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Horses do not belong in violent human politics
It is almost two years since a young woman was trampled by a horse at a protest in London. The anxious and confused animal clashed with traffic lights throwing off the officer and injuring the student nurse who later complained of constant headaches. Of course, the media retreated to its respective political habitats – the left-wing blaming the police and the right-wing blaming the protesters.
Where do the innocent horses fit into the human caused chaos? Well, The College of Policing claims that “research in public order situations has shown that horses have a pacifying effect on crowds and officers can better monitor crowds from their vantage point.” They have also stated that they feel the public find them more approachable when accompanied by the horses. This seems staggeringly neglectful and myopic with regard to the experience of the animal itself who must trot down slippery concrete roads, often in the middle of rainfall amid busy traffic, flying bottles, flares and hysterical screaming. The fact that the horses themselves have to wear protective gear for their eyes, faces and legs is testament to the risk they are being exposed to.
In 2018, a horse named ‘Morcombe” was tragically killed when he fell on a metal pole during patrol at a football match. He is far from alone in this abuse and should be evidence enough that horses’ employment at volatile front-line events is pointless, cruel and more of a vanity project than sensible policing.
With the extensive and hi-tech equipment available: tasers, pepper spray, stab vests, high performance cars, big red keys, helicopters and more, it begins to look as though the police are more concerned with showboating and want the horse as a mascot to boost their self-esteem – a quite disgusting enterprise which puts in danger police, public and horses alike for the pitiful and exploitative sake of impressive optics.