----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Bri" <[log in to unmask]>


> Horse is fine. I had essentially raw horse in Japan once. Shabu-shabu.
>

Horse meat may be fine for your body, but it is far from good for my soul. 
There is a reason horse slaughter houses are outlawed in the U.S., but there 
are ways that people are getting around that law.

We had a local news program on TV last night here in S. New Mexico about a 
large holding pen in El Paso, TX (40 mi. S. of me) where horses are trucked 
in and held until dark.  After dark the horses are loaded onto huge trucks 
(that is, crammed into w/ no thought to the lame, injured, etc.) and taken 
over the bridge to Juarez, Mexico - a journey lasting less than an hour at 
most.

The horses are very, very stressed out because they are packed in w/ other 
horses they do not know; all sorts of herd issues.  They are unloaded at a 
slaughter house in Juarez during the night and are killed; I saw the clip on 
TV.  The killing is done while the horse is under a great deal of stress.... 
a man stabs the horse in the head w/ a big knife, trying to kill it.  Of 
course, the system is not w/out problems; many horses need to be stabbed 
again and again.  The video of a panicked horse w/ blood all over his head 
just turned my stomach.

Yes, I have owned, raised, trained, loved horses.  I would no more eat horse 
meat than dog meat (which is done many places, as you know).  That said, I 
really don't think it is a good idea to eat the meat of an animal that dies 
under tremendous stress, flooded w/ stress hormones.  I am not aware of any 
slaughter houses that kill horses under humane conditions.  There may well 
be some.  The people in Mexico and France who can afford horse meat are a 
strong market and money is money.

I had a neighbor in Michigan who was a pilot.  He spent a couple of years 
flying dead horses over to France.  The horses all had their heads cut off 
for the trip.  My neighbor quit his job & found another company to fly for.

Sigh.  Off my rant; I must sound like a real wimp to most of you.
Kath