There are those who believe that there is no difference between cattle and horses, that they are both livestock and are slaughtered accordingly. Some people think that horse slaughter is necessary for population control. That is far from true. In California, legislation known as Proposition 6 was passed, which makes it illegal to slaughter horses for human consumption. Reports concerning overpopulation of equines have not been made in CA since the passing of that legislation.
Horse slaughter exists in the U.S. only because there is a foreign market for horse meat.
The slaughter houses are all foreign owned and cater to an elite group of Europeans and Japanese overseas who pay top dollar for choice cuts of horse meat. In turn, the property owners fear they will lose their tax benefit of farm status. There is no legislation being created at this time to reclassify equines. Horses and other equines can remain livestock without being used as a food source. These dealers need to keep in mind that opportunities do exist for hauling of various forms of livestock and agricultural products.