Hall_Monitor: A horse is not a cow

Horses seem to hold a special place in the American psyche. I’ve received many phone calls since reporting on the herd of horses abandoned in Del Puerto Canyon almost two weeks ago.
They range from people who feel the county animal shelter isn’t doing enough to save the horses to folks who say they should all be put down to prevent further suffering.
Everyone I’ve talked to opposes the slaughter of horses for meat, which takes place in Canada and Mexico, but not in the United States.
There seems to be two issues involved: inhumane slaughterhouse conditions, and the bigger question of whether horses should be butchered for human or animal consumption.
Much of the objection to horse slaughter I’ve seen centers on inhumane conditions, accompanied by gruesome pictures of mistreated horses.
But those problems can be addressed with tight inspection and regulation. I suspect many people would still object, for the same reasons people object to human consumption of dog meat: they are beloved pets and companions.
Most people don’t have much of a problem eating a cow, or a chicken. Many eat deer, and rabbits. But horses are somehow different.
Horsemeat is considered a delicacy in parts of Europe, while it is viewed with distain in the United States.
Is there a moral or ethical difference between slaughtering a cow and slaughtering a horse?
And if all horse slaughter is banned, what do we do with the growing surplus of horses?