How can this be legal?

[Marigold4]

I am horrified by this. Hundreds of horses forced to ride through flames in a purification ceremony in Spain. Shame on them.

 

[AmyMay]

It’s Spain……

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

In the land of bullfights. At least the horses appear to be ridden, so the people are going through the fire too.

 

[gunnergundog]

The Met mounted police in this country used to (still do?) incorporate jumping through a hoop of fire as part of their display ride.

 

[mariew]

The Met mounted police in this country used to (still do?) incorporate jumping through a hoop of fire as part of their display ride.

I suspect it has to be part of their training as a police horse in case it happens on duty.

 

[Marigold4]

The pictures I've seen are of horses actually stepping, momentarily perhaps, into the flames. I can't imagine what you would have to do to do to persuade a horse to do that - and for no good reason. I'm with the animal rights campaigners on this. It should be banned.

 

[rextherobber]

The Met mounted police in this country used to (still do?) incorporate jumping through a hoop of fire as part of their display ride.

But that's very, very different from the image here, isn't it? And as already stated, it's part of their training.

 

[shortstuff99]

Here is a video of it

 

[Caol Ila]

Gotta love the bravery of the Spanish horse. Watching the video, I did note that some riders were brushing past the side of the fire (Hermosa has indeed achieved this... was had to go up close and personal to a farmer's fire - between the fire and a fence no less - to get from A to B...guess she's been purified) while others were taking a more diretissema route.

To be honest, when we had to squeeze past the bonfire, it wasn't a big deal. I just kept walking and so did she. I did not know what she was going to do because my Highland and my old Shire-TBx would have lost their sh1t. But she simply wasn't that bothered.

 

[Cortez]

I have done a little bit of fire work with horses on film sets. With training they are OK with it. My horses are (were) Spanish, they WILL go through fire for you.

 

[MagicMelon]

Its Spain, they still bullfight - their animal welfare is rock bottom. Those are big flames, what a horrid way to take advantage of their trust in humans. And also, what a dumb "ceremony" anyway.

 

[bonny]

It helps if you have sharp spurs on and the right bit

 

[ycbm]

If the horses aren't burnt and are trained to do it so they lose their fear of fire I really don't see the issue?

If they have any fear to start with. I had a horse once who had no fear of fire at all, he walked up to a bonfire and started raking it out with his foot!

Don't start me on branding to mark horses as "your" creation though.
.

 

[Cortez]

It helps if you have sharp spurs on and the right bit

No, actually it doesn't help at all. Training, as I said, is the way to get horses to do things that they may initially be afraid of, whether that's a bonfire or a wheelie bin.