ICELAND: COMMODITY HORSES

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

By Gundhramns Hammer
October 12, 2014
Select, paste & translate 

Iceland is famous for its breathtaking landscape, open spaces for skiing, its winter horse-drawn sledges, its fin whale harvesting programme, its whale beer made with whale meal (the byproduct of processing the marine animal’s meat and oil), a while back for its banking underground connections with the Russian Mafiya, amongst other known, not so known and unknown things.

Recently, under the impact of climate change, the north polar ice cap is melting, Iceland has become once again a strategic gateway. So it is more frequently mentioned in the international news.

The new ocean routes are providing access to the vast unexploited natural resources such as oil and natural gas located under the seabed of the Arctic. 

This is why and not surprising that many of the world´s powerful energy chupacabras such as China are already knocking at the door to court the Island´s government officials.

With globalisation, the island has become home for a growing black market of drugs (cocaine, weed, ecstasy, speed and cocaine).

At certain times of the year, tourism is one of the main economic sources for many folks on the island. 

In the countryside, horse riding on the extensive meadows is quite popular with locals and outsiders too.

Iceland´s ponies are well known for their stamina and above all, their ability to withstand low temperatures during the long winter months.

As a friend who was recently there told us, nice horses in Iceland (Videos 1-2), but....

Video 1. Free roaming horses in Iceland.

Video 2. Horse round-up in Iceland.

The number of horses in the country is estimated to be approximately 40.000. On an annual basis, horse breeders do some culling, what the farmers consider a "byproduct".

This is what is waiting for more than 10.000 horses in Iceland annually (Video 1).

Video 3. Inside a horse slaughterhouse.

What an end!!


Commodity horses in Iceland

Iceland is making a kill with horses. Its production of horsemeat has increased in 2013, reaching over 1.500 tonnes,  according to the Iceland Review Online´s 2014 report (IRO).

The IRO´s report also mentioned that domestic consumption of horsemeat has also gone up, increasing 23,3% between 2011 and 2012. 

Exports, chiefly to France, Italy, Switzerland and Russia, increased from 311.7 to 875.6 tonnes by the end of 2012, as indicated by the same report. 

Other countries get a share of this export as well. Belgium also serves as a dump for some Icelandic meathorse. And in the black markets of Colombia, Panama, Chile, Brazil, Turkey and Spain, to name a few, there are also mafiosi who are fucking crazy about eating this nordic equine meat.

In Reykjavík, the capital and the largest city, for example, eating foal meat is very fashionable. Some people think of it as a "national specialty". 

You can find many restaurants in the capital offering horsemeat on the menu.

The tradition of eating horse is old in this Arctic nation. In such a harsh land, people depended and still do on all sorts of available meat to survive. 

And horses have adapted to the island´s tough climatic conditions since ancient times. Thus, they became a food source.

The Horse Breeders Association of Iceland points out that "the history of the Icelandic Horse can be traced right back to the settlement of the country in the late 9th century. Viking settlers brought with them their best horses, from various origins, though mostly of Germanic descent. Some sources say that the Icelandic Horse is a descendant of a Northern European breed, "Equus scandinavicus", while others claim that the horse is closely related to the English Exmoor pony. Although the origin of the breed was mixed, today this is one of the most purebred horse breeds in the world, due to its isolation. The breed has remained pure for over a thousand years and thus today there is only one breed: The Icelandic Horse."

In a nutshell, as you can see, Iceland is not at all what they want everybody outside the island to believe. It has its own skeletons in the closet. Just like any country does.

And well kept. 

So far we have not seen a video on horse slaughtering, for example.

We shall keep digging.

It is time to sign off.

See you later alligators!