Is your horse a vegetarian?

Posted by Beryl on Aug 17, 2009 • (6)

There is a question on Wikipedia: “Are horses meat eaters or are they vegetarian?” I’m no genius, but this sounds to me like a really stupid question. Meat? Horses are traditionally grass eaters. And grass is not an animal. Therefore horses are vegetarians. Right?

Seriously, although this sounds like THE most obvious statement ever spoken, a lot of people are feeding their horses meat products. For example, most of the Chondroitin sold in South Africa is derived from beef, sharks or shellfish. Yes, animals. Similar story for Glucoseamine. Protein supplements often use blood meal and meat scraps. Hoof supplements often contain gelatine, itself derived from animals’ hooves. And the supplements that contain omega oils usually use fish oil.

Clearly, the manufacturers of these supplements think that this is a harmless practice. Or they justify themselves by saying that the amount of meat product used is small. In comparison, say, to the amount of grass that a horse eats.

Personally, I think it is wrong. Horses are designed to eat plants. This is what they digest best. This is what they utilise most efficiently. We know a lot about the equine digestive system. But we know very, very far from everything. It is probably fair to say that what we know is a fraction of what there is to know.

Bottom line: we don’t know how the long term ingestion of animal products can affect a horse.

I have taken the decision to use only vegetarian raw materials. Even if they cost more.

I am very interested in your views on this. Please feel free to comment below.

6 Comments

  1. Nancy says:
    August 17th, 2009 at9:35 pm

    Dear Beryl,

    Yes, I agree entirely with you. We shouldn’t change what a species eats just because we think that we, as humans, know better. Nature created horses to eat mainly grass, that’s what they should eat. (And a few apples :-) ) Every being should eat a species specific diet.

    Nancy

  2. Debbie says:
    August 18th, 2009 at7:49 am

    Look what happened when some humans decided to feed cattle animal products – Mad Cow Disease that should be a warning to any silly human who thinks they know better than the animal!

  3. Estelle says:
    August 25th, 2009 at2:16 pm

    Did you not notice all the horses fishing for sharks? And what about the ones braai-ing themselves a lovely piece of steak? Not? Well, I suppose then that’s NOT what horses eat! I have seen them eat lots of grass, though…
    Come on – leave nature alone, it was created perfect after all.

  4. Jeanette says:
    September 17th, 2009 at4:01 pm

    I participated on a USA forum where some horse owners spotted their horses catching rabits & other sall animals and ate them. Would this be a diet or behaviour thing?

  5. Beryl says:
    September 17th, 2009 at4:13 pm

    Jeanette, that is weird. Never, ever heard of that happening in my life. Anyone else?

  6. stacey says:
    September 17th, 2009 at5:38 pm

    I had a horse who would raid the other kids lunchboxes , and eat their ham sandwiches…but leave the ‘vegetarian’ ones, anything with meat on was gobbled up… he was caught in the act a number of times!

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