Most horsemeat probably goes for pet food in the USA, but of course we have no way of knowing for sure. I've noticed that sometimes the cat food cans are labeled "With Beef" or "With Chicken." Well, what's the "with?" You can guess.

Horses die every day. We don't have pet cemetaries for such large animals. If a horse dies or is euthanized, the owner nearly always sends the remains to the rendering plant and your dog gets to eat dinner.

I don't know of any horse people who object to that. Once the animal dies, it can no longer suffer fear or pain. But they do object to sending a live horse to a slaughterhouse, because it's a terrifying end for an animal that is used to working very closely with people and being cared for by them.

The Japanese once bought a Kentucky Derby winning stallion named Ferdinand. After making big money off of him for years as a breeding horse, the time eventualy came when the horse was past breeding.

In the USA he would have just been turned out in a nice paddock to enjoy his remaining years, after all he had done for his owners.

The Japanese sent this horse live to a slaughterhouse since he was no longer useful to them.

There's cultural differences for ya.

Most horsemeat probably goes for pet food, but of course we have no way of knowing for sure.