Horsemeat, so what?

I am really astonished when I read day after day about the scandal caused by the discovery that some beef or other meat sold in Europe contains horsemeat. I don't care at all, knowing that our sausages and other meat products contain a variety of substances both of animal and plant origin. And in some places of the world, e.g. in Tatarstan, horsemeat is regularly consumed. Is all the fuss a result of our special reverence for the horses? I doubt it, in Estonia usually horses were killed to feed minks and other animals. Isn't it less degrading for a horse to be eaten by its former owners, not by minks or foxes? I rarely eat meat, but I am not interested at all whether it's beef, pork, horsemeat or dog meat (eaten in Korea and in some other places).