A blind horse, roughly tied with tight ropes passing through his mouth and around his head, struggles as he is tied to a post inside a slaughterhouse at a horse farm. Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
[Content warning: Contains confronting images and/or video footage]
Wildlife, companion, entertainment, or meat? Our complex relationship with horses spans continents and cultures, highlighting the connection between our uses and abuses of these incredibly intelligent and highly sensitive animals.
Photographer: Muhammad Fajri
Photojournalist Muhammad Fajri documents a horse being killed inside a horse farm’s on-site slaughterhouse. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
We Animals photojournalist Muhammad Fajri recently documented horse meat production in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia’s third-largest horse meat-producing region (based on 2021-2023 government data). Horse meat is eaten in many parts of the world, particularly in Eurasia, where it’s popular among locals and foreign tourists. Some view it as a delicacy or novelty, while others consume it for its purported health benefits.
These visuals show how one producer farms, trades, and slaughters horses for meat.
Two ponies display natural olfaction and nuzzling behaviours with each other at a horse farm that keeps horses for racing, pulling carriages and slaughter. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
The clouded eye of a blind horse at a horse farm. He is one of three blind horses currently at the farm, and none of them receive medical attention. They will be slaughtered and sold as meat. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
A blind horse, tied with tight ropes through his mouth and around his head, balks with fear as he is tied to a post inside a slaughterhouse at a horse farm. Horses slaughtered here originate from owners who sell them because the horses are injured, unhealthy, or old. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
A blind horse, roughly tied with tight ropes passing through his mouth and around his head, struggles as he is tied to a post inside a slaughterhouse at a horse farm. Horses slaughtered here originate from owners who sell them because the horses are injured, unhealthy, or old. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
A painting depicting four horses running free hangs on the wall at a horse slaughterhouse and farm. The farm keeps horses for racing, carriage work and slaughter. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
A blind horse tied at the head, mouth, and feet struggles as drops to the floor when his feet are pulled out from under him inside a slaughterhouse at a horse farm. Horses slaughtered here originate from owners who sell them because the horses are injured, unhealthy, or old. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
A blind horse tied at the head, mouth, and feet lies on a slaughterhouse floor as workers pull his tail and legs to stretch his neck out for slaughter. Horses slaughtered here originate from owners who sell them because the horses are injured, unhealthy, or old. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
The decapitated head of a horse slaughtered minutes earlier lies next to their body on the floor of a horse farm slaughterhouse as workers begin the skinning process. Horses slaughtered here originate from owners who sell them because the horses are injured, unhealthy, or old. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
Pieces of a horse’s butchered body hang from meat hooks inside a horse farm slaughterhouse. Horses slaughtered here originate from owners who sell them because the horses are injured, unhealthy, or old. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
Plastic bags containing recently slaughtered horse meat at a horse farm slaughterhouse. The meat is weighed before sale, and sells to restaurants for IDR 120,000 (approximately CAN$10.00) per kilogram for use in a variety of culinary dishes. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
Workers clean flesh from horse skins at a horse farm slaughterhouse. The horses’ skins are sold to factories to make leather shoes and bags. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
Two woman cut horse meat into small pieces to make horse satay at a popular restaurant. This restaurant sells horse satay for IDR 32,000 (approximately CAN$2.70) per serving and uses about 40 kilograms of horse meat daily. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
Horse meat is boiled in a pot to make horse tongseng, a dish prepared with cabbage and horse meat, at a popular restaurant. This restaurant uses about 40 kilograms of horse meat daily. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
A worker grills skewered horse meat to make satay at a popular restaurant. This restaurant sells horse satay (known as “sate kuda”) for IDR 32,000 (approximately CAN$2.70) per serving and uses about 40 kilograms of horse meat daily. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024. Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
Horses purchased for meat production in Indonesia are usually retired or injured racehorses or horses no longer able to pull carriages. Some animals are bought and sold locally, while others are imported from overseas, where they endure long and grueling journeys before meeting their fate at the slaughterhouse—just like the horses in these photographs.
What Can We Do To Help?
We Animals recently worked with HSI Canada to document the live export of horses from Canada to Japan, where they are slaughtered for raw meat. Along with numerous other Canadian NGOs, HSI Canada is working hard to raise awareness of this issue.
Bill C-355, also known as the Prohibition of the Export of Horses by Air for Slaughter Act, is a bill that aims to ban the export of live horses from Canada for slaughter. The bill passed the House of Commons on May 9, 2024 and is now in the Senate for further study.
Support HSI Canada’s efforts to end the export of live horses for meat.
Explore and download more visuals from Muhammad Fajri’s documentation of horse meat production.
A curious blind horse with clouded eyes directs his attention towards the camera from his stall at a horse farm. This horse is one of three currently on the farm who suffer from blindness, and none of them have received medical treatment. All three will be slaughtered and sold as meat. Undisclosed location, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2024.
Muhammad Fajri / We Animals
Data sources: Central Bureau of Statistics / Parliament of Canada / HSI Canada
Photographer: Muhammad Fajri
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