# Woman...cited after...she scared carriage horses with T.rex costume



## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Not sure where this ought to go, forum-wise. It isn't really about driving horses so much as it is about the politics of 'animal rights' and the idea that working animals is cruel.

Part of the article (I believe in excerpts):








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> Two Palmetto Carriage Works horses, named Yogi and Boo Boo, were pulling 16 passengers when a woman dressed in an orange Tyrannosaurus rex costume got in front of the carriage and started making growling noises, according to witnesses and the police report. She refused to move after being warned several times that she was upsetting the horses, driver Van Sturgeon said.
> 
> The horses jumped and jackknifed the carriage. Yogi fell back on his haunches. The driver was thrown to the pavement, and a wheel ran over his right leg. He was taken to a hospital for treatment. He was walking with crutches Friday with a bruised leg and broken foot.
> 
> ...


Woman, 26, cited after Charleston police said she scared carriage horses with T.rex costume | Business | postandcourier.com










Police: Person in dinosaur costume spooks carriage horses, carriage driver injured | WCIV​
I think carriage horses make a great chance to "sell" people on the beauty and decency of horses. It may not be "natural", but my riding my horse solo in the desert isn't exactly "natural" either. But done right, it seems like a wonderful thing that animal lovers ought to encourage.

I don't know any of the politics involved in that city. I live thousands of miles away. But I honestly would have applauded if the horses had decided to take a few bites out of "T Rex". Or run over "T Rex". Had I been there & on the ground, I'd have chewed "T Rex" a new butthole. 

I don't understand people. :icon_rolleyes:


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## secuono (Jul 6, 2011)

What a loon....
I'd be so ****ed if she scared my horses like that. 
Would be totally different if she was just minding her own unusual business, but to purposefully antagonize and scare horses while they are actively working is unacceptable. 
She is threatening the safety of the horses, driver and everyone on board. She needs her butt kicked.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

Everything that's unnatural for horses (as in, they didn't evolve to do that) ought to be done in moderation. People did not evolve to play the piano, and if you don't do it properly, you risk repetitive stress injury. Done properly, however, it brings great joy. I certainly don't agree with the carriage "industry" where horses work 8-hour shifts in all kinds of weather and in all kinds of stressful environments, such as in New York City. I think putting horses "to work" and make them do "unnatural" things can be enriching and beneficial if it's a physiologically and psychologically sensible activity that provides for a contrast to lounging around on the pasture all day. It's a cliché, but "everything in moderation" seems to be true here as everywhere else. Jumping a horse a few times a week on the trail - fun and beneficial. (I have seen horses wanting go for the jump even though the riders intend was to take them around it.) 
<Rant>
By contrast, tightly circling a horse 3 hours a day with 8-10 jumps per circle (or circuit) in the arena has to be boring, stressful, and injury-prone. A similar argument can be made for every other equestrian sport: as soon as it escalates from an "activity" to a "job" and even to an "obsession" (the rider's, not the horse's), we enter abuse territory. That usually happens when ego, money, and/or social posturing enter the picture.
</Rant>


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

She should fined up the ying yang for being stupid and ignorant.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I don't understand the opposition to the carriage industry. Horses are very adaptable. A horse who is used to being in a city adapts. Pulling a carriage is less stressful for a horse than having a rider on top. Horses love routine, and the carriage horses have one. They do work - just as most horses did for hundreds of years, and ranch horses continue to do.

I'm not a huge fan of stalls for horses, but millions of horses are kept in them successfully - and a guy whose horses live in a dry lot corral can't throw stones, so to speak.



> "Horse-drawn carriages should not share the same roadways as motor vehicles. It puts both the animals and public at risk."


Carriage Horses : The Humane Society of the United States

Hmmm...I ride my horses on pavement almost every day. They do NOT have to deal with the level of traffic that a city horse does, but city horses don't have to take chances climbing up out of or dropping into desert washes. My horses pretty much ignore moving cars, although Bandit still dislikes cars parked on the street. That is because he almost never sees a car parked by the side of the street. If he did, he'd adapt.

To be honest, BICYCLES disturb my horses more than cars!



> "Making horses pull oversized loads like carriages is cruel. Horses are forced to toil in all weather extremes, dodge traffic, and pound the pavement all day long."


The Cruelty of Horse-Drawn Carriages | PETA

How different is it from a ranch horse carrying a man, a roping saddle and gear? Ranch horses work when it is over 100 degrees, and also when temps drop to 20 below. It isn't as though they race carriages around the city. Pulling a weight at a walk is pretty low stress to a horse compared to having a 200+ lb man and a 40 lb saddle and gear on its back, moving across the desert or on mountain slopes.



> Under the law, drivers can work their horses nine hours a day, seven days a week...Horses are forced to work in sleet or shine—even when the weather is unbearably hot or freezing cold, breathing in exhaust, and pounding the hard pavement day in and day out...They never have the chance to experience natural horse life, like running and playing in grass—instead they live in tiny stalls in midtown Manhattan...Since 2006, at least nine carriage horses have died in New York City, some from horrific accidents...Horses are terrified of traffic and sudden noises. Many carriage accidents result from horses spooking...


5 Things You Didn?t Know About the Carriage Horse Industry | Animal Legal Defense Fund

That is less than a lot of ranch horses work. My horses would freak if they saw a green meadow. Trooper might be able to remember what one looks like, but I doubt Bandit or Cowboy have ever seen one. My horses never race around in green meadows - so should I shoot them to put them out of their misery?

Bandit and I could both be hurt tomorrow if he gets too excited over a car parked beside the road, or because a bicycle comes up from behind us. He stumbled a little a few days ago because of dropping into a wash and having his feet hit a soft spot in the sand - which happens sometimes, and neither Bandit nor I have figured out how to spot sand like that. We could both fall, and could take a nasty fall if the ground gives way on a slope - as it can.

We do NOT ride when it is very hot or raining, ad try to avoid high winds. That's because I ride for fun. But no working horse I know of gets to call it quits because "It's too windy!" or "It's COLD outside!" Like their rider, they go out and work.

Seems to me the objections are rooted in the idea that horses shouldn't work for man. If so, there are three horses in my yard who need to be shot, because they don't get to live their lives running freely across grassy meadows while movie music swells up behind them. I suspect Miss T Rex would also object to my owning horses - for MY pleasure - trudging dutifully thru the hot desert sand:








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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

@bsms totally agree with your post. 

Saying horses shouldn't work and live in a city is like saying that dogs shouldn't live in apartments or that children shouldn't grow up in high-rise apartments. So city folk aren't allowed to have horses, dogs, or kiddos? 

IMO the draft horses as a breed would become extinct if they didn't have a job to do. Everything costs more with a draft; why raise them if no-one can use them? . 

Don't know anyone who lives in Nirvana or knows where it is; so why do all the busy-bodies expect our critters to live there?


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

Well, it's not particularly natural for a person with mental illness to survive out there either, but here she is.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Horsef said:


> Well, it's not particularly natural for a person with mental illness to survive out there either, but here she is.


:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::thumbsup:


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

It would have been hard for me, if I'd been the driver, not to have jumped off and dragged that woman away by the tail. 

The AR people do not know what moderation is. They are extremists. Many would agree with the statement that there should be no domestic animals at all, and eating any animal should be against the law. 

They are a growing threat.


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## 6gun Kid (Feb 26, 2013)

I am personally acquainted witb palmetto carriage company, and I can assure you 100% that the care and well-being of their horses is the number 1 priority. They work short shifts in low traffic areas, stop frequently in the shade, and water often. Been my experience that a horse with a job is a happy horse.


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## ChieTheRider (May 3, 2017)

Some people are idiots...


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