Dear Gaye,
I wonder who has the most meat - my fat Shetlands or your posh thoroughbreds!
People didn't officially eat horsemeat in those days (though I'm sure the really poor did. ) Within hours of getting the chop the carcasses were boiled up in huge vats and the meat skewered in small pieces for the cat and dog meat dealers to peddle round the streets. In WW2 when meat was rationed, it was possible to get unrationed meat from "continental butchers) - well, horsemeat really.
Just to make sure nothing got wasted, the hooves and bits went for glue, the bones for buttons and to be crushed for oil for candles and lubrication, the hides were used in leatherwork and the shoes got removed and recycled. Waste not want not as they say. Yuk.
Cheryl