Grey Horses Not Fit to Eat

I've always wanted a dapple grey. I saw one today. I wanted it. (See? I want everything I see.)

Jane and my neighbor were standing with me when I voiced my covet du jour. "I want a dapple grey. I've always wanted one," I said, like not having one was a great loss, like growing up without a mother.

"No you don't," my neighbor said. "They get cancer. Mine had to be put down because of cancer."

Somebody else said, "You can't even eat them. Slaughterhouses won't take them because of the high chance of cancer."

I'm not even going to look this fact up. Going from a High State of Covet over a dapple grey horse to the knowledge that I can't eat him is more than I can handle.

Goodnight.

Comments

[Beckz]

I love dapple Greys too! Just avoid pink skin and you can aviod alot of the cancer.

[Jackie]

You can't beat a gorgeous dappled gray, especially when they have dark points on the mane, tail, and legs. The only unfortunate thing is they don't stay dappled gray ... they end up flea bitten gray. My middle-aged dappled gray has a few little tumors (and one decent sized one) but they're all benign so far. I'd never trade having her just because she may get cancer. She sure knew how to turn heads at horses shows ...

[ELL]

That would have left me speachless too! Good Grief.

[risingrainbow]

Oh YUK! That's a picture I didn't need. I love grey horses too. There is nothing more beautiful than an incredible grey horse. And while, yes they are more prone to melanoma's than other colors of horses, they are not as bad as had been claimed. In my twenty years in Arabian horses, I've only seen two melanomas and neither of them were fatal.

[midlife mom]

Oh me oh my! That's an image I don't want in my mind either! lol! I don't usually think of horses in terms of whether I can eat them or not! :o( My husband is determined to get a dappled gray driving pony, maybe I should let him read your post and it might deter him, we have 5 and that's enough! ha!

We have lots of snow here now so it has really cut down on the riding except for in the inside arena which I don't like. I get so bored and almost dizzy riding in there especially if there are other riders in there but it sure beats being out in the wind and cold.

Hope you're having a great time getting ready for Christmas. I posted a few pictures of what I have done so far but still have more to do but I enjoy it.

Take care and stop by and visit! :o)

[Shelly]

I had a registered grey quarter horse. Apparently when he was registered he was much darker than when I bought him because he was registered having socks and a blaze. When I got him he was completely white. And I don't know if it was the color but he was always ALWAYs filthy. He could get mud into every nook and cranny on his body!! Unfortunately we had to put him down, we believed he got cancer in the end. We didn't have him tested as he was old (28) and we had retired him about a year and a half before we had to put him down as his legs were starting to go on him, he was tripping and stumbling lots. But in that last year he lost so much weight and I kept him out at my parents farm and my dad tried every ration of food, nutrients but he just could not keep the weight on. Had I know how things would have ended, I still would have bought him, we had 15 great years with him and we are still struggling to find a horse that can replace him work wise (we do a lot of cattle work). I never really understood when people would talk about horses having heart. But my horse had the most amazing heart. When he was old he was the slowest trail horse in the world but when he was working it was all business and he was a hard horse to control around cattle you definetly had to be on your game at all times! Wouldn't have traded my time with him for anything. And the thought of whether they are edible or not never has crossed my mind!!

[Transylvanianhorseman]

There are two state-run Lipizzaner studs in Transylvania. One breeds only white horses, the other only chesnut, bay and black. (Lipizzaners do come in all these colours.) An urban myth used to circulate saying that the greys are all in one place "because they get melanoma, so the abbatoirs won't take them." I think the real reason is commercial, the greys are worth more thanks to the Spanish Riding School, so they don't show wealthier buyers all the other colours. In the bad old days, the Italian meat men took anything: horses with EVA, melanoma, whatever, the vendor simply bribed the vet to give the horse a clean bill of health. The Italians got some bad things in their salami!

[BarnGoddess]

dapple greys w/ dark points are my favorite only second to bays.

Ive heard that tale about slaughterhouses not taking light skinned greys but I think it is exactly that-a tall tale!

[jamie]

Love your blog. Just found it and read it all. What happened to Breyer's horse ride? My 2nd horse was a beautiful grey. As they all do he got lighter and lighter as he aged. He was a GREAT gelding and lived to age 34. He just laid down on day and went to sleep forever. He smelled Wondrful! And always did everything he was asked. Taught me lots and lots. (I got him at age 5-I was 5 he was a baby-after a surly shetland pony mix) Keep blogging. Very enjoyable to read. Happy Holidys Jamie

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