Horses are amazing creatures, and their many different body parts are used to produce special products when they die.
Here’s a list of all the products that are made from horses
1. Glue
The most common product we make from horses is glue.
There’s a special thing inside the hooves of the horse called collagen. This is turned into some of the finest glue you can find. Horse-based glue was common everywhere, but today, it is mainly used for finer products such as furniture, glass art, bookbinding, etc.
The glue made from the horse’s hooves is special because you can heat up the glue after it has dried up to separate the two pieces again.
2. Violin Bows
You have probably heard that horse hair is used for the finest violin bows we find in a classical orchestra.
Horsehair is used to create violin bows because it produces a richer arichersound than a violin bow made from synthetic materials.
The horses are never harmed as they only cut off part of the tail. But normally, the horsehair for violin bows is harvested at the slaughterhouse or the veterinarian when a horse is being put down.
3. Paintbrushes
Fine hair from horsetails is also used in paintbrushes.
When we are talking about fine art paintbrushes, artists want the best of the best. And the best hair you can get for a paintbrush is from the horse.
People also use fine hair from Sables to make paintbrushes. They also have very fine hair that tends to do well with oil and water-based paint for art.
The paintbrushes made from horsehair can hold a lot of paint. This enables the painter to paint for a long time before they have to dip the brush into the bucket. This is one of the reasons why paintbrushes made from horses are still being used today, both for fine art and for painting walls.
The other reason why people prefer these brushes over other types is found in the way the paint is applied to the wallpaper or the canvas. The horsehair will apply the paint more evenly and smoothly than other materials.
Professional painters prefer them because of their ability to “hold” the paint.
4. Jello
The gelatin in horses is used in food like Jello and gummi bears. It used to be a lot more common, but people still do it in some parts of the world.
The gelatin is a sticky substance that holds wobbly substances like Jello together.
The gelatin is found in the hooves, just we mentioned in the beginning when we were talking about glue made from horses. We also find gelatin in many other animals, such as ducks.
You might’ve noticed that your fingers are often getting sticky when eating a piece of duck meat. This is also the gelatin that you are experiencing here.
5. Fabrics
The fabrics made from horsehair are typically used for upholstery and fine interior work.
As we mentioned earlier, the hair of a horse is very durable and can also be pretty stiff. This makes it the perfect match for upholstery work.
This type of fabric is called “haircloth” and it is typically made from either horsehair or hair from a camel.
This type has often been used for the stiffer parts of men’s suit jackets or other fashionable clothes requiring a stiff type. But today, we usually use artificially made garments to make stiffer clothing.
6. Fishing Line
Traditionally, the hair from horses has been spun together to create a very long fishing line.
Back in the day, people will chop off a few strings of hair from the tail of the horse in order to make a fishing line. Several pieces of hair would be spun together to create a strong, durable line that could hold even a big fish during a feisty fight.
This was the case for thousands of years until we found a better (and cheaper) way to create fishing lines from nylon, etc.
7. Jewelry
Horsehair is also used in bracelets, necklaces, and barrettes.
The fine hair is swollen and braided into fine jewelry that you can wear around your neck or wrist. They come in many beautiful colors and variations.
These types of jewelry are still very popular. You probably won’t find this jewelry in the local jewelry store, but you can often find it at markets where people sell DIY items. If you have horses, you can easily cut off a couple of hairs from the tail to create some amazing art pieces.
8. Meat
Yes, you heard that right.
Horse meat is being eaten as a delicacy in many countries worldwide. It’s not allowed here in the States, but it’s a very common source of meat in countries such as France. I have tasted it once at a family party where someone recently had a horse put down (in Denmark).
The host wouldn’t tell us where the meat came from, so he asked us to guess. Most of us would guess that we were eating meat from a deer or a reindeer, but after finding out, most of us became pretty uncomfortable, as you can imagine.
That being said, the meat was really good, and the taste was great, too. It was soft and pretty tender, like you would expect from a deer.
Most horse meat is produced in Mongolia, where you can buy a horse for as little as $100. From a 600-pound horse, you will get around 240 pounds of meat. The meat and the milk from horses are considered cleaner than cattle in this area because they carry fewer diseases.
The horses are slaughtered in November when the meat contains more fat than in spring and summer.
9. Fly Tying
Fly tying used to be very popular, as one of the basic components of the perfect fly for fishing is the hair of the horse.
But today people more often using artificial hair simply because the hair from the horse can be pricy and hard to get.
People would pluck the hairs from the horses during certain periods of the year to get the most durable and strong hair possible. Horses have different hairs at the tail and the mane, and both types have been popular materials for fly tying.
People would also get the hair strings from people playing the violin. Eventually, the hairs of the bow will break and be cut off. These are great for fly tying as well.
10. Sugar
You might not think of sugar immediately when discussing products made from horses. But we do use bone char from horses to bleach cane sugar.
Bone char is a granular material derived from bone and has a bleaching ability that is effective iningin turning cane sugar white.
This is done by creating a filter containing the bone char. This filter will typically contain 70K pounds of bone char, and as it is used to filter the sugar, it does not end up in the final product.
11.Pottery
Horsehair has also been used to decorate pottery for many years.
The hair is applied to the vases at a very specific temperature in order to it to attach to the surface and create beautiful patterns and lines on the surface of the vase.