[LittleSpotBlog]

No, I wouldn't. And it's not better that they starve, which isn't really what's happening. It's a money-grab with the European market, and there are no standards to the shipment of LIVE horses overseas. More often than not, they are corralled into overstuffed cargo holds, dehydrated, and slowly dying on the long sea voyage to France. I wouldn't be so opposed to the slaughter of horses if the US would take the lead on more humane practices, but with horse meat going for hundreds of dollars a pound, it'll never happen. Sad, because I always considered Americans to be above the smarmy horse-eating French.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I am no expert on the shipment of horses for food source, but I doubt they are treated as you describe. It would not be wise for them to dehydrate the horse when the end product is very valuable.

Austrailian sheep are shipped to the middle east all the time and the mortality rate is no higher than when the critters are being raised on the ranch.

[livius]

One of the problems is that mustangs make really lousy adoptees. A wild horse is a wild horse - some can make the transition to being domesticated, but a lot can't, and in any case, natural selection has resulted in their being more suspicious and aggressive, and hence less people-friendly, because that's what they need in order to survive.

Personally, I'd rather see them slaughtered here. Many US horses are slaughtered (very cruelly) in Mexico, although technically I think that it's illegal to send them there. However, there's not enough food out there to keep them going, many are not really adoptable (except as dangerous pasture ornaments), and there's got to be some way of dealing with them other than letting them starve to death.

[Himyar]

Horse meat does not sell for hundreds of dollars a pound. Actually, the number of horses sent to slaughter in the US has dropped considerablly in the last few years. The wild horse situation in this country is a mess. These animals are not special. They are simply feral horses that no one wanted, just like all the feral cats and dogs in this country. Just because they have established themselves in the wild, doesn't mean they belong there. Horses are extremely hard on land and can destroy the habitat for the real wildlife
The government has done the horse a disservice by getting into the horse business. They sell (or adopt) out animals that under cut the prices legitimate horse breeders can get. These animals generally go to inexperienced people and there are a lot o horror stories out there both horse and people injuries.
As a long time breeder on Quarter horses it's the pits having the government undercutting your business with products sold way below cost. Adding to that is the movement to ban all horse slaughter. The slaughter market has always put a floor under price of horses. Now the market is terrible. I fear that many animals will be left to starve if they have no value. I have never sold a horse for slaughter, but sometimes it's the only humane option.

[free_european]

"horse meat going for hundreds of dollars a pound"

I don't know where you get that idea from but all i'll say is that thousands of farmers WISH this were the case!!!!

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

"but with horse meat going for hundreds of dollars a pound, "

Most race horses are not worth hundreds of dollars a pound.

If the price was $10 a pound, most ranchers would raise horses instead of cattle!

LOL

I ate a horse meat hamburger steak in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
It was good, The hamburger steak was served with a fried egg on top. I scraped it off, got some mustard and a roll, made me a hamburger.
It cost about $5.00

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

but with horse meat going for hundreds of dollars a pound,

Where can you get hundreds of dollar a pound?

Becky