long riders guild
9 September, 2011
Filed in Category: horse behaviour
Meat Eating Horses?
Some of you know that my book, “Old Men and Horses: A Gift of Horsemanship” is published by the Long Rider’s Guild.
The head honcho of the LRG is CulCuhllaine O’Reilley who has just published a book called “Deadly Equines: The Shocking True Story of Meat-Eating and Murderous Horses.”
He recently gave an interview to Rick Lamb and you can listen to it here. Just click on the microphone icon for the date 9/10/2011. You need to do this in the next couple weeks before Rick adds the interview to the archives for his show. If it is added to the archives, you can only listen to the show by becoming a member of the The Horse Show.
In any case, CulChullaine tries to make the case that horses are capable of being predators and flesh eaters. He uses anecdotal evidence and hearsay stories to support the notion that horses have been trained to eat meat and can eat meat spontaneously. He states that this is knowledge that has been known for thousands of years, but has been lost in modern times.
At no point does CulChullaine present any facts or evidence. His arguments stem entirely from ancient reports with ambiguous meaning or from hearsay stories. He has never seen a horse eat meat. But he states categorically that he has received e-mails from people who have.
He chooses to ignore the fact that in all the 1000s of scientific papers that have been published on horse behaviour, horse nutrition and wild horse studies, none report behaviours of flesh eating in horses. He ignores the fact that horses do not have correct dentition for being flesh eaters. He likewise stubbornly sets aside the fact that the equine gastrointestinal system and liver function are not equipped for a diet of meat.
His whole premise is akin to stories of UFO sightings or fake moonlandings, in my view.
I am embarrassed to be associated with the LRG and especially CulChullaine and his wife Basha. They have a history of ridiculous behaviour. Several months ago I reported their claim that a planned trek around the world stumbled before it even got started because they claim a horse trainer sabotaged their horses. They launched a campaign in England to pass a law banning people from training horses who they considered bad trainers.
I doubt CulChullaine’s book would ever have been published if he didn’t do it himself. I eagerly look forward to February 2013 when my contract with them expires. It just goes to show that it takes all types.