Most people have heard the old story about the racehorse that didn't win races anymore being sent to the glue factory. Also, most people assume they are feeding their pets horse meat, again most likely not. There is a far greater demand for horse meat overseas, especially France for the consumption of humans.

Horses, ponies and donkeys are all killed for their meat. These animals come from homes where they were pet animals, farms and even some race horses have been sent to slaughter, most notably a Kentucky Derby winner. In some cases these animals have medical problems their owners don't want to deal with and in other cases they are sold for horse meat because their owners simply didn't want them anymore.

It is illegal to package any other kind of meat where horse meat is processed and there are three major slaughter houses of horses in the United States. They are Dallas Crown, Inc in Kaufman, Texas; Beltex Corporation in Fort Worth, Texas; and Cavel International, Inc. in DeKalb, Illinois. The horse meat that is processed by these facilities goes to other countries - mainly Western Europe and Japan. On their way to slaughter, horses can be crammed in a trailer and transported for up to 28 hours without food, water or any kind break from being cooped up in a trailer.

Horse rescues such as this one spend their time looking for horses on their way to slaughter along with rescuing cases of abuse. There has been some progress towards eliminating the slaughter of horses in the United States. Two bills, H.R. 503 in the House and S. 1915 in the Senate, were introduced to prevent the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the United States. H.R. 503 was passed in the House on September 7, 2006. The bill was anonymously blocked from a vote in the Senate, so both bills will need to be introduced again in 2007; the fact it passed makes it a little more hopeful that horse slaughter may be eliminated in the United States.