Deadly Equines: Meat-Eating and Murderous Horses

[William Parcher]

Deadly Equines: The Shocking True Story of Meat-Eating and Murderous Horses

There is widespread belief in a warm and comforting story which states the horse is a gentle herbivore. What if a Rosetta Stone had been found to unlock the dark secrets of the horse's past? An international multi-million dollar industry serviced by horse whisperers, glossy magazines and popular culture preaches that horses are meek prey animals who fear predators. What if evidence demonstrated horses have slain lions, tigers, pumas, wolves, hyenas and humans? Contemporary writers have successfully airbrushed murderous and meat-eating horses out of literature. What if Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes and Steve McQueen provided artistic evidence to refute that claim? Thanks to global equestrian amnesia, the crucial role played by horses in recent history has been lost to mankind. What if testimony revealed meat-eating horses had been used to explore the Poles and photographs had been discovered of Tibet's blood-eating horses?

Deadly Equines is a revolutionary departure from equestrian romance. It is a fact-filled analysis which reveals how humanity has known about meat-eating horses for at least four thousand years, during which time horses have consumed nearly two dozen different types of protein, including human flesh, and that these episodes have occurred on every continent, including Antarctica.  Various sources of corroborating data, including legends, literature, cinema, news stories, scientific reports and eyewitness accounts are presented for the reader's investigation. None of these items had been hidden. They were ignored, misinterpreted or, in some cases, censored. The result is the first exploration of the horse's hidden history, an alternative equestrian world populated by forgotten facts, overlooked evidence and astonishing stories. Amply illustrated, and containing a map of occurrences, this study challenges the reader to develop a new understanding of the horse, one based upon reason, not fantasy.

Publication Date: April 1, 2011

Well, I guess there is some confirmatory evidence for this, as opposed to there not being any for Bigfoot. But it has caught the eye of cryptozoology here and here.

When Jane Goodall announced in 1961 that chimps ate meat, that discovery did not impact many people's daily lives. However, I am sure you can appreciate the significance of the discovery that horses are omnivores who are capable of perpetrating acts of incredible violence.

 

[Dinwar]

Well, ANY herbivore is going to be able to defend itself--I mean, horses were contemporaries with saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, and other critters that can justifiably be called monsters. And there's good evidence that there were more predators per pound of prey back in the Pliestocene than there are in the most predator-rich environments today. So the idea that any organism is unable to fight back is just silly. And it's pretty well accepted that herbivores eat a certain amount of animal protein (though usually insects, and usually when young), and carnivores eat a certain amount of vegetable matter (any dog owner can attest to this). So it wouldn't be surprising to find that horses eat some meat, on occasion. Sounds sensationalized, though--the difference between a horse attacking someone, or a horse on occasion taking a bite of meat, and a horse as an omnivore is a major ecological distinction, and the idea of horses being omnivores is not supported by anatomy (they lack meat-eating teeth).

 

[Halfcentaur]

The horse who lives on my 6 acres is mean and will nibble the flesh of humans.

 

[RenaissanceBiker]

Publication Date: April 1, 2011

Well it was published on Truth Day, when only the truth may be published or printed, so it must be true.

... and that these episodes have occurred on every continent, including Antarctica.

The wild horses of the Antarctic are the worst.

 

[The Shrike]

White-tailed Deer are actually a well-known predator of eggs and nestlings of forest songbirds. It's difficult to quantify how important they are in the grand scheme of things, but deer predation seems to be more than just a freak occurrence.

 

[foxholeatheist]

Well it was published on Truth Day, when only the truth may be published or printed, so it must be true.

Ouch.

 

[Amapola]

You know, I've been around horses my entire life, used to train professionally and have personally handled around 500 different horses, and known many more. Although you find the rare individual who will eat just about anything (including wood, which I imagine is far more common than meat-eating behaviour) that does not mean that the species as a whole are omnivores.

Yes, horses can be aggressive and dangerous, generally when mishandled but this may also be due to a disorder in the particular horse (like a human who is a homicidal maniac, that does not turn our entire species into homicidal maniacs).

Horses are herbivores. They have the correct dentition and digestive system for this. We had a dog that used to eat plastic. Dogs are not natural plastic eaters; a dog eating plastic would be an exception. Same with the horses, who after all are individuals just like humans.

 

[Stoat22]

It's disturbing as hell, but many herbivores kill and eat animals. I'm horrified by watching video of a browser eat meat (I'm horrified, that doesn't mean I can explain my horror). Deer eat baby animals in the same motion they snip off grass. Bigfoot has been known to devour the livers of deer, only to discard the rest of the carcass, even though they are vegetarian. (I'm only kidding...)

My cat (obligate carnivore) absolutely adores cantaloupe and honeydew, and will lick up peanut butter--I let her have a small amount of melon, but won't let her eat peanut butter, because really nobody should eat that.

 

[Dinwar]

It's not really disturbing. I mean, like I said, horses survived alongside dire wolves and sabor-toothed cats--things like that tend to leave a mark on a species. To wit, anything that couldn't fight back was lunch. Combine that with the fact that food is whatever you can find sometimes, the natural variations in organisms (it's not impossible for a herbivorous lineage to produce carnivores, and vice versa), and the fact that organisms generally don't care what we think they should eat, and things like this aren't really unexpected. It's what makes biology fun: any time you think you understand the system, you realize that life has a whole new bag of tricks...

 

[Floyt]

There are forest antelopes of the small & compact kind that make it their business to clamber up trees of small incline to snack on breeding birds and their nests. Several species of mountain goat will not pass up carrion if it comes their way. Opportunism pays the metabolic bills. Presumably horses have their weak moments too.

Regardless, I am SO going to buy that book. Even if it turns out to be 100% horse apples, that is exactly the kind of deeply peculiar forteana I love

 

[billw]

The steed bit his master
How came this to pass?
He heard the good Pastor cry
"All flesh is grass!"

 

[godless dave]

Yes, horses can be aggressive and dangerous, generally when mishandled but this may also be due to a disorder in the particular horse

I understand that stallions can also be aggressive and violent with each other when competing for mates - just like lots of other herbivores.

 

[yog_sothoth]

I lived in a farm house for a while, and there was an apple tree with branches on both sides of an electric fence. I got the apples on my side and the horses ate the apples that fell on their side. One day I kicked an apple that had fallen on my side across to the horses. The horse immediately began rearing up, made lots of noise, kicked each other, and fought pretty hard to get the apple. None of them got hurt, but I never kicked another apple across the fence. I am guessing that going on their side of the fence to get apples would not have gone well.

As for the human-eating horses, didn't Hercules catch them all?

 

[Elizabeth I]

As for the human-eating horses, didn't Hercules catch them all?

I don't know, there were some in the Belgariad series - they could have been leftovers that Hercules didn't get to, or some superficially similar species.

 

[Amapola]

I understand that stallions can also be aggressive and violent with each other when competing for mates - just like lots of other herbivores.

Yes, key words being "with each other" whereas I was speaking about horse aggression towards humans. Sorry that was not clear!

I think I'll write a book about how dogs are nothing but human-killing machines, since there are dogs that have killed people; they are simply waiting for you to turn your back so they can kill you. The truth has to be known! This has been covered up!

 

[Hellbound]

I think I'll write a book about how dogs are nothing but human-killing machines, since there are dogs that have killed people; they are simply waiting for you to turn your back so they can kill you. The truth has to be known! This has been covered up!

Exactly. I'm glad someone sees the light. That dog that licks your face? He's not showing affection, he's just tasting you to see if you're worth the trouble!

 

[EdipisReks]

squirrels eat birds. i've seen it. squirrels are kinda like horses, i guess.

 

[Dinwar]

It's a reaction to the people who think all animals are cute and cuddly. When the pendulum swings one way, people will try to push it the other way--mostly going too far.

 

[Bikewer]

I admit I'm uneasy around horses. They are big. They can hurt you just by stepping on you.
Not to be trusted, IMO.

Of course, I have read tales of swarming, man-devouring voles as well... In very obscure (and rather gnawed..) texts.

 

[Marduk]

I think I'll write a book about how dogs are nothing but human-killing machines, they are simply waiting for you to turn your back so they can kill you. The truth has to be known! This has been covered up!

are you sure ?
I thought that was dophins