Diving horse

there was a film about a blind girl diving a horse that i used to like watching but didnt know it actually happened. cant remember the name of the film though
 
ucmeicu said:
Saw this today, obviously it's acceptable in America.
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:mad: Bash America Day it would seem.

I don't find it acceptable anywhere and certainly wouldn't pay to watch it anymore than I would performing bears etc, but he is only jumping 9' as opposed to the clip from the 50's. There are much worse things a horse has to do though and I presume that his welfare is monitored consistently as this is a public display.

Question though. Does that ramp drop away under his front end, or does he just slide down it and push off? Couldn't find a link to an actual clip.
 
Jadey.. I find it disturbing not amazing.

The ramp doesn't drop with Lightning, found this on you tube. He looks round and then jumps, wonder how they trained him to do that? Bucket of oats on a string? Doubt it highly. Animals of any type being used for human entertainment sickens me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNHPqutWDZc
 
ucmeicu said:
Jadey.. I find it disturbing not amazing.

The ramp doesn't drop with Lightning, found this on you tube. He looks round and then jumps, wonder how they trained him to do that? Bucket of oats on a string? Doubt it highly. Animals of any type being used for human entertainment sickens me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNHPqutWDZc
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I assume you ride horses? That's entertainment.
 
Sorry maybe I should make that clearer for you, when I said entertainment I meant passive watching as opposed to active recreational entertainment, obviously there are exceptions concerning some sports.
 
ucmeicu said:
Sorry maybe I should make that clearer for you, when I said entertainment I meant passive watching as opposed to active recreational entertainment, obviously there are exceptions concerning some sports.
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Yes, it's rather a broad brush isn't it? I didn't mean to sweep it over riding horses too but I just want to put it into context when it comes to all forms of animal entertainment.

You can't just say well, this is bad, and this is okay according to my standards as is so often done on here.

I can think of more cruel things done on horseback than the diving horse. Horses think nothing of diving into rivers as seen on a quality David Attenborough film. Not that that makes it right to make it jump into a pool.

Nor does the fact they can run for 20 miles + a day make it right we ride them over jumps for 20 miles for a bet.
 
"there was a film about a blind girl diving a horse that i used to like watching but didnt know it actually happened. cant remember the name of the film though"

The film is "wild hearts can't be broken". According to IMDb it is a true story.
 
ucmeicu said:
Sorry maybe I should make that clearer for you, when I said entertainment I meant passive watching as opposed to active recreational entertainment, obviously there are exceptions concerning some sports.
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So that lets Olympia out . . . and Badminton . . ;)

Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's the best thing I've ever seen anyone make a horse do (although it's certainly not common in America!!:D) but in the great scheme of things, it's not the worst either. As far as how he's trained, we can't say. Although you can train animals to do extraordinary things using operant conditioning so I don't think you can assume punishing methods were used.
 
Barleyboo said:
"there was a film about a blind girl diving a horse that i used to like watching but didnt know it actually happened. cant remember the name of the film though"

The film is "wild hearts can't be broken". According to IMDb it is a true story.
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it is true iirc she was married to the owner at the times son, she didn't close her eyes once and the impact of the water blinded her but she continued to dive after that.
 
Maybe he is a reincarntion of one of these cretins that do toombstoning.. you know they get slighty or quite drunk jump off cliffs into the sea bang their heads on a rock and have to be rescued by the coast guard!!!!:D
 
Must admit, I didn't think this went on any more - but I know it was very popular many years ago.

Can't agree with it on any level.
 
Well, to be fair, those horses hardly look like they are unwilling do they?

Also, in terms of welfare, surely sports like polo and horse racing take a far greater toll on a horse's body. I've also seen some pretty horrible and long-lasting injuries arising from carriage driving and cross country, and diving into a pool a couple of times a day can't really be compared with the stresses and strains that many competitive equine sports place on horses.

It is certainly unconventional, but I don't really see what the fuss is about as far as the wellbeing of the horse is concerned.
 
I had a Dartmoor pony when I was a kid that would eagerly jump off a river bank near to where I lived and swim up river, get out on a slope, and we'd do it all over again...He needed NO persuasion whatsoever.
 
I have to say I am undecided on the diving, wonder how the idea first came about, I think I am only undecided because there are quite a lot of youtube vids and none of the horses seem particularly unhappy about it, but it still seems a bit bizarre.

I think they were still jumping in atlantic city up to the 1970s
 
i saw this in The Sun yesterday (goodness knows how i was reading that), and i just thought "seriously why? dangerous much?" the horse is said to 'love it' but from my understanding she is just dropped and forced to jump.

in fact, how did they even get around to finding out that she 'enjoys' it. sounds like a bit of animal cruelty started that off!
 
which one, lightening? the little chestnut in the original vid? havent seen anyone trying to get that one on the ramp perhaps I missed that vid.

no, just correcting what was written really.

the steel pier vids have an open ramp to the top so you can see that there is noone there providing any 'encouragement' and several show happy enough looking horses trottting up the ramp and jumping off the top.

As said earlier I looked at a lot of the vids out of curiousity ages ago and didn't really come to a conclusion in my head.
 
ester said:
which one, lightening? the little chestnut in the original vid? havent seen anyone trying to get that one on the ramp perhaps I missed that vid.

no, just correcting what was written really.

the steel pier vids have an open ramp to the top so you can see that there is noone there providing any 'encouragement' and several show happy enough looking horses trottting up the ramp and jumping off the top.

As said earlier I looked at a lot of the vids out of curiousity ages ago and didn't really come to a conclusion in my head.
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hmmm
 
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I have seen the film Wild hearts can't be broken and I must admit to finding the story inspirational although I don't agree that Diving horses should take place now. In the film the horses dived of a great height, far bigger then in the you tube films, the horses would canter up the ramp, a rider would vault onto their back near the top as the horse cantered past and then the horse and rider would dive into the pool, the horses never hesitated or broke their pace.
 
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