That is why I said in the traditional sense. Modern wild horses are protected for the reason you mentioned, afaik.

I've never eaten horse, to my knowledge, but I'm sure if I was hungry enough I would. We don't tend to eat horse, especially in the USA, because we have rules about what vaccines and drugs we allow in our food supply, and because horses (and dogs) are considered pets/working animals and not food, they're allowed more shots than say, cows or pigs.

I could be wrong in all of that, I'm just repeating what vets have told me.