I once read an interesting historical piece that explained why the French and other European countries ate horse while the English tend not to. It goes back to the Crusades, when all societies ate horsemeat. But in the Crusades, the English were short on horses and the Pope at that time admonished them to NOT eat horsemeat, but to use their horses for battle and military purposes.
This evolved into a cultural distaste for horsemeat among the English and it extended into the New World and the colonies that became America.
I'd have to hunt to find the story again, but I'm sure you could find it with a diligent search.
I once read an interesting historical piece that explained why the French and other European countries ate horse while the English tend not to. It goes back to the Crusades, when all societies ate horsemeat. But in the Crusades, the English were short on horses and the Pope at that time admonished them to NOT eat horsemeat, but to use their horses for battle and military purposes.
This evolved into a cultural distaste for horsemeat among the English and it extended into the New World and the colonies that became America.
I'd have to hunt to find the story again, but I'm sure you could find it with a diligent search.
That and we tend to see horses as pets, one of the reasons Westerners don't eat dogs either.