Sealine
Well-Known Member
There is footage on the Daily Mail website showing the bus and taxi that were hit and the rider. There is a definite hole in the bus windscreen. I wonder if the grey horse put his leg through it somehow hence the blood.
Anyone know what happened?
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ponynutz
Well-Known Member
Just read it was concrete being moved that caused them to spook and bolt?
Assuming them running 5 miles was because they were continually being spooked by the busy London environment but I thought these horses were similar to police horses in training i.e. it'd take something seriously menacing to spook them?
Assuming them running 5 miles was because they were continually being spooked by the busy London environment but I thought these horses were similar to police horses in training i.e. it'd take something seriously menacing to spook them?
Honey08
Waffled a lot!
You can’t totally despook a horse though. Police horses get spooked too.
equinerebel
Well-Known Member
No matter how well trained, they are still horses and will act like horses.
Trying to piece together a developing news story, reports that the horse the injured soldier was on collided with a van early on in the initial spook was probably the catalyst for the secondary incident of them running loose. If that horse was the grey and injured itself on glass, it would account for the mass amount of blood and potentially why it just kept running. It was scared and hurt. I'm not sure if it was the same horse or a different one that collided with the bus. Time will tell the order of events.
This story has made me feel very uneasy.
Trying to piece together a developing news story, reports that the horse the injured soldier was on collided with a van early on in the initial spook was probably the catalyst for the secondary incident of them running loose. If that horse was the grey and injured itself on glass, it would account for the mass amount of blood and potentially why it just kept running. It was scared and hurt. I'm not sure if it was the same horse or a different one that collided with the bus. Time will tell the order of events.
This story has made me feel very uneasy.
teapot
Well-Known Member
Or they were spooked once badly enough to turn into a blind bolt.
Pebble101
Well-Known Member
Looks like a lot of scape marks too. Poor bus driver must have had a shock.
teapot
Well-Known Member
Different horse.
equinerebel
Well-Known Member
What wonderful members of the public are in that video.
It looks like maybe one horse (that one ^^) hit the bus, and the grey potentially hit the taxi? One solider was riding and leading, the others all had a rider. According to the BBC, all four riders were thrown off to varying degrees.
Goldenstar
Well-Known Member
Some of these horses where clearly being led .
criso
Coming over here & taking your jobs since 1900
Looking at the footage en route they were cantering and then trotting before picking up canter again so not a blind gallop for most of the journey. They definitely weren't up for being caught though.
Looking at the caught horses, it seems most were stopped fairly quickly as it's close to where it started but the 2 filmed running got to Limehouse, doesn't seem to be pictures of them being them caught.
teapot
Well-Known Member
I didn’t mean a blind bolt all the way, just enough to spark the ‘let’s keep going, and going, and going’.
As for no photos of the two being caught, I’d imagine City police too busy to nor have the inclination to post a photo
ponynutz
Well-Known Member
Ah yes, sorry, reread my post and it doesn't read how I meant it to!
Just meant that I can understand a blind bolt/being spooked enough to keep running and not being up for being caught. I was just confused how moving concrete spooked them badly enough to provoke that reaction in the first place?
Just meant that I can understand a blind bolt/being spooked enough to keep running and not being up for being caught. I was just confused how moving concrete spooked them badly enough to provoke that reaction in the first place?
teapot
Well-Known Member
Five caught, two injured, one was being led at the time, and all four riders hit the ground according to the BBC.
Hope they’re all ok.
Hope they’re all ok.
criso
Coming over here & taking your jobs since 1900
Actually I was thinking Limehouse, main road, not many passers-by and no tourists with time to take pictures and share on social media.As for no photos of the two being caught, I’d imagine City police too busy to nor have the inclination to post a photo
What I was getting at is all the pictures of the caught horses being posted were from where it started and we don't have any info from the end.
teapot
Well-Known Member
City Police literally tweeted at 9.44 to say caught and waiting on Army to collect.
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cauda equina
Well-Known Member
Indeed
I can imagine the animal rights lobby getting hold of this and saying 'Horses are sensitive creatures and the Army should not be using them as props'
or
the motoring lobby getting hold of it and saying 'Horses are too big and dangerous to be on our (meaning for them and their cars) streets'
I too hope everyone involved is ok; it's a nightmare situation
pinkfluffy
Well-Known Member
Horrendous situation, really hope all horses and riders are okay. It's really heartwarming to see members of the public calming the horse in the video, poor thing.
criso
Coming over here & taking your jobs since 1900
Yes I know, read it at the time.
There was an eyewitness saying they saw a black and a white horse going towards Limehouse and shortly after police tweeted to say 2 horses caught at Limehouse.
There were no pictures but given there was only footage of a black and a grey galloping through London and they were going in that direction, I think it's a reasonable assumption that they were the same two even though there were no photos.
All other pictures were from near where it started so appears the other horses that got loose were caught more quickly.
Wizzkid
Well-Known Member
Wish i hadn't watched that
I'm Dun
Well-Known Member
Neither of them would be wrong though would they? They don't have a nice life. If someone came on here and posted they keep horses the way the cavalry/military horses are kept everyone would be up in arms.
meleeka
Well-Known Member
Poor horses. I hope they are ok. A friend, who has horses said they shouldn’t have horses in London. I replied that this could have happened in any village or town.
poiuytrewq
Well-Known Member
Have to agree, looking shiney and having your metal work polished is hardly a grassy field is it.
teapot
Well-Known Member
There’s this video with a vague location on:
Could be all sorts of reasons why photo/video footage hasn’t appeared from Limehouse, but not sure it’s needed to know they were caught etc. Loose horses are pretty rare in London and given the amount of CCTV available to check. The Army would have known how many were missing too
Grey looking lame there too, poor sod
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teapot
Well-Known Member
Animal Welfare Watch already started with the ‘horses shouldn’t be used etc’
poiuytrewq
Well-Known Member
It could happen anywhere yes, but when my 5 once got loose and took off at speed down the road our main problem was which lane or field they were in rather than were they going to run members of the public over or hit traffic.
Still potentially awful but I do think its just so busy in a city that the potential damage has to be a lot higher.
Honey08
Waffled a lot!
I have to say I agree. I’ve always loved seeing these ceremonial horses, but it sits less and less well with me nowadays. Same for police horses. I keep getting clips of guard horses coming up on my Facebook feed and the horses look really uncomfortable in those bits. Tongues often hanging out several inches. And while I’m sure they are fabulously well looked after in the circumstances they have, it’s still not a nice life for them, and tradition/ceremony comes above their welfare/comfort.
Tiddlypom
Carries on creakily
The incident is unsurprisingly PR gold for them. Such organisations may be at the extreme end, but should horses be exercised in central London? Let alone ride and lead?
It certainly won’t just be fluffy bunnies who question whether this should continue.
teapot
Well-Known Member
I think there are multiple layers of this one:
- Horses for ceremonial duties
- Horses kept in Central London (Knightsbridge is limited by default, multiple storeys, compared to the purpose built site at Woolwich)
- Where do they exercise and how (they have to cross a busy road to get to their arena, or into the park
- Turnout or lack of
That’s before you even consider the military aspect of the same kit being used for centuries, regardless of the changes made. So your bits, saddles, weight of the uniform they’re expected to carry by, for the most part, non experienced horse men/women who are taught to ride in a specific manner that most of us would have to learn how to ride in.
FWIW it’s probably statistically safer riding the roads of zone 1 in London than your average national speed limit county road…
- Horses for ceremonial duties
- Horses kept in Central London (Knightsbridge is limited by default, multiple storeys, compared to the purpose built site at Woolwich)
- Where do they exercise and how (they have to cross a busy road to get to their arena, or into the park
- Turnout or lack of
That’s before you even consider the military aspect of the same kit being used for centuries, regardless of the changes made. So your bits, saddles, weight of the uniform they’re expected to carry by, for the most part, non experienced horse men/women who are taught to ride in a specific manner that most of us would have to learn how to ride in.
FWIW it’s probably statistically safer riding the roads of zone 1 in London than your average national speed limit county road…
criso
Coming over here & taking your jobs since 1900
There’s this video with a vague location on:
Could be all sorts of reasons why photo/video footage hasn’t appeared from Limehouse, but not sure it’s needed to know they were caught etc. Loose horses are pretty rare in London and given the amount of CCTV available to check too
Grey looking pretty lame there too, poor sod
Because people were wondering how many were loose and if it was the grey and black caught Initially the police didn't confirm that all were caught (wouldn't have been sure at that stage) and didn't give enough details to say they were those two.
Also some commented on the pictures of caught horses from Buckingham palace road saying they were different horses and were not the black seen galloping.
I didn't say there should be pictures and I've said it is less likely given the location there were people filming
A lot of people on here may not be familiar with London, they may not know the distance and geography so I thought it worth pointing out that although not pictured, the two horses caught in Limehouse were likely the black and the grey given their direction and where they were caught.
The ones that were pictured being held were near where the whole thing started so hadn't got far so hopefully it was only ever those two running through London.
Cortez
Tough but Fair
Horses get loose/run scared/hit vehicles with reasonable regularity in other places/cities too, and it's always dangerous, for them, for motorists and the public. Whether they should be used or kept in urban environments is a question which should be asked, but horses have always been used in cities, and have always been involved in traffic accidents.