Posted on 04/27/2005 6:44:00 AM PDT by blogbat
Animal neglect true reason for death of horse on movie set
CNN reports,
The horse was killed Monday during filming at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center in the San Fernando Valley.
According to the City of Los Angeles' Department of Animal Services, which conducted an investigation, the horse was running when it stepped on its own lead rope and broke its neck. Animal Services is ruling the death an accident.
As someone who has owned and worked with horses his entire life I must tell you this case is most likely not an accident, but rather the result of cruel and tragic negligence.
Unless this horse untied his own lead rope and ran off, the handlers of this horse broke one of the cardinal rules of horsemanship and one of the first things you teach anyone working around horses: do not allow the animal to wander freely with the lead rope still attached because if he steps on it while either walking or running there is a good chance he will panic or trip and break his neck.
The City of Los Angeles’ Department of Animal Services should be ashamed of their shallow, perfunctory investigation. Any such agency worth its name would have cited the handlers for not taking the very simple steps known to avoid something this avoidable. The ineptitude of both parties is beyond me.
20th Century Fox should likewise be ashamed and should fire the parties involved. The Department of Animal Dis-Services should also fire anyone involved in the decision to label this an accident. If neither of those two will do that then obviously we need to find some political accountability somewhere.
The movie being made was a remake of the 1943 classic, “My Friend Flicka”. Friend indeed.
"I read the article. I am no "dear," and what is this "opine" crap? Are you O' freakin' Reilly?
The article states that the horse was running. Why was it running? Was it intentionally set free to run with its lead dangling? Does the article address this? NO! It does not!
Get off your high horse, and be off from us free people at a canter, nag"
LOL
I hate it when posters feel the need to get condescending and "holier than thou." They completely lose credibility when they resort to those tactics.
"Sorry, but it happens. ALL equine activities have some unsafe components - both for the horses and the riders. You can reduce the risk but never eliminate it."
No way that batty guy is a trainer. NO ONE who has spent a lifetime training horses would freak out over an obvious accident.
I wonder how many TB racehorses die every day as a result of a racing accident?
Darn right, this was a freak accident and nothing to get panties in a wad over.
This sounds like an accident.
Who are you talking about?
The poster that seems to be out for blood over this accident. He claims to be a lifelong horse trainer but I'm finding that increasingly hard to believe. Sounds more like a PETA activist to me.
Here are a couple of things that I said:
"Your lack of common sense and a sense of proportion is troubling."
"You have a lot of growing up to do."
The fact that you describe those comments as "attacks" only proves that they are accurate observations.
Exactly. He's an animal rights activist.
In most states you can't sue a trainer or stable when an accident happens because of the inevitable dangers 'of equine activity', which the lawmakers have realized cannot be made totally safe for people or animals.
I've seen some god-awful accidents happen on flat ground at a walk.
The price we pay for letting nitwits handle our horses are tragedies such as this. Ignorance or carelessness caused this and it's the horse who had to suffer.
Blogbat, I totally agree.
You make a good point but the story doesn't seem to indicate the horse got away. Sounds to me more like a careless person leading the horse and letting the rope drag. (This is one of my pet peeves by the way because I see it so often. People hold the rope with one hand, let the rest drag. They do not foresee or don't know what will happen if the horse steps on that rope.)
It was an accident and really a freak accident at that I think. Lots of people put lead ropes on horses they can't catch until they get to the point where they are easily caught. Ropers used to (forty years ago, don't know now) put ropes on their horses to drag while they were in the corral or pasture - to teach them to not step on a rope.
Bottom line however, I doubt seriously any movie producer would use actual wild mustangs because of the danger to his crew and actors, and the unpredictability of the horses. They don't just run from handlers, they climb fences, bite and kick when cornered, etc.
I think we all agree that it isn't great horsemanship, but this was a re-enactment of a rodeo sport where they do let the lead rope drag, perhaps the most surprising risk is that it was done with real unbroke horses. Re-enacting this is relevant for the film. It's a stunt like any other, there is danger, and something occured that they didn't expect. For the horse to break his neck this way is in fact a pretty freak accident.
I think the owner took his horses home because they aren't going to use unbroke mustangs for this stunt anymore.
Let me clarify what I think 'investigations' and cruelty law is for. I reserve it for intentional harm or malice, not for situations where sport is dangerous, even if there is fault to be found in the way the horse was handled. We all make mistakes in the imperfect science of handling horses. While careless acts by horsemen are good lessons for the rest of us to learn from, they should never be criminal, as this poster was calling for. Your next mistake could bite you then.
Cruelly beating the animal, setting the horse on fire or allowing it to be attacked and killed by a tiger, is criminal. Letting the horse re-enact a rodeo sport that existed in a movie, running loose even with a leadrope isn't something I'd do, but it doesn't cross the line. Now that they've had this twist of fate, they will probably be more careful about the rest of this film. It's a film for horse lovers, I don't think they can afford any more bad publicity.
This is what the crew was filming. A Wild Horse Race. Notice the long lead ropes.
Wild Horse Race – Teams of three men must catch, saddle and ride a wild horse wearing only a halter after it exits the starting chute. This is a race between approximately ten teams and horses differentiated by colored shirts and halters simultaneously released into the arena. Chaos ensues with men being drug about by horses, catching horses, saddling horses, riding horses and being bucked from horses.
It's not a sport ~I'd~ care for. Any of that kind of cowboying can only damaging to the horses, mind and body. But then I don't care for bronc riding either.
I know I read Flicka as a kid, but I don't remember it. I'm gonna guess, because it's a 'boy befriends horse' story, that in the movie the sport is not treated sympathetically.
There are a lot of "sports" that do harm all kinds of animals. If you ever saw a steeplechase, look how many of those horses take tumbles. Calf roping is the one that gets me.
From reading that other message board, it looks like the "whistle blower" on this tragedy wanted some publicity for some reason.
Oh yeah? - I didn't read past his initial comment on the link... I'll go check it out.
I don't like bronc riding because it's altered from any original purpose it might have had, in that the horses are not just unbroke horses on their way to being trained, but rather career buckers intentionally made worse. I fear their careers are short and their usefullness afterwards next to nil.
Steeplechase is hard on horses... I cringe to watch some of those wrecks, but I don't know where to draw the line on what's acceptable risk. There are ~some~ pretty bad wrecks in any horse sport.
I also hate that suicide race in Calgary.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.