Kings and Emperors, to carry out messages of war and peace.  If peace was not found in the message, horses were a part of the war!  Remember it was the oxen that was the plow animal first.  It was the “beast of burden”.

 Crazy thing about the horse of the past, it could survive it’s best battle but if the emperor died it may also be buried with him as a sign of ‘status”, and something he took with him to his afterlife!

Horses, throughout the ages, were status symbols of wealth, strength, and power as they are today.  As battles and wars resided, and people continued to modernized, they used horses for labor along with oxen for everyday travel.  They also may have eaten their horses during a drought, financial hardship, or simply because the horse could not “earn his keep”.  So a horse was still not a companion animal while it was a part of the lower income brackets of modern man.

Perspective is EVERYTHING!  We love our horses and have the means to provide humane intervention for them to lead comfortable lives into retirement , with the least amount of suffering and the same honor we gave the kings and emperors who fought the battles of the land. We honor our best horses still,  ……….building statues and monuments  to honor our Great Equines.

Ok-Here is the wrap up!  You find your horse in the pasture with a catastrophic injury.  He can no longer be the messenger, and could no longer help you fight a war.  You know that humane euthanasia is the only option …for no more suffering, with a bullet or with a knife …which means nothing unnatural or chemical.  Do you waste the horse to earth ….or do you feed your family.  Though I’m not in favor of euthanasia. …..There are times when we must consider it as the logical answer.

To eat or to ride ….or?  If only our modern day overpopulation could be so sensible and so simple.

Read the book!  “The Nature of Horses’ by  Stephen Budiansky

What do you guys think?

*The Fawor Foundation does not want to eat horses.