Equine Slaughter and Hippophagy

The Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation
The world’s first global hippological study

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Equine Slaughter & Hippophagy

January 2012: The final chapter of this unique book describes the painless and dignified way old, injured or unwanted horses were put to death in Victorian times. Even in those unsentimental days, some horses were turned out in the country when their working days were over. And of course none were subjected to being transported hundreds, if not thousands, of miles in conditions of appalling cruelty.

Click on cover image to read the final chapter, "The End."

December 2010: Tough times send hill ponies to the abattoir. Ponies are being sold to abattoirs as squeezed margins mean horse trainers can no longer afford to break them in and school them. This article by Jocasta Shakespeare was published in The Sunday Times on 26th December 2010.

December 2010: Horse Welfare Wars: When Emotion and Fact Collide. Equine welfare and the growing population of horses needing homes are quickly becoming some of the major challenges that veterinarians face on a daily basis, according to Tom Lenz, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACT, who delivered the keynote speech, entitled "Horse Welfare Wars: When Emotion and Fact Collide," at the 56^th Annual American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention, which was held Dec. 4-8 in Baltimore. Read this article by Erica Larson which was published in The Horse magazine.

Dying by Inches - (published January 2010) Rise in Large Scale Equine Starvation Cases Highlights Urgent Need for Social Change and Legal Action. Because of its constant access to international equestrian developments, and thanks to a network of allied equestrian editors and journalists, the Long Riders' Guild Academic Foundation has been monitoring the alarming rise of large scale equine neglect in the United States and Canada. A survey of international news stories revealed an 800% increase in the last year, confirming that the LRG's misgivings about the rise of equine neglect were not only correct, they were in fact far worse than we suspected.

The Economic Impact of a Ban on Horse Slaughter – The LRG-AF has launched a new section devoted to the study of equine slaughter and hippophagy, the practice of eating horse meat. Highlighting this vital international effort is the ground-breaking research project undertaken by North American equestrian researcher, Michael Shane North. In a special thesis written for the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, the author reveals stunning facts and figures which explain the tremendous social and financial implications connected to the operation of American equine slaughter facilities. This landmark document, "I'm so Hungry I could Eat a Horse", makes for prophetic reading.

Savin’ All My Love for You– It was the 1920s and a new product called Ken-L-Ration dog food was an instant hit. The only problem was that the plant’s owner needed hundreds of thousands of horses to fill the cans of dog food he was selling. After having decimated the domestic horse population, the plant owner unleashed an unprecedented assault on America’s wild horse herds. The result was horse slaughter on an unimaginable scale, with the Ken-L-Ration company bleeding the country dry of horses in its quest for even greater profits. That’s when one man single handedly attempted to stop the equinocide. The result was a war over the fate the nation’s horses which still rages today.

Thanks to exclusive research material provided by The Long Riders' Guild Academic Foundation, the equestrian journalist Tom Moates has written a stunning exposé, Vatican versus the Vikings, describing how the American cultural taboo against eating horse-meat is based on a forgotten edict issued by Pope Gregory III in the year 732. When the Catholic Church found itself locked in religious combat with the Pagan Vikings, who ate horse-meat during their religious ceremonies, the Vatican created a prohibition which not only affected Christian history but is unwittingly still being obeyed by Americans today.

Please click here to read a few of the hundreds of responses to the "Vatican versus the Vikings" article.

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