Jockey Head Butt's Horse

here's johnny.......

he lost his temper a bit.. but as was stated... the horse wasn't hurt... Horses will jump in the air hit their heads on the doorway and not be affected even though they are cut and bleeding... Have I hit a horse... absolutely!!! Just like my kids (they laugh about how ineffective I was at doing that!) I use the body scraper to make my point with a knuckle headed horse... they feel a sting at most... you need to keep their attention some times ... they do weigh 1,000 lbs or more!

He should not have done it.. especially in the eye of the public

[irishtrekker]

I'm really torn on this one. You don't want to advocate abusing animals, but, as a few people have stated, sometimes the only way to remind a horse that it can't be dominant is to act like another horse.

I was leading a 2 year-old Appy mare back from the pasture once. She was the snottiest horse I'd ever met -- no training whatsoever before my friend bought her. Getting her to come in from the pasture was almost impossible (I resorted to a version of the Horse Whisperer and chased her around the whole g-d thing whirling her halter rope above my head like a propellor until she actually did what they do on tv: stopped and gave up). Anyway, on the way back, with no apparent provocation, she bit me on the bicep. It hurt like hell, but it was also dangerous: we could not have therapy horses thinking they could nip people when they felt like it. Without thinking, I whirled around and slapped her fairly hard on the neck. She started a little, but then she immediately dropped her head and "got in line." She never bit me again.

Horses have incredibly thick hides. There's a huge difference between an open-handed slap and a punch, or between a crop on the haunches and a crop on the face. Physical punishment can cross the line and should always be used as an absolute last resort, but there are times when you have to nip a dangerous behavior in the bud before someone (horse or person) gets hurt. If you know how to do it, a well-timed smack can be a reminder to behave: it doesn't hurt, but it startles them and reminds them to cool down a little. They're huge. They can kill you. I spent two hours in Havana once working on getting an abused horse to trust me enough to touch him, so I'm the last person to advocate wantonly using physical force on an animal. But sometimes, you have to act like a horse...and anyone who's seen a bunch of mares in a pasture knows how that works.

i hear what your saying here, but apparently he is being disciplined by the stwards for extensive whip use down the lane.
this is cruelty and he should be suspended and he will.

[irishtrekker]

Fair enough. I've seen some nasty crop marks on horses whose riders were a little too whip-happy.

[Scurlogue Champ]

The only real issue here is that he got caught on camera....

[Pedigree Ann]

I saw the video and it looked like a glancing blow at best. Ever see a jockey whacking the side of a horse's neck with his open hand after a race? THis blow appears to be in the same impact category. Remember the old joke about the mule, who would do whatever you wanted with the gentlest request, but first you had to hit it over the head with a 2 by 4 to get its attention? Not too far off the mark, sometimes.

I have my own story about 'getting his attention.' I was in a riding class and was getting a lot of resistence to a canter aids from this big old grey hunter-type. With the instructor's permission, I reached back and gave him the hardest whack I could with the crop on his rump. He literally picked up his head - 'Oh, you actually DO want me to canter?' Things went a bit more smoothly thereafter, no need for any other reminders.