Independent candidate for Texas governor Kinky Friedman joined his friend Willie Nelson Saturday to call for the end to horse slaughter for meat.

More than 90,000 horses were slaughtered last year in the U.S., some from two Texas slaughterhouses. The meat is mostly for consumption abroad, primarily in Japan, France and Belgium.

Now 11 horses have been saved from this fate and will live out their remaining days on Nelson's Spicewood ranch. They're all that's left of a herd of more than 300 that went on the auction block.

"The rest of em were slaughtered and sent overseas for food," Nelson said. "Eighty of them were mares with foals."

Saturday, Nelson and Freidman called on the U.S. Senate to pass a bill to ban the sale of horse meat.

"The two things I want to do is open the Indian casions that have been shut down, and then shut down the two horse slaughter plants that are in Texas -- one in Kaufman, one in Fort Worth," Friedman said.

The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives September 7. If it's passed by the Senate and becomes a law, it would shut down the three horse slaughter plants in the country.

Freidman says he's willing to take the law into his own hands once he's elected to office.

"I possibly could just shut the thing down as governor of Texas," he said

Either way, those backing the bill say having horses go from the stable to the table must be stopped.

"I love the horse. I think it's a great symble of strength and freedom," Nelson said.

Friedman and Nelson are part of a group they call the Four Horsemen of Texas, which includes actor Larry Hagman and Robert Duval.

The bill is set to before the Senate for a vote when it reconvenes later in November.