It is a taboo food in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, the US, English Canada and in Australia; it is also taboo amongst the Romani people and in Brazil and India.

Horse meat is not generally eaten in Spain, although the country exports horses both "on the hoof and on the hook" (i.e., live animals and slaughtered meat) for the French and Italian market; however, horse meat is consumed in some Latin American countries such as Mexico.

It is illegal in some countries. In Tonga horse meat is eaten nationally, and Tongan emigrees living in Utah have retained the taste for it, claiming Christian missionaries originally introduced it to them.

In many Muslim countries today, horse meat is considered makruh, meaning it is not forbidden, but strongly discouraged. One reason given for its prohibition is the need for horses in military and other uses, and as such, considering the decline in use of horses for such purposes, some consider its consumption permissible.

Horse meat is eaten in some Muslim Central Asian countries with a tradition of nomadic pastoralism, e.g., Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. In other majority-Muslim countries there have been many instances, especially wars and famine, when horses were slaughtered and eaten.
In the past, horse has been eaten by Persians, Turks, some hanafi Egyptians, and Tatars; but it has never been eaten in the Maghreb.

Cont.

Cont..

Horse meat is forbidden by Jewish dietary laws because horses do not have cloven hooves and they are not ruminants. It has been suggested that this holds a practical purpose as horses were used as a means of transportation and did work, although this is doubtful due to the lack of the horse collar at the time of the formation of these laws.

In the eighth century, Popes Gregory III and Zachary instructed Saint Boniface, missionary to the Germans, to forbid the eating of horse meat to those he converted, due to its association with Germanic pagan ceremonies.

The people of Iceland allegedly expressed reluctance to embrace Christianity for some time, largely over the issue of giving up horse meat.

In the end, the eating of horse meat was a concession granted in perpetuity when the pagan Norse Icelanders eventually adopted Christianity en masse in the year 1000 (although, in fact, the Church reversed its position soon afterwards).

Horse meat is now currently consumed in Iceland and many horses are raised for this purpose. The culturally close people of Sweden still have an ambivalent attitude to horse meat, said to stem from this time.

Brett,

So precisely what is your point? Would you prefer to see control through the poison 1080? Regrettably keyboard conservationists promote the use of 1080 through their efforts to stop humane culling by shooting.
1080 Poison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yJSvAe8SXw&feature=related

Keyboard greens can revel in their emotion, ignorant of the damage done by brumbies to sensitive environments and to farms and the obvious risk as a carrier for dreadful parasites such as screw worm fly that could destroy our meat inductry and cause untold suffering to stock.
Screw worm fly,
http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/pests-diseases-weeds/animal/screw-worm-fly

Recreational hunters as licensed by bodies like NSW's Game Council could do the job in a continuous fashion for free, with farmers still free to muster as many as they wish.
NSW Game Council,
http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/portal.asp?p=Ferals1

The other very real economic benefit of licensed, government regulated recreational hunting as a control is the substantial new trade for country towns from hunters for accommodation, food and fuel.
Conservation Hunting and its role in game and feral animal management,
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/completed_inquiries/1996-99/wild/report/c19.htm

Keep poking other first world countries via their prupose of research
kangaroos wont be the only export market droppping out!

Export of meat of all type could go, import of tourism will keep dropping there are other nicer but littler reefs in the world..

Keep your boots in your on your own land, we are a second class first world country not first class first world meaning end of the day support is not in your favour with the big guns and maturity goes a long way..

Posted by Shintaro, Australia see these animals as are feral vermin

Posted by Banjo, A couple of things so far. Firstly Brumbies are only a percentage of the horse meat trade, horses generally old or unwanted make up the bulk of those slaughtered.

Support for Culling and left to root yet slaughter house government exportation program of horse meat for profit, refereed as not wasting what is killed reminds us of what is done with waste from research in relation to other sectors of other countries.

If they are vermin then why are we exporting un-healthy meat to other countries? So other counties deserve to pay high prices for less the adequate meat.

.20 euro = 0.2626 AUD sounds more like what we should be charging overseas per kilo for VERMIN..

Brett we almost came to war here in OLO a few years ago over animal welfare.
Your passion is noted so is your emotional response.
But why not cattle, sheep, dog meat if you wish.
You undermine your case by saying it is taboo, if no market existed, clearly it does, you would not have a thread subject.
Heard of a glue factory? millions of horse have gone that way, once via bone meal factory's too.
Every thing that lives dies, we use meat,it can be traced back as one reason we became modern man, the protein was part of our journey out of the trees.
And have you lived on a farm? wild horse, romantic as they are are often stunted and in poor nick, many put good blood back by letting others go with them, and harvest like every other animal we use or eat the results.
I understand your concerns, have put my arm for the last time over much loved horses before they went to the dog food industry, but that is just the reality we face .