One of Gut Aiderbichl greatest concern is horses. Especially Germany is a traditional horse country. Germans love horses. Why is it then that horses used for sports have an average life expectancy of only seven years? They could well reach the age of 40. Is it that non profitable horses have to go? Most likely so. Race horses for example. In central Europe horse meat is not very popular. That is why, when horses are no longer needed, they are often sold to Southern European slaughter houses. In Italy and parts of France i.e. horse meat is used for cooking and sausages.

When the origin of the horses is i.e. Ukrainia, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria, they are many days on tortures transports. Not to forget the time involved when they are transported to markets and auctions before their start their deathly journey to the south of Europe.

We visited the boarder crossing Gorizia entering Italy. Quite a number of horses are badly injured during their tortures trip, due to intensive loading. That is why there is a crematory just at the boarder crossing. An oven for those who just can´t travel any further. The exporters know right from the beginning, that some will not make it.