Your Aero horsehide comes from...

[Deleted member 16736]

France, Quebec, and Belgium, according to a post on Horween's blog. I always wondered and thought others might find this knowledge useful. It makes me feel a little better knowing that the horse wasn't killed just for its hide but that its hide is a natural by-product of the food process (grizzly as that is). The cowhide is all North American.

"Our cowhides come mostly from Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Canada. Horsehides are from France, Quebec, and Belgium, where horse is still raised as a foodsource."

Of course, this only applies to the FQHH. No clue where the other stuff comes from.

 

[fedoralover]

If the front quarter comes from the front of the horse, I can only assume the rest comes from the Backquarter?? LOL

fedoralover

 

[Navin323i]

Interesting... up until now I was under the impression (from all the archived postings I've read here) that our FQHH came from the U.S. from horses that died from old age, etc.

 

[Edward]

There is the "natural death horsehide" label that gets put about in relation to Aero - to be fair, I don't ever recall seeing them use this, so it may be an over-simplification of the idea that none of the horses whose hides they use are killed for their skin (as opposed to it being a by-product of the industry). I'm not aware of any significant qualitative difference between American and European horses, however, so I shouldn't think it would make any appreciable difference to the quality of the jacket into which Aero make it.

FWIW, my admittedly limited understanding is that the better an animal is treated, the better the quality of the hide (of course one also has to allow for tanning being done well too), so there is an incentive to treat well an animal whose skin will be used for leather.

 

[ButteMT61]

Probably what it's fed is of the utmost importance. That's where I'd think an American FQHH would be good - I do know a bit about some of the horse issues here as my father is involved with the rescues, etc. In the end, I am assuming the likes of PETA and others are vigilant enough that if this IS an issue, we'd somehow know about it. And I'll be honest - if I found out there was some bad things going on to get there hides, I'd not purchase them. I pay more for beef and pork and chicken now to get what appears to be humanely treated animals. I'm not anti-leather, etc., but I don't want to support animal torture either...if my items come as a by-product of another need, then I'm happy.

 

[Deleted member 16736]

Probably what it's fed is of the utmost importance. That's where I'd think an American FQHH would be good - I do know a bit about some of the horse issues here as my father is involved with the rescues, etc. In the end, I am assuming the likes of PETA and others are vigilant enough that if this IS an issue, we'd somehow know about it. And I'll be honest - if I found out there was some bad things going on to get there hides, I'd not purchase them. I pay more for beef and pork and chicken now to get what appears to be humanely treated animals. I'm not anti-leather, etc., but I don't want to support animal torture either...if my items come as a by-product of another need, then I'm happy.

This issue is a complete black box. None of us really knows how these hides are obtained. I'm assuming the hides obtained overseas came from horses who were in some cases eaten. According to Horween's own blog, their FQHH is sourced mainly from France, Belgium and Quebec where killing horses for their meat is legal to the best of my knowledge. Anybody know differently?

 

[tonypaj]

This issue is a complete black box. None of us really knows how these hides are obtained. I'm assuming the hides obtained overseas came from horses who were in some cases eaten. According to Horween's own blog, their FQHH is sourced mainly from France, Belgium and Quebec where killing horses for their meat is legal to the best of my knowledge. Anybody know differently?

I live in France, horsemeat is readily available as it is in neighboring Switzerland (at least here in the Geneva region). The taste is quite good. I have no clue where the meat comes from, or how the animals are treated.

 

[MissMittens]

The best horsemeat comes from Canada

 

[dr.velociraptor]

I've never ate a horse but they look delicious.

 

[Aether]

Maybe if we all eat lots of horse the price of FQHH will go down?! I personally rather like it. Very tasty.

 

[Fifty150]

As a kid, we always heard that saying about sending horses to the glue factory.

What really happens to horse in the USA after they die? We may not eat horses. But we do ride them. I guessing that we don't ride enough horses to supply our demands for leather.

 

[Fletch]

The kill-zero-horses sentiment in the US is really NIMBYism if you ask me. It means old or ill horses have to be shipped over the border to be put down - only adding cruelty to the process.

 

[MissMittens]

Eactly. The more horsemeat that's consumed, the more plentiful the skins will become

 

[Fifty150]

I have an exotic meat dealer in town. I get alligator, ostrich, venison, boar, buffalo, kangaroo, and all sorts of things that we don't usually find in the supermarket. But I've never seen horse.

 

[Edward]

Probably what it's fed is of the utmost importance. That's where I'd think an American FQHH would be good - I do know a bit about some of the horse issues here as my father is involved with the rescues, etc. In the end, I am assuming the likes of PETA and others are vigilant enough that if this IS an issue, we'd somehow know about it. And I'll be honest - if I found out there was some bad things going on to get there hides, I'd not purchase them. I pay more for beef and pork and chicken now to get what appears to be humanely treated animals. I'm not anti-leather, etc., but I don't want to support animal torture either...if my items come as a by-product of another need, then I'm happy.

I know where you're coming from. I often find I have everything in common with my vegetarian friends whose diet is based on an ethical stance, save that I don't have a moral objection to eating an animal. The bonus of paying a bit more for meat (I can't afford to go all-out organic, but I do try to opt for the 'free range' stuff whenever I can) is that it actually tastes better.... I'm all for taking only what we need from nature, and using as much as possible with as little wastage as possible.

I live in France, horsemeat is readily available as it is in neighboring Switzerland (at least here in the Geneva region). The taste is quite good. I have no clue where the meat comes from, or how the animals are treated.

I've never knowingly tried it, but it is on my hit list.

As a kid, we always heard that saying about sending horses to the glue factory.

Here's a funny one.... a friend of mine got quite a telling off from a family friend for telling the friend's daughters that glue came from ponies. Perfectly happy for the kids to know where beef, chicken, pork etc come from, but they drew the line at pretty ponies.... [huh] I'm like that about cats, but they're people. And I'd never eat a dog, but mainly because I think of them as unhygienic. Totally irrational, but there we are.

What really happens to horse in the USA after they die? We may not eat horses. But we do ride them. I guessing that we don't ride enough horses to supply our demands for leather.

This is why it's a niche market, in large part.

The kill-zero-horses sentiment in the US is really NIMBYism if you ask me. It means old or ill horses have to be shipped over the border to be put down - only adding cruelty to the process.

It did seem a strange choice in that respect to me; only thing I can think of is that it was designed in an attempt to kill off the trade in horsehide within the US. [huh]

 

[ButteMT61]

Yeah, I remember "glue factory" jokes everywhere. From the "Little Rascals" to cartoons. If I had to kill animals for my shoes, boots, jackets, food, etc., I'd have a lot less of 'em in my life, that's for sure. It's not in my makeup, even though I come from "stock" and grew up in such an environment. I used to feel like a hypocrite, but then I realized, I enjoy my roof, toilet, car and I don't make those either lol

 

[Navin323i]

Maybe if we all eat lots of horse the price of FQHH will go down?! I personally rather like it. Very tasty.

I've always wondered what horse tastes like. Does it taste like chicken (per the joke that everything tastes like chicken) or like beef?

As a kid, we always heard that saying about sending horses to the glue factory.

What really happens to horse in the USA after they die? We may not eat horses. But we do ride them. I guessing that we don't ride enough horses to supply our demands for leather.

I do remember when I was growing up I'd see references to horses and glue factories in the old cartoons I'd watch. Was glue in the old days made partly from horses?

 

[dr.velociraptor]

I thought they used horse bones for gelatin, even in the US, maybe that's where the horses to the glue factory things came from, gelatin is a glue like substance and I believe they used to actually use horses for glue.

 

[Tony B]

Navin.. it tastes like a slightly sweet, sticky version of beef....horrible to my english palate.

Ther was an article in the news today saying that last year one man shot 1800 dartmoor ponies last year and as he couldn't think of anything profitable to do with the carcases he sent them to feed the lions at the nearest zoo ...what a bloody waste.

Mind you if he knew about the horsehide trade he would probably have wiped the population out altogether.

 

[Tadite]

Last year someone killed that many Dartmoor Ponies? I'd have thought that was more then existed on earth!