What about horses?

[WillyPete]

I'm lightly surrounded by numerous people who have one or more horses kept either in their yards or at many stables located thither and yon but, within walking distance. Riding back makes it a worthwhile journey, if the horse lets me ride that is.
What I'm thinking about is using horses for a meat source and for breeding more horses for food and muscle.
Right now, my next door neighbor has a horse and a burro, a neighbor down the street has three horses and another one down the road has more than I've been able to count and in the other direction is a stablery with I don't know how many horses there. And I can walk to each location in no more than an hour and a half for the farthest one.
Of course, I'll be VERY certain that the owners have bugged out and left the horses before I take them for care etc., horse thieves are still shot first and questioned later aorund here.
Thoughts anyone?

[Toepopper]

Knowing about horses is an asset, how to saddle, ride, feed and care for them could possibly save your bacon some day especially with so many horses in such close proximity to where you live. I limit my time around these critters because they are inherintly dangerous. They can throw you, bite, kick and crush a human body and I have known some cowboys who have been crippled by them but during a getoutadodge scenario they will become an asset. Never ate horse meat but if it came down to going hungry they would be on my menu.

[WillyPete]

I used to spend a fair amount of time at my Grandma's place messing with the animals. One of my aunts kept several horses there and I was allowed to ride them quite often, as long as she was there though. I learned quite a bit about horses and have even been consulted twice by folks years ago who were looking into buying horses for pet like animals and for exercise riding. My Grandma also had pigs and chickens so they're no trouble either, except for the usual mess. Then again, compost the mess and you have exceptional fertilizer. Horse manure is a great soil treatment after composting as well.

[fern]

If you are used to riding, horses are a great idea. If not used to it, there are still good tame trail horses that are well worth having. They eat a lot! And/or require a lot of fresh pasture as well as grain and hay all winter. Geldings are usually best as they come with no seasonal calling cards. I hope to have horses too even though they are more of a pain than I like to remember. You must also consider what you will do as far as keeping shoes on them and trimming their hooves. Again if you are already familiar is should not be a problem. It may be a good idea to look into getting some of the little things that are not too costly if you are truly considering this option. I currently have everything but the horses packed ready to go.

[WillyPete]

Having a small amount of blacksmithing skills, I'll likely be able to handle shoeing when needed. Plus, not mentioned earlier, there is a large Feed & Tack shop within walking distance here as well. More than enough for tending to horses. Plus, if necessary, I can remove the shoes and trim the hooves and let them run barefoot. They were originally designed without needing shoes so, they should be able to handle it. After a period of sorta getting used to being unshod of course.
Riding ain't no big deal, I've ridden many and only been thrown once. I didn't stay down long.
And, geldings are OK but, I'd like to keep at least one intact stallion to breed the mares. Not likely to use him for much of anything else knowing how temperamental they could be in the spring. We were kept away from the horse pens in the spring because the stallion would get somewhat excited for a few weeks. I've also witnessed a stallion getting out of hand at a breeding session, purt near broke a leg bounding around near the mare, he was out of control for certain and he took two men to keep him reined in until he could do what he was supposed to do.
As long as I can get the horses in a PAW, I should be alright.

[fern]

Birthing horses is not easy and you will be sitting up with that mare for nights and days. Sometimes they plop right out but just as often they don't and you get to put your arms down in there and twist that little thing into the right position without pulling its legs off and then assist in bringing it out. It ain't fun and it is not high on my list to ever get involved in again. Maybe its because I am a female too but watching that mare in pain and the enormous thrashing that is going on in her belly is not a wondrous site. Then too...there is always the mare that doesn't do her job after the colt is born and you get to do that part too.

[Toepopper]

No thanks, I'll walk.

[fern]

Haha! Mares are wonderful, stallions are powerful, geldings are the middle of the road. It an individual choice for sure! And it definitely beats walking!

[WillyPete]

No thanks, I'll walk.

I would also work to train them to harness for pulling a carriage of some sort. Even if someone doesn't want to ride the horse directly, they could ride the cart the horse is pulling. And, with harness training, they could be used for plowing. After I bang up a plow blade and a rig to use that piece of work.

[cowboy38229]

taste just like chicken

An old friend of mine that fought in ww2 in France said what he thought was beef actually turned out to be horse meat when he had to work in the kitchen,he said it was a little stringy and had a sweeter taste than beef . If you do a little research you'll find that in lots of other countries that its not unheard of to eat horse meat.

[WillyPete]

I know that horse meat has been in and out of favor in some areas of the US. I would use them mainly as a work animal but, once they're at that point, meat for dinner.
I imagine that horse meat is stringy because it's nothing but muscle, little to no fat to speak of so, it's a lot tougher and rougher. But, it's edible.

[bbj101]

You know, I used to ride a lot when I was young and when I was 18ish my mom got me a quarter horse. Besides the fact they eat so much, I would attempt to use the horse for work or transportation before I would eat them.

The horse that I had, Spook we nicknamed him, needed a lot of work and I didn't have the knowledge of how to retrain, I got thrown off so many times it was ridiculous... so if you have the basic know-how or the time to try, I would say its worth it.

Then again I've eaten horse meat before and it was VERY good. My best friend in elementary school and her family moved from china and had some very weird dinners, I learned never to ask what something was until I ate. Pig heart, horse, and rocky mountain oysters are the ones that stand out.. but all were amazingly good, so good that id eat them all again. Too bad I don't know her chinese family recipes!

[WillyPete]

Oh, Rocky Mountain Oysters are not that difficult to prepare, except for obtaining them. Those oyster beds can be a bit tricky to navigate.
The way of preparing them I'm most familiar with is just slice them very thin, bread them and fry them up crispy. Then season to taste, I like tabasco.
Back to horses, I'd do just like families of old and make use of the animals until they die naturally, then use them for food. Until I could raise enough where I didn't have to worry about running out of them, they'd be work animals until they couldn't work anymore.
Probably my biggest concern would be, family members giving them names.