SHTF scenario, the pony will go in my freezer. But as long as I have a cow in the pasture, I ain't eatin my buddy which packed my fat butt and my groceries to the top of the mountain, brought me home again, and carried my elk out.
That said, the slaughter laws are ridiculous. People need a way to dispose of old horses which can not make to the elk hunting grounds anymore, or con no longer catch a running cow in the pasture.
I may not want to eat them first hand, but I have zero problem with my pooch eating them, or eating chicken raised on horse protein.
And I recently read that the USDA had once again budgeted money for inspectors of butchered horse carcasses.
