Headbutting horses

[atolhurst]

Now I'm not a horse-y person and I don't really follow horse racing at all, but I can't believe there are some people (bloke in the Times this morning) saying that whilst that jockey who head-butted his horse wasn't right to do it, he could 'understand how the jockey felt'. I think it's disgusting that this guy isn't immediatey dismissed from the sport and charged by the RSPCA or whoever.

As I see it, a horse is an animal; it has feelings, moods and emotions of it's own (although obviously not as developed as that of a human) so if it doesn't fancy running, it doesn't fancy it. You might smack it like you might a child (or used to) to tell it off for being naughty but you wouldn't head butt a child so why is it 'understandable' that you'd even consider harming an animal, so severely.

People who work in horse racing have got to understand that when they decide to ride animals, there is always room for the animal to have a personality of its own. And that may not always agree with the jockey at every moment, whether it be in a race or otherwise. And if the jockey can't respect that, they shouldn't ride an animal and should perhaps race cars which don't have their own personalities.

Am I being over the top??? It just seems it's being taken rather mildly by people in the sport.

[joko]

just because horses are much larger than us does not mean they don't feel pain if they are hit.

they are just skin, muscle and bone just like any other mammal - they are not invincible with a rhino hide.

if a 5 year old head butted me - it would hurt!
not as much as if an adult did it but it would hurt all the same.

to say the horse was not bothered is a bit daft - how do you know?
they cannot frown, cannot raise their hoof to rub it better - just becasue it didn't behave as an injured human would does not mean it wasn't bothered.

obviously there was no real physical damage like cuts and broken bones - but have you ever seen a horse with a bruise? no? well you wouldn't ,would you, under all that hair.

i would have loved the horse to turn round and kick him - or head butt him back

as has been said it show what these people see their horses as - sports equipment - and this one 'malfunctioned'