The wild horse has been an American symbol for many years developing way before our time. A symbol to our nation of freedom and expansion. Horses have been with us watching our country grow and throughout history playing key roles into transforming our nation today. They carried us to battle and brought transportation and services for our settlers. This western frontier idol is now being exploited. An icon that brought so much strength and freedom to our land is being taken advantage of through slaughter and brutality. With little regulation within the slaughter process and the ethics of cruelty within the system, the slaughter market for horses should come to an end. 

There are a variety of practices used to execute horses. These different practices all differ from the places in which the houses are established. Mexico uses a "puntilla knife", a short double edged stabbing knife, which they use to stab the horses repeatedly, to sever the spinal cord leaving the horse still conscious but paralyzed for execution. Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe use a rifle or bolt which sends a steel rod into the horse's brain. Here in the United States we also use the captive bolt gun to render the horses' unconscious before slaughter, but it is common for the bolt gun to not be properly executed by unskilled workers and to lift the horses up slitting their throats until they bleed out (Horsefund). Having the horse potentially conscious while they are hung to bleed out causes extreme pain and fear, in addition to feeling every bit of torture they endure the moment they are hung upside down. These are common practices that are used to obtain horse meat for human consumption being served as a delicacy in many foreign countries. 

The demand horse meat is for the most part strictly foreign, "The majority of the processed meant was shipped to Italy, Japan, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Mexico" (Opitz 363). This delicacy of meat can go for $20 a pound(Americanhorsemeat).  There is little preparation that goes into the shipment of the product. Once they are sealed and packaged they are inspected to reassure the identity of it, in this case horse meat. Many horses are being treated on farms with different medicines and drugs and then transported to slaughter houses or taken from the wild. There is very little documentation on these horses and it is hard to have a record of all the antidotes and conditions that these animals are subjected to. When these horses are produced for consumption it is not clear what they have been given and leaves to question, what has been put into the meat that is being served? "There are very few regulations on the drugs given to horses, and we cannot risk introducing dangerously toxic meat into our food supply here at home or abroad. We must stop the slaughter of these beloved animals and protect the public's health." stated Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana democrat (Weise). There is not an official way to document these horses' pasts and to know what goes into the meat that is being exported for people to eat; the consumption could bring potential danger. For example, Bute, a sort of "horse aspirin" is very commonly diagnosed to horses. Bute is also a cancer-causing medication and with its consumption through horsemeat could take effect on its consumers (Equine Right).

The overall market for horse meat is fairly large. "In 2006, the United States was the fifth-largest exporter of horsemeat. At that time, over twenty-six million pounds of meat was exported, valued in the millions of dollars" (Opitz 360). This was at the peak of the market, and since then these numbers have been in a slow decline. With the legislative act in 2007 closing the three remaining slaughterhouses in the United States, there hasn't been much of a change with horses originating from the United States. With this legislative change only came an alternative pathway to getting the horses from the U.S and sending them to Mexico and Canada slaughter houses.

Within this academic journal written by Anderson, he explores in depth the effects and history horse slaughter has and its place in our environment and business world. "Within three years of closing slaughter facilities in the Unites States, exports of horses had increased by 660% to slaughter operations in Mexico and 148% to operations in Canada." (Anderson 128). With keeping markets open in other countries the opportunity is open for house owners and employees in the market to keep profiting. While they are profiting from exporting horses, the horses are exposed to further abuse. They travel thousands of miles in trailers, packed, having to stand for days at a time with no food or water. The conditions are cruel with urine and feces, blood and sweat. Some horses end up falling and being trampled unable to get back up. There is not a standard unified transportation regulation in place for the travels of the horses which endangers their well-being and safety. To say that closing slaughter houses in the United States will help protect horses is not justifiable. Closing slaughter house in the U.S. has further worsened the treatment of horses. They are enduring much more severe cruelty than before; now having to be transported so many miles away. 

There is a parallel that can be drawn between horses and dogs in the way that Americans view these animals. To us they are companions; they are animals that should be safe and treated respectfully and not to be consumed for food. This is a widespread emotion thought throughout the United States, just as Asian cultures portrays dogs and horses as food. There is not an emotional connection between the two like there is here in the United States. The ethics to eat a dog or a horse for that matter does not correlate between cultures. 

A clear understanding can be drawn from previous paragraphs that horse slaughter and the market that revolves around this industry puts many horses annually, in danger. The ethics surrounded around this is even more baffling. To put any animal in these conditions for a delicacy of their meat is astounding. A market so desperate to produce this quality of meat that in fact has evidence of toxicity and danger puts the humans consuming it at risk. There is something to be said about the relatively low demand in the United States for this type of meat, but to have such a driving force over seas, yet a strong percentage of the meat consumed are originating from the United States when it in fact is illegal here in America. This shows that just ending slaughter houses here in America isn't doing the job. Horses are being further endangered and just selectively ending domestic slaughter in the United States has worsened treatment through having to transport. However, with the economic footprint of the market being quite large, there is a benefit to having domestic slaughter houses.

"In 2001 the industry exported 11,940 metric tons of processed horse meat worth more than $41 million from the United States" (Durfee 357). The amount of revenue coming from overseas for this meat is skyrocketing. "Domestic horse slaughter is a necessary part of the billion-dollar horse industry. The slaughter industry not only provides revenue, jobs, and taxes, but it also provides a humane, economically viable disposal option for unwanted or danger horses under careful federal regulation." (Dufree 359). This large market gives job opportunities within its structure. "Today, U.S slaughterhouses and "meat"-processing facilities employ over 500,000 workers" (foodispower.org) this is a significant number of people who could be unemployed with the closure of slaughter houses. There is a prevalent impact and association with domestic slaughter and the economy. The revenues and employment that come with the slaughter market makes it quite appealing to the economy of our country. 

With a fairly abundant amount of horses in the United States, slaughter provides a sort of population regulation. What the slaughter business did for the population of horses was to "dispose" and "get rid of" unwanted horses. This action then regulating and improving the well-fare for these unwanted horses, or that is what the members of the market claim.

In the world there is a place for horse markets, "rendering" being one of them, and it differs from slaughter a great bit. "Rendering is a process by which the carcass of a deceased animal is utilized for usage in other products." (Fort), this would mean that horses already deceased would be taken to the plants to utilize their carcasses for products like lubricants, polishes, soaps, cement, ink, lipstick and other cosmetics, Crayola crayons, Jell-O, gummy candies, lard, gel in canned meat products, agricultural feeds, and pet food products (Born Free USA, 2002). I believe that if is an option to eliminate brutality of live horses then it is something to be considered. To remove any kind of harm to another living thing should be viewed in a positive light and noted a possibility to further look into. 

It is apparent that horses in our world have a substantial impact on the ways in which things are made, the economy functions, and lives and employment of the people in these slaughter houses support themselves. It is also relevant to the ways we consume/ regulate food and ethically and morally treat the animals who coexist with us. There is a great deal to be looked at when trying to project the future for horses in our society and gathering it all I believe that there could be a solution to incorporate all aspects and ideas on the matter. 

The harsh brutality with the use of puntilla knives and bolt guns for slaughter is not something that can be ethically supported. They are cruel and to be inflicted onto innocent animals is not something that can be stood for. I believe that the rendering process is much more ethical in the terms of getting rid of horses, already dead by more natural processes than forceful slaughter. In pairing with this inhumanity, is the low regulation of horse documentation. If we are going to be slaughtering horses for human consumption, there should be a high standard being held in the monitoring of our food. The people in charge of the food that is being served to us should know what that food/animal itself is digesting, and the way it is being prepared for us to consume. Our health should be just as much of a priority as the animal's health that is being raised for us to eat. These are main concerns in the slaughter market that directly affect the lives of its consumers. 

Horse markets as an industry have potential to keep being a profiting business but should be so without the suffering of our health and the suffering of animal lives. The government should establish an appropriate fund to maintain regulations and inspections of rendering facilities. Rendering offers more beneficial qualities to the life of horses and I think with government support would be a more sufficient option. Rendering offers opportunities to create and maintain profits through products without the mistreatment of animals. Rendering as of now, doesn't have regulations. This is a drawback to a lot of things because these products containing horse byproducts are not being inspected. It would be key for a federal backing to supply a sufficient fund and implement a policy to regulate these facilities. 

Googling the term "rendering plant" you'll be supplied disturbing and graphic images of ground up animal body parts, and piles of carcasses. The photos depict something much worse than a slaughter house at first glance. The state of render plants now is unregulated and with that being changed has the opportunity to be a much better outlet. With improved facilitation and regulation of these plants, there could be a real future. The ethics behind slaughter houses now is something that cannot be supported. They subject live, well, healthy horses to these facilities for horrific execution. By eliminating that and taking already deceased horses by natural causes and such, not execution, it could help eliminate this animal brutality. Rendering plants aren't an end all solution. With rending plants, it will require a lot of attention and regulating by the FDA to create a sustainable and healthy facility. 

With this trade out, it won't however give the results that domestic horse slaughter did. Horse price per head is a driving factor in revenue and the price of a horse to be put up for slaughter could become very pricey. I believe that without a market of buying and selling live horses there could be a decrease an economic footprint and money within the horse market. 

There are many options and sides to this argument on how to deal with the well-being and ethics involved in slaughter for consumption. Naturally our culture is not subject to this kind of abuse on an animal we consider a companion, or symbol. A fine line between situations and ethics to maneuver around to find just the right solution for a controversial problem. Keeping in mind main concerns and key problems with domestic slaughter the solution of a trade out between slaughter houses and rendering plants is a suggestion to further explore. There are obvious benefits to such switch and the future for horses could look pain and hassle free. No excuse can be made for the type of conditions they endured to be our food and meat on our plate. Hard enough to consider them an ingredient in products of our daily lives, but creating a situation to benefit members of this market.

The future for horses in our world should reflect a pain free and brutality free environment and the only way to do that is to end domestic slaughter houses. To sustain the horse market, rendering plants would be able to replace them. Being able to continue making revenue and using horse to distribute across the world would sustain a piece of the market itself. When sacrificing to meet the needs of both sides though, the horse market will take a hit in efficiency and profit. Horses won't be able to die out and be used in the same way or at the same speed that horses buying and selling would be able to regulate. They won't be at a high price and the quality might slump off. Ethically though horses have been saved. It is clear that this solution or suggestion of the future for the horse market is involving major give and take. Let it be considered that there are more solutions than one to end horse brutality and the innocent horses have a voice to be accounted for; and with our moral judgment it is just a step in the right direction. 

