These horses are as bomb proof as they come, and I know they seem to work really well, but as a horseman, I'd feel pretty vulnerable doing crowd control on horseback.
Posted on 02/02/2006 1:35:40 AM PST by kingattax
OROVILLE, Calif. --A 24-year-old man could be shoveling horse manure as part of his punishment for punching a police horse.
Butte County Superior Court Judge Stephen Benson sentenced Robert William Huff, of Chico, to 20 hours of community service and 24 hours in jail after he pleaded no contest Tuesday to a charge of assaulting a police horse.
The horse, named "Bailey," was helping police control fraternity party crowds last Labor Day when Huff allegedly backhanded it in the face. Huff's attorney, William Short, said the horse had stepped on Huff's foot and was he was trying to get it off.
"There was never any malicious intent," Short said.
District attorney Mike Ramsey said he hopes Huff's probation will be spent "shoveling horse manure at the Chico police mounted unit's training grounds."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Mongo just pawn in game of Life.
This comment will only make sense to those who live in my area, but....
Hmmm - had Mr. Huff been a basketball player for the University of Cincinnati under former Coach Bob Huggins he could have done this and suffered no repercussions at all.
These horses are as bomb proof as they come, and I know they seem to work really well, but as a horseman, I'd feel pretty vulnerable doing crowd control on horseback.
I did a bad copy paste on my ping list and missed all of you...
Ping :~D
IF there was indeed a large crowd it may not have been his fault for not getting out of the way.
If the guy has no previous record of animal abuse, I'd say let him go. This probably wasn't a malicious act. Just reaction. I've had them step on me, and just stand there. I've seen them step on a dog and just stand there with the dog yipping and flopping around, usually don't move till the dog nips them in the leg. It's to bad he got the horse in the face, but hey, I'm sure the horse can get over it. I'd say your horse getting knocked around if he was used for this sort of thing goes with the terriotory and should be expected and not taken personally.
Becky
Agreed - this isn't an animal abuse case really. Would be interesting to know if he was trying to get out of the way, or if he was being intentionally combative.
A backhand is not a punch. Punching someone (or some horse) involves a closed fist.
Backhanding is a slap.
If he was being intentionally combative, then throw the book at him.
Becky
He probably was sentenced to the 24 hours jail because that's already served.... they probably arrested him and held him that long till someone bailed him out...
Now I guess he has to clean stalls... hey - I do that every day and I didn't do anything wrong :~D
I don't think the horse had any injury but it did have the last laugh.
LOL! I was thinking the same thing. I learned a long time ago to not smack my horses with my hand. It hurts you lots worse than it hurts them. If they can take punches from each other with hard hooves and barely flinch, a smack by a soft little human hand barely even registers.
It might make me walk home....... : )
This is kinda off subject,
my Mom's grandpa had a cow just keel over while he was milking her, he got so mad that he kicked her in the side and it started her heart back up.
I'd have to hit my horses in the shoulder with closed fist a couple times, lean hard against them, yell and flail my arms and attempt to lift the hoof as though I was going to clean it before they finally got the hint. I swear, they knew exactly what was going on and thoroughly enjoyed watching me in hysterics.
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