Horse-racing panel to push implementation of safety measures

Quote from a slaughterhouse worker:

"You move so fast, you don't have time to wait till a horse bleeds out. You skin him as he bleeds. Sometimes a horse's nose is down in the blood, blowing bubbles, and he suffocates."
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From the book "Slaughterhouse" by Gail Eisnitz
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"I only buy American meat, which is red and firm. In butchering terms we call it 'well-structured', the best you can get. Out of a thousand animals, only the American ones are really worth buying. But they don’t eat horsemeat in America. They raise horses for foreigners."

A Butcher in France.[2]

***Horses for Courses:

The industry promotes the false image of race horses retiring to lives of luxury as pets, well-cared-for riding horses, or stud horses. In reality, when horses can no longer race, they are usually sent to slaughterhouses.

***Former Champion 'Hallo Dandy' Discovered Scarred, Emanciated Forgotten:

Some have been discovered weak, emaciated, and forgotten. Even champion prize winners, once their racing days are over, have been found in appalling conditions. The 1984 UK Grand National winner "Hallo Dandy" was found in a field, thin, with scars on his back, and his ribs poking through.

***Abusers Unpunished, Undetected:

Legislators in the U.S. and England have tried to regulate the industry through statutes and regulations, but these attempts at control are often circumvented. Fraudulent and criminal practices are inherent in horse racing despite the best efforts of controlling authorities and extensive laws. Severe and widespread abuse of racehorses usually goes unpunished, or even undetected.
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Horse Slaughter
Imagine yourself inside this slaughterhouse. You are seeing what the horses go through as they approach their violent death. You first spot the horses in a holding pen, standing depressed and confused on the slippery concrete floors. Suddenly, they're moved to a chute and lined up facing what's called the "kill box." Now, depression has turned to terror. What you see is unmistakable. The horses are trembling violently and urinating on themselves. The horse has an acute sense of hearing and smell, well beyond human development. The smell of death is palpable and the horses are reacting with panic and fear. They clearly perceive they are next in line for horrific pain and death.

You see the horse; you've been following, funneled into the death trap. A slaughterhouse worker wields a mechanical instrument. Suddenly, the man brings it down with force on the horse's skull. It is a retractable bolt that fractures the horse's skull, but doesn't always render the animal senseless. The horse's bone fragments are driven into the animal's brain along with the bolt.

The terror and pain the horse experiences at this moment are unimaginable. The aim of the bolt is NOT to kill the horse, but just to immobilize the animal with the force of the blow. The horse collapses either on the first, second or the third blow. The horse falls onto a conveyer belt, where one hind leg is entrapped in a device that lifts the horse in the air UPSIDE DOWN...STILL ALIVE!!! This device hangs the horse, it's head dangling toward the floor, STILL ALIVE, and then it's THROAT IS CUT OPEN, so the blood will drain out until the animal's heart beats for the last time. They're bled to death, which is what is required for the horsemeat to be certified for human consumption.