Agree with all you say.
My experience the past 12 months says you can use relatively fresh horse manure without problems and producing great yields in the summer for:
1. Asparagus
2. Rhubarb and Comfrey plants.
3. Autumn raspberries.
In addtion, I allowed the reliatvely fresh manure to sit atop the bed used for planting potatoes this summer over the winter and the crop yields have again been good to excelent.