Do not feed the horse

This is a picture of Groseille (Currant) the local star in our village.  She's very friendly indeed if she thinks that you've got something for her to eat.  We used to take her an apple every time we walked by.  Someone told us that the apple should be cut up, so we cut it into four pieces.  She can count and would wait for the forth piece before continuing with the grass.

Unfortunately, everyone was feeding her tit-bits, including stale bread.  See how muddy her back looks in this picture.  One day as we were preparing to feed her an apple her owner, the mayor, came over to us and explained that she had been rolling on the ground in agony with colic.  So he's asked everyone not to feed her.  She's written a very nice notice explaining how too much food makes her ill.

Unfortunately she doesn't come over to say hello anymore, just snuffles a greeting and continues grazing.

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I have eaten horse meat.

As an ex vegetarian I think that if you are going to eat one animal, then why not another? We had horse steaks while visiting friends in the North of France 25 years ago. They did ask us if we minded first and as far as I remember I’d rather eat beef. When we first came to live in the village there was a horse butcher who came to the village on Saturday mornings and the local supermarkets sold horse meat too. Then a lot of people became ill after eating diseased meat. The problem being that in France people prefer their meat underdone. Someone is supposed to have calculated you could get 1000 portions from one horse (different cuts of meat, sausage, offal, black pudding and so on) Since those days the horse butcher stopped coming round and the local supermarkets stopped selling the meat too.

I though that the practise had died out… This afternoon I was shocked to read A Taste of Garlic which contains a link to a post about the way that some horses are treated. I’m not sure whether they are all bound for the abattoir or not. Do not follow the link from his site if you are easily upset.

I’d just like to point out that most French people are just as horrified at the ill treatment of animals as everyone else.