I know *some* people have horses as pets. My uncle had horses, and I've ridden them before. I'm sympathetic to the idea of treating some animals different from others, but I'm wondering where we should draw the line. Some people keep pigs as pets, and are really endearing animals. Should we ban pork? The only clear line I can see being drawn is for dogs and cats, because they are orders-of-magnitude more prevalent as pets, than horses are, even in Texas.
Your point is well taken. By the way, you don't have to "cross the pond" to partake in horse meat. In Canada, (at least in British Columbia) you need to look closely at the menu of restaurants, the tipoff is the words "meat sandwich" that indicates it is horse. I eat at restaurants in eastern BC occasionally because of my living in close proximity to the border. I find that the horse meat is usually fairly heavily marinated.