We eat a lot of raw meat in Europe. And that's the kind of rare steak you'll get not only in Italy, but also in France, UK and elsewhere. We also have dishes like tartare and carpaccio which are just straight raw meat.
Mmm, I had horse many times in my life. To me it tastes like horse. I'd say it has a bit more taste than beef (beef is quite bland IMHO, not really a fan) so more similar to pork in this regard. But less fat than pork. It is about as chewy as good lamb. For me personally horse is a better lean steak than beef. But beef is better when it has a lot of fat. Basically, horse meat has taste, but in beef fat has taste.
I'm a vegetarian, so I'm...whatever. But I see no real difference between cow/horse. I saw the six downvotes and was, if I'm honest, hoping for a little drama in the comments. But it's not here. It seems like kbin/lemmy may have plateaued re user growth, at least for the time being. And I've been a bit bummed about it, generally. But this was a pleasant surprise.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I consume very low amount of mean compared to the average (I'd say I consume no more than I need), and I totally agree that there should be no difference between cows and horses, as both are very intelligent and can get attached to humans or other species. Same goes for many other mammals, and not limited to.