Horse IQ

Few things get my blood boiling more than this inane notion of eating horses. But I just read an article in the International Herald Tribune about it. And I’m mad.

“Meanwhile: We eat horses, don’t we?” was written by a reporter named Christa Weil (never heard of her), and it paints supporters of the American Horse Defense Fund as hypocrites.

Apparently, some spokesman for the Fund made a statement that she took issue with…

“the foreign-owned slaughter industry needs to understand that Americans will never view horses as dinner.”

She goes on to enumerate several times in U.S. history when Americans have allegedly put horses on the menu. Sometimes for profit. Sometimes as a tasty treat.

During WWII when there was a meat shortage
During the recession of 1973
The 1960’s at Harvard University Faculty Club

For starters, she doesn’t cite her sources, so the accuracy of these accounts can’t be verified (imagine that). Then she goes on to underscore American hypocrisy with language such as…

“Hunger and the desire to nourish one’s children are by far the most effective tramplers of food taboos, and they have been the main forces behind America’s sporadic appreciation of horse as a culinary item.”

Appreciation? A culinary item?? As if not only do willingly eat our equine friends, but we rather enjoy the taste they leave in our pallates!

She goes on to support this asinine notion with the fact that the French government decreed in 1853 that every Frenchman consume 3.5 ounces of meat, and since horsemeat was cheap at the time, that made it ok. Boy, there’s a good reason for us Americans to do something deplorable - the French did it 150 years ago.

Enough Already!

How can I answer to Christa Weil’s question “Meanwhile, we eat horses, don’t we?” Depends on how you define we. If we means Americans throughout U.S. history, perhaps we have (assuming Weil’s proof elements are accurate and not the typical all-Americans-are-hypocrites drivel accompanied by the usual half-truths).

If, however, we means horse lovers? I think you know the answer to that. Anyone - American or otherwise - who actually eats horses has obviously never owned one. Or been loved by one. And if that’s the case, the emotion you hear in my voice above is pity. And maybe a little bit of anger mixed in.

Love Is The Difference

I guess I shouldn’t be too infuriated by this article. If you’ve never truly loved a horse, you can’t know how strong the bond between horse and rider really is.

Clearly, Christa Weil never has. If she had, she’d know how the notion of eating horses is nothing short of cannibalism to those of us who truly love them.

This is one of those horse issues I just can’t stay silent on. Do we eat horses? No. And we don’t eat our children, either.