Horse Tripping Images

Mexico

Charreadas (or Charreria) — Mexican style rodeos — are a national sport in their home country. However, this cruel “sport” has now spread to the United States, mostly in western states.

There are ten individual competitions, six of which involve horses, and are all cruel. The second, seventh and eighth events are the ones most often targeted by horse protection advocates. These events involve what is commonly referred to in the U.S. as “horse tripping.” Points are awarded for literally tripping horses, and how quickly the charro can do it.

First they release a horse from a chute, often shocking the horse with an electric prod. A group of waiting charros force the horse into a full gallop. The competing charro — either on horseback or on the ground — lassos the front or hind legs of the horse, causing the animal to come crashing down to the ground.

There are three types of horse tripping events:

“Piales en lienzo”: roping the hind legs of a horse.
“Manganas a pie”: roping the front legs of a horse while on foot.
“Manganas a caballo”: roping the front legs of a horse while on horseback.

Images

Piales en lienzo | Mexico

Piales en lienzo. Roping the hind legs of a horse.
Piales en lienzo. Roping the hind legs of a horse.

Manganas a pie | Mexico

Manganas a pie. Roping the front legs on foot.
Manganas a pie. Roping the front legs on foot.
Manganas a pie. Roping the front legs on foot.
Manganas a pie. Roping the front legs on foot.
Manganas a pie. Roping the front legs on foot.

Manganas a caballo | Mexico

Manganas a caballo. Roping the front legs of a horse while on horseback.
Manganas a caballo. Roping the front legs of a horse while on horseback.
Manganas a caballo. Roping the front legs of a horse while on horseback.

United States

This image is from a rodeo in Oregon where horse tripping is illegal. The Sheriff however would not cooperate and stop the event and arrest the offending participant.

U.S. Laws Against Horse Tripping with Citations | Fact Sheet

If you witness horse tripping in the U.S., please contact us in strict confidence. We would also appreciate your sending any images you have.


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Carriage Horse Images

BIG JOHN.  Featured Image (above):  A Charleston Carriage Works horse named Big John fell near Meeting and Hasell streets in downtown Charleston, April 2017. The animal’s owners said the horse tripped and lay still until the tack was removed, as it was trained to do, and then got back up and was fine. Charleston Carriage Horse Advocates claimed the animal collapsed from exhaustion.

Watch Big John’s Story

Related Reading: “Carriage company sues Charleston Animal Society, Carriage Horse Advocates”, May 31, 2018.

MORE ACCIDENTS & COLLAPSES

The following is a random sampling of the brutality of the carriage horse industry caught on camera.

Manila, Philippines

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A horse made to pull tourists in a carriage in temperatures of more than 30°C [86ºF] was photographed after collapsing with exhaustion. Heartbreaking pictures showed the brown horse struggled to carry three holidaymakers through the streets of Manila in the Philippines, on April 2, 2019.

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Witnesses came to throw water on the visibly underweight animal after the horse’s legs buckled and she fell in the middle of the road. Source.

Quebec City

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May 23, 2017. Quebec City calèche accidents renew calls for carriage ban. One Quebec City horse fell to the ground and lay there for two hours. The horse had been weakened by dehydration said an attending veterinarian.

New York City

Carriage horse killed in an accident in NYC. After having a life of drudgery this is how it ended.
Carriage horse killed in an accident in NYC. After a life of unnatural confinement and the drudgery of pulling tourists around in carriages in all weathers, this is how his life ended. In brutality.

Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

A man who was riding with his family in a horse-drawn carriage that ran wild on the streets of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin Saturday is speaking out about what he calls the scariest thing he’s ever been through. The two horses crashed into two cars at an intersection. “It turned into madness,” he stated. 15 people were treated for minor injuries suffered in the December 2017 smash up.

Car collides with carriage horse in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. It is unknown if the horse survived.
See video report below.

Ogden Point, Victoria, BC, Canada

On 17 August 2018, at approximately 7:45 pm, a witness contacted Victoria Horse Alliance with a report of a horse carriage accident at the cruise ship terminal at Ogden Point. One witness who took pictures of the incident immediately after it happened described what happened: “The horses actually were partially on top of the car.” This is at least the second incident in the last three months.

Details of this image are conflicting.
Horse carriage accident at the cruise ship terminal at Ogden Point.

Victoria Horse Alliance reported on another accident:

“The carriage stopped at the top of the hill. When they went to go, they lost traction and the one on the left (from behind) fell and took the other with him. At that point the large T shaft was between them and intertwined with horses legs and had them pinned down. When removing the T shaft one point of the T was about to jab into left horses belly as the horse jolted but the men were able to keep the horse down and was able to maneuver it from the legs and safely remove it from between them.” Narrative continues after the image.

Horses collapse at Ogden Point “It was shocking and traumatic” says witness.
Two carriage horses collapse at Ogden Point, Victoria. “It was shocking and traumatic” says witness.

“Horses working in the carriage industry slipping and risking injury in Victoria has been documented previously. During the free horse-drawn trolley tours sponsored by the Downtown Victoria Business Association, animal advocates from the Victoria Horse Alliance witnessed trolleys regularly being overloaded and the horses slipping on the pavement multiple times. Several bylaw infractions were filed with the city of Victoria bylaw department. Even after the complaints were filed, no change was seen in the behaviour of the carriage operators.” Published by Victoria Animal News. Source.

New York City

Another downed carriage horse. Location unknown.
Carriage horse Max collapses in New York’s Central Park. Feb. 27, 2017.

The New York Post reported, “Disturbing images show a seemingly-exhausted carriage horse (pictured above) lying limp on his side after suddenly collapsing in Central Park — and now an animal rights group is demanding an investigation.”

“Witnesses saw the horse breathing heavily before he collapsed on the ground near Tavern on the Green around 10 a.m. last Tuesday, said a rep for the anti-carriage group NYCLASS.”

NYCLASS demanded an immediate investigation. In the meantime, “Carriage driver Chris Emanus put the horse, named Max, back to work on Monday, insisting he’d been cleared by a vet. Emanus claimed the equine had simply tripped because he was wearing horseshoes for the time in eight months after returning to the city from a farm.” Source.

Savannah, Georgia

Downed and injured carriage horse. Location and circumstances unknown.
A downed and seriously hurt carriage horse in Savannah, Georgia. The horse had spooked and overturned a carriage full of passengers in Savannah’s historic district just before noon on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, officials say. All of the passengers — and the horse — were injured in the accident.  Read about it here.

New York City

Another downed carriage horse in New York City.
OREO the NYC carriage horse who broke free and made a run for it. He was sedated so he could be transported to his stable.

Oreo’s story made a lot of headlines. Tuesday’s Horse Posts: 1. Three injured when Manhattan carriage horse Oreo bolts and breaks free (Aug 17, 2012) 2. Oreo the NYC carriage horse who spooked and bolted gets new home (Aug 29, 2012) 3. Oreo the reluctant Manhattan carriage horse traded to the Yankees (Sep 8, 2012).

New York City

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Chris the carriage horse disappeared from the City following a spooking accident in midtown Manhattan. His driver is quoted as saying Chris was sent to the New Holland, Pa. slaughter auction. Chris had broken his leg.

Montreal, Canada

20 year-old Montreal carriage horse Blackjack collapsed on the way back to the stable and was kicked by the driver when he wouldn't get up. He and another 20-year old carriage horse were both rescued by the SPCA. SPCA Photo.
20 year-old Montreal carriage horse Blackjack collapsed on the way back to the stable and was kicked by the driver when he wouldn’t get up. He and another 20-year old carriage horse were both rescued by the SPCA. SPCA Photo.

New York City

Carriage Horse collapses and dies, 54th Street, NYC

Salt Lake City, Utah

Manila, Philippines

Animal rights advocates are up in arms after a horse was hit by a bus in Manila. According to witnesses, a Green Star passenger bus with body number 2205 and plate number ACD 4182 hit the horse which was drawing a calesa along Magsaysay Boulevard. Instead of stopping, the bus sped on leaving the injured horse slumped beside a passenger jeepney.

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Carriage Horse suffers broken leg after being hit by a bus in Manila. Jan. 19, 2017. The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) has promised to help with medical treatment of the horse and getting charges filed against the driver of the bus for violating the Animal Welfare Act.

New York City

HOW AND WHERE THEY LIVE

Underweight New York City carriage horse looks out from his cramped, squalid conditions.
Underweight New York City carriage horse looks out from his cramped, squalid conditions. This is what hell looks like. New York Post.
The owners of horse stables on Manhattan's West Side have no intention of selling and cashing in. (Louis Lanzano/for New York Daily News). Jan 20, 2016.
The owners of horse stables on Manhattan’s West Side have no intention of selling and cashing in. (New York Daily News). Jan 20, 2016.
NYC Stable says this carriage horse’s stall is not animal abuse. NY Post. June 1, 2017.
NYC carriage horse operator says this carriage horse’s stall is not animal abuse. (New York Post).  Jun 1, 2017.

Clinton Park Stables, NYC

Clinton Park Stables NYC. By Untapped.
Exterior. Clinton Park Stables NYC. By Untapped.
Clinton Park Stables NYC. By Untapped.
Stalls. Clinton Park Stables NYC. By Untapped.
Getting In and Out. Clinton Park Stables NYC. By Untapped.
How Horses Get In and Out. Clinton Park Stables NYC. By Untapped.

Chateau Stables, NYC

A stableman leads a horse outside Chateau Stables in Hell’s Kitchen, one of only four traditional carriage stables left in New York City. Photo by Yannic Rack.
A stableman leads a horse outside Chateau Stables in Hell’s Kitchen, one of only four traditional carriage stables left in New York City (The Villager) Dec 10, 2015. Photo by Yannic Rack.
Carriage Horses at Chateau Stables, New York. By Untapped.
Carriage Horses at Chateau Stables, New York. By Untapped.

OUTMODED PRACTICE MUST BE BANNED

Major cities such as London, Paris and Toronto have all banned horse drawn carriages. It is time for other areas where these industries currently exist (such as New York City) to move into the 21st century and take seriously its moral and ethical responsibility to these sentient beings while ensuring the safety of its citizens. See Cities That Have Banned the Carriage Horse Industry »

Surely as a civilized society, we should and must do nothing less than getting these horses off the streets and out of danger.

LEARN MORE

• Read posts on carriage horses on our blog, Tuesday’s Horse »

• See also Carriage Horse Fact Sheet »

Learn more about incidents like these at The Partnership to Ban Horse Carriages »


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Last updated 11 Nov 2019

Turning horse blood into profits

A close look at the Serum & PMSG Industry in the United States, Argentina and Uruguay.

AN ANIMALS’ ANGELS’ INVESTIGATION
PUBLISHED ON 10/02/2015
by THE DODO

A new undercover investigation carried out by Animals Angels, Inc. (AA) and their European partner, Tierschutzbund Zuerich/Animal Welfare Foundation (TSB/AWF), reveals yet another way humans have found to exploit horses; this time to garner multi-million dollar profits for none other than pharmaceutical companies.

Shocking evidence has uncovered the existence of “blood farms” in the U.S. as well as in countries like Argentina and Uruguay.

Blood farms are a high dollar enterprise where “donor herds” of horses are kept for blood extraction purposes only. The blood drawn from the horses kept on these farms is used by companies throughout the U.S. and abroad for a variety of applications such as biological research, diagnostic manufacturing and veterinary drugs.

The blood taken from pregnant mares is especially in high demand, because it contains a precious hormone used to produce a veterinary drug needed by the pork industry. . . . PMSG.

PMSG, or Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin, is the main ingredient of several products that will artificially induce heat in weaned sows to achieve a faster and more regulated reproduction.

AA determined that several U.S. companies are involved in the trade, some even maintaining their own herds for collection purposes. Others purchase the finished product from their international affiliates, who in turn obtained the PMSG straight from sources in Argentina or Uruguay.

While a relatively unknown industry, the horse blood trade is a huge business. For instance, Syntex Uruguay SA, one of the largest producers of PMSG, exported $8 million dollars’ worth of the product to the EU in 2014 alone.

AA and their EU partner TSB/AWF conducted investigations in the US, Argentina, and Uruguay to find out just what the horses are forced to endure in this mostly unregulated and undocumented business.

Inspections by governmental agencies are virtually nonexistent. Supervision? Enforcement? Oversight? There is none.

Remarkably, there are no specific laws or regulations in the U.S., Argentina, or Uruguay to protect horses in this unique environment. There is absolutely nothing in place to regulate just how much blood is taken or how often. While guidelines exist for blood farms to follow, there are no consequences when they fail to comply, making the guidelines useless.

In between extraction cycles, mares are kept in Eucalyptus forests and vast pastures to recover. Workers do not check on them on a regular basis, so injuries, illness, and miscarriages often go unnoticed. Investigators found that horses often die without assistance.

A horse should have just 15% – 20% of his total blood volume taken during a 4 week period. However, no regulations are in place to ensure that not more blood is taken.

Former workers report that it is common practice for 10-12 liters to be taken in a single extraction which can lead to hypovolemic shock and even death. Undercover footage from Argentina seems to confirm this, since a mare was seen collapsing and struggling right after blood extraction.

Undercover footage also shows violent handling and abuse. Horses are beaten with wooden boards and sticks, and tortured by excessive electric prod use.

Public records indicate that U.S. companies, such as Intervet Inc. d/b/a/ Merck Animal Health, sell products (P.G. 600) containing PMSG obtained from horses in Uruguay. Others, like Sigma Aldrich admit to the fact that their product uses PMSG obtained from herds within the U.S.

When it comes to regular horse serum, a company called Central Biomedia located in Missouri is of particular concern.

The donor herd at this location has approximately 200 horses made up of Draft geldings. Although the company’s website espouses the conditions under which the horses live, Animals’ Angels investigators witnessed different circumstances indeed. Thin Draft horses with ribs showing and horses struggling to walk through muddy pens as they sank into the muck well over their ankles weren’t exactly described in detail on the website. In addition it is of great concern that these horses, like at so many other blood farms, might end up at slaughter when their usefulness has ended.

But worse yet, as with other blood farms, these horses are “invisible” as is the facility. They operate with seeming impunity. USDA/APHIS does not carry out welfare inspections or in fact, any type of inspection at these blood farms, since the Animal Welfare Act does not apply. This is obviously a serious gap in the enforcement aspect that needs to be corrected immediately to provide the protection these animals deserve.

AA strongly urges the U.S. Congress to amend the Animal Welfare Act to include stringent regulations for the humane handling and care, as well as welfare inspections, for the horses used on blood farms in the United States. Additionally, AA calls upon the industry itself to end all PMSG production and replace it with available, synthetic solutions.

Until then, AA and their international coalition partner, TSB/AWF, are calling upon the EU Commission and the U.S. Government to stop the import of PMSG from Uruguay and Argentina.

To learn more about this issue, please read AA’s in-depth report.

To watch the video footage from the investigation, please go here. (Warning: Graphic)


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Where will Wyeth’s horses go?

Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth puts thousands of horses at risk of slaughter with announcement of massive PMU farm closures

Wyeth logo. Google image.

Houston, Texas (Apr. 27, 2005) – Wyeth Pharmaceuticals sounds a death knell for thousands of horses with its recent announcement that it is significantly reducing production of its hormone replacement therapy drugs for women made from pregnant mare’s urine.

Wyeth just announced its closure of 19 pregnant mare urine farms in Alberta, Canada and approximately 30 more ranches in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. This will displace around 30,000 mares altogether, almost all of which are pregnant.

During the last layoff due to the downsizing of the industry due to rapidly declining demand for Wyeth’s Premarin® family of drugs, nearly 15,000 horses were put “out of work.” Although some were bought or found homes, a high percentage of the mares and foals went to slaughter.

In the United States, much is being made about the so-called “unwanted horse” in reaction to pending legislation in Congress that would ban horse slaughter. This culminated in a summit meeting recently hosted in Washington DC by the American Association of Equine Practitioners to discuss what should be done with America’s surplus horses.

Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth, who has earned billions of dollars since the 1950s from the sale of its Premarin® family of drugs made from pregnant mare’s urine, is once again burdening the equine communities in both the U.S. and Canada with thousands of its redundant horses. However, the Unwanted Horse Summit did not address the problem of the thousands of horses unwanted by Wyeth.

“It would be highly beneficial if the AAEP would place issues like the sudden dumping of thousands of horses no longer wanted by Wyeth on the Summit meeting’s agenda,” comments Vivian Farrell, President of the Int’l Fund for Horses. “Failing to address situations like these takes away credibility from these sorts of proceedings.”

Where will Wyeth’s unwanted horses go?

As in the past, it will be publicly supported horse rescues and shelters who will have to intervene if the majority of these horses are not to end up in the horse slaughter plants of the U.S. and Canada, and subsequently on someone’s dinner plate in Europe and Japan.

“We are calling on Wyeth to come up with a workable plan and the capital to provide for the care and maintenance of its mares and foals until appropriate homes are found for them,” states Sinikka Crosland, Executive Director of the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition. “It is high time Wyeth took real responsibility for theses horses and provided the much needed support to those of us willing to do this work.”


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Summer reading for horses lovers

You may recognize this list. We featured it last Christmas on Tuesday’s Horse. All of these books are remarkable and if there’s been anything published I would recommend more highly, I am unaware of what they are.

Here they are in alphabetical order. All gems. You will be a better advocate for having read them. I guarantee!

Last Chance Mustang — The Story of One Horse, One Horseman, and One Final Shot at Redemption
by Mitchell Bornstein

Last Chance Mustang is the story of Samson, a formerly free-roaming, still wild-at-heart American mustang that was plucked from his mountainous Nevada home and thrown into the domestic horse world where he was brutalized and victimized.

After years of abuse, Samson had evolved into a hateful and hated, maladjusted beast until the day he found his way to a rural Illinois farm, an ill-equipped owner, and one last chance.

Mitch Bornstein’s task was to tame the violent beast whose best defense had become offense. He had twenty years of experience fixing unfixable horses, but Samson would be his greatest challenge.

Through the pair’s many struggles and countless battles, Samson would teach Mitch about the true power of hope, friendship, redemption and the inspiring mettle of the forever wild and free American mustang.

If you are a wild horse advocate you must read this book. —Ed. • Buy it now http://amzn.to/1O2yo34 »

Riding Home — The Power of Horses to Heal
by Tim Hayes (Forward by Robert Redford)

This is the first and only book to scientifically and experientially explain why horses have the extraordinary ability to emotionally transform the lives of thousands of men, women and children, whether they are horse lovers, or suffering from deep psychological wounds.

It is a book for anyone who wants to experience the joy, wonder, self-awareness and peace of mind that comes from creating a horse/human relationship, and it puts forth and clarifies the principles of today’s Natural Horsemanship (or what was once referred to as “Horse Whispering”).

Horses help us discover hidden parts of ourselves, whether we’re seven or seventy. They model relationships that demonstrate acceptance, kindness, honesty, tolerance, patience, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. Horses cause all of us to become better people, better parents, better partners, and better friends.

A horse can be our greatest teacher, for horses have no egos, they never lie, they’re never wrong and they manifest unparalleled compassion. • Buy it now http://amzn.to/1jxOx8r »

Saving Baby — How One Woman’s Love for a Racehorse Led to Her Redemption
by Jo Anne Normile and Lawrence Linder

Jo Anne Normile was not supposed to keep the foal, an exuberant Thoroughbred with only a few white hairs on his reddish-brown forehead. But she fell in love with the young horse, who had literally been born into her arms. The breeder finally said she could keep the colt, whom she nicknamed “Baby” – but only if she raced him.

Horseracing had always come across as a glamorous blend of mint juleps and celebrity, of equine grace and speed. But the magic that enchants is a veneer.

For every Seabiscuit, there are tens of thousands of racehorses whose lives end in pain and despair, with indifference and corruption that runs rampant through the world of horse racing.

If you are a racehorse advocate or want to learn more about horses generally this book is a must. —Ed. • Buy it now http://amzn.to/1jxNNjq »

Seabiscuit
by Lauren Hillenbrand

Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail.

Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:

Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon. Buy it now http://amzn.to/1jxQkKv »

Sgt Reckless: America’s War Horse
by Robin Hutton

A Mongolian mare who was bred to be a racehorse, Ah-Chim-Hai, or Flame-of-the-Morning, belonged to a young boy named Kim-Huk-Moon. In order to pay for a prosthetic leg for his sister, Kim made the difficult decision to sell his beloved companion.

Lieutenant Eric Pedersen purchased the bodacious mare and renamed her Reckless, for the Recoilless Rifles Platoon, Anti-Tank Division, of the 5th Marines she’d be joining.

The four-legged equine braved minefields and hailing shrapnel to deliver ammunition to her division on the frontlines. In one day alone, performing fifty-one trips up and down treacherous terrain, covering a distance of over thirty-five miles, and rescuing wounded comrades-in-arms, Reckless demonstrated her steadfast devotion to the Marines who had become her herd.

Despite only measuring about thirteen hands high, this pint-sized equine became an American hero.

Reckless was awarded two Purple Hearts for her valor and was officially promoted to staff sergeant twice, a distinction never bestowed upon an animal before or since. • Buy it now http://amzn.to/1jxOfy8 »

Source — Book Descriptions and Cover Images: Amazon.com

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