When I was a kid my mother did tartare de cheval (raw minced horse meat) every saturday; there was an equine butcher shop right in front of our apartment building in Paris.
Now it's been a while since I've had horse meat, but I remember it to be pretty good.
What I don't know is why there should be a special butcher shop specifically for horse meat? In a regular butcher shop you can buy many other animal products than just beef (pork, rabbit, duck, chicken, lamb, etc.) so what's so special about horse?
Its so very very easy to substitute horse for beef and cut costs. I imagine the separation is to try to eliminate even the appearance of that possibility. Same reason you don't see "Yoshi Sushi House" and "Bob's Live Bait" under the same roof.
Now it's been a while since I've had horse meat, but I remember it to be pretty good.
What I don't know is why there should be a special butcher shop specifically for horse meat? In a regular butcher shop you can buy many other animal products than just beef (pork, rabbit, duck, chicken, lamb, etc.) so what's so special about horse?