Calling bullshit on one item of cowboy mythology

In a federal appeals court ruling upholding the standing and enforceability of a 1949 Texas law banning the slaughter of horses for sale for food, Judge Fortunato Benavides said:

“The lone cowboy riding his horse on a Texas trail is a cinematic icon. Not once in memory did the cowboy eat his horse”

Judge, your memory is awfully underinformed, you’ve read too many dime novels or something.

Cowboys and other westerners might view eating one’s horse as a last resort, but horses did get eaten if people were hungry enough, in dire enough straits, and the horse was about to get to “downer” point anyway.