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spinedog · 4 years

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Dealing with horses during BLM protests

Well, this is certainly a departure from my usual content. But, the time has come to be of civic service.

I’ll admit right now - I’m a white Canadian living in a rural area. While I have been educating myself during this time (and I strongly encourage you to do the same if you haven’t already, this video is a good place to start), I haven’t really done any activism, Partially due to my own rocky mental health, partially due to fear of giving out heavily flawed information.

But, in the past few days I’ve seen a lot of clips of people riding horses during Black Lives Matter protests, and clips of protesters on foot being confronted by mounted police. I’m not much of an activist and I’m not well educated on the struggles faced by african-american people - but I do know a hell of a lot about horses. And while I feel I should be doing something far more constructive to help, this is knowledge that I know is solid and worth sharing. I may as well start there.

So: below is a quick guide for dealing with both police and protester horses while on foot. It’s intended for those unfamiliar with horses and is really just a surface-level guide that will only help a very small amount of people. But, if it helps one person get out of a tight spot, it’s worth it.

Please spread this around, and if I’ve missed anything or if anyone has better information, please add to it!!

Horses tl;dr

Prey animals - they want to flee from danger, not face it.

If forced to fight, they will use their hooves before they use their teeth. The hooves usually get the job done better.

Close to 360 degree vision and see well in low light

Blind spots directly in front of their nose and directly behind their tail.

Communicate almost solely through body language

Head low, ears sideways, very little eye white visible - calm horse

Head high, ears held stiffly back, eye white clearly visible - stressed horse

Watch the ears - wherever the ears are pointing is what the horse is paying attention to.

Experts at reading human body language (even better than dogs are)

React best to quiet, calm people and quiet, calm body language.

More under the cut, to save your dashboards

When dealing with police horses:

Things to know about police mounts:

They are trained to be calm even in the most chaotic of situations. Ideally, this means that they feel calm and confident, but sometimes these horses will have simply repressed their natural urge to flee. Think of them as repeating ‘just keep going’ to themselves at all times.

They can be used as weapons by their riders, but they are not trained to intentionally attack.

They are used to shove, not kick/strike/bite, and are generally less likely to kick and/or bite than the average horse.

Horses are remarkably good at not trampling people. They can see where all of their feet are at all times, and they do not like stepping on uncertain ground (Ie, a human body). But they can trip and stumble, and if you are caught underneath, things can get very ugly very quickly.

The two major dangers of a police mounted unit:

The police officer

Self-explanatory.

Keep in mind that riders tend to be very fond and very protective of their mounts. If a cop thinks you’re trying to cause harm to the horse, they will not react well.

The size of the horse itself.

The average riding horse weighs around 1500lbs, and all of that weight is resting on four solid hooves. Even if a horse doesn’t mean to step on you, it will cause damage.

What to do if you are protesting and you see a mounted unit coming:

If you’re on your own, do NOT try to stand in the way. The horse would probably stop for you on its own, but the rider is going to tell it to keep going, and it’s going to listen.

If you need to hold your ground, block the path with a roadblock, barrier, or car if possible, and stay behind it. A horse will recognize a fence as an obstacle, and it will be less willing to just go plowing into it. It’s a thinking, breathing animal, not an SUV.

If a mounted unit is just in your area and you feel nervous, the safest place to be is about 8 or more feet behind the horse. Both the officer and the horse can see you, but you’re too far away to be a threat, and you’re in a very inconvenient place to have something shot or thrown at you.

What to do if a mounted cop rides into you:

First, realize that the rider is putting his horse in immense danger by doing this. I’m not a cop, but I feel fairly comfortable in saying they are not supposed to do this.

If you can, get out of the way before you’re knocked off your feet.

Avoid the withers (shoulders) of the horse - this is actually the safest place to be when handling horses, but an officer can easily hit you with a baton from there.

If you are hit and you fall down:

Stay calm! Flailing around offers more things for a horse to accidentally hit.

Cover your head with your arms and curl into as tiny of a ball as you can - remember, the horse doesn’t want to step on you, and it will actively avoid doing so. Give it as much room to get around you as possible.

Most of a horse’s weight rests on its front hooves. If you have any control at all, avoid coming into any contact with them.

Do NOT try to kick out at the horse’s legs or try to trip it. If it falls, it’ll fall directly on you.

As soon as the horse has passed, get away from the situation. If the cop decides to back the horse up, you are FAR more likely to be severely hurt. Horses don’t move backwards as well as they do forwards, they will be clumsier and have a much harder time avoiding you. Avoid this at all costs.

Find a medic. Crush injuries are no joke, and hooves can have surprisingly sharp edges. You may need medical attention.

If a mounted cop rides into someone near you:

It’s horrible, it’s terrifying, but wait until the horse has passed over the victim before you run in to help. Police horses are still horses, and you running in to help could land you a kick in the gut. You can’t help anyone if you’re hurt too.

If you know someone who knows first-aid, get them in there before you move the person. Spinal injuries can easily happen with the wrong step, and moving the person could injure them more. But, if there’s no one there to help and it’s between moving them and leaving them to die, try to keep the head and neck immobile while you pull them to the side. Life over limb.

This situation is extreme, and is absolutely a worst-cased scenario. But you may end up in a situation where a cop is deliberately riding a horse over someone on the ground, then backing up over them or turning the horse in an attempt to trample someone. If this is happening, make sure someone is recording it, because it is an active attempt to kill the person on the ground and you’ll need it as evidence.

DO NOT ATTEMPT WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SHARE UNLESS IT IS AN EMERGENCY. IT’S NOT GUARANTEED TO WORK AND HAS A HIGH LIKELIHOOD OF GETTING YOU HURT. But if someone’s life is in danger and you need a Hail Mary, this is it.

If you are right near this situation, do NOT try to grab the horse’s reins. The horse won’t hurt you, but the rider absolutely will.

There is a spot on the horse called the flank - it’s the spot where the back legs meet the belly on the side of the horse. There’s a strip of hair running upwards towards the horse’s hip, it’s pretty easy to see.

Place your hand flat against the flank and push with everything you have. Most horses are trained to swing their hindquarters out of the way when a handler does this, and with any luck, the horse will instinctively move its hindquarters sideways and give your fallen comrade a second to get to their feet and run.

The horse may not move at all. Or, it may kick you. Actually, it probably will. This is a VERY dangerous thing to do to a horse you don’t know, in a high-stress situation.

Do NOT punch this area - horses have VERY sensitive skin, even more so than we do, and they are even more sensitive in this area. This already has a high chance of getting you kicked, don’t increase your odds.

Part of the reason I’m sharing this is because it’s behind the saddle, and behind the rider. The cop will know you’re there, but they have to turn very awkwardly to hit you, and it might give you enough time.

If the horse doesn’t move immediately, it’s not going to. I’m sorry, but you’ve done what you can, you need to run away.

As soon as the horse has moved, get away as fast as you can - but don’t turn the way you came, run straight. If the hind end is pivoting away, the front end is coming towards you - and the front end is where the rider is.

Once again, do NOT do this unless you HAVE to. You may get hurt, the fallen person may get hurt worse, and the horse that is just trying to do its job will be sore from getting hit in a sensitive spot. But I wouldn’t be doing my civic duty if I didn’t mention it.

What to do if you find a riderless police horse:

(Honestly I hope none of you do, because it will mean the situation has escalated and you should probably be getting the hell out of there.)

If there are police nearby, do not touch the horse. Most cops have more respect for the animals they work with than their own citizens, they will take care of it.

If there are no police around, but there is no obvious danger, don’t touch the horse. It’s not worth being accused of theft.

On that note, DO NOT TRY TO RIDE OR STEAL A POLICE HORSE! It might seem like an awesome idea at the time, but in practice it’s insanely dangerous for both you and the horse.

If the animal is in obvious distress (injury, stressed posture, cornered in a dangerous situation), and there are no police around, you may need to intervene. ONLY INTERVENE IF YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE AND YOU ARE NOT IN DANGER YOURSELF.

Approach the horse slowly. Aim to end up beside its left shoulder (horses are generally trained to be led on this side). Don’t walk in straight line towards it, focus on walking towards a nearby object instead. Don’t make eye contact.

Give a big, slow exhale and relax your shoulders. Horses are VERY good at reading human body language, they will be less likely to flee and cause more damage to themselves.

Once you’re at its shoulder, take the rein (the long leather piece that the rider uses to steer) closest to you.

Always hold the rein so that your thumb rests at the end closest to the horse. If it spooks and takes off, it’ll be easier to let go and you’ll be less likely to get rope burn.

If the horse panics and rears up/strikes out/kicks, let go and back up. It’s very tempting to just lock down on the rein and hang on, but you’re only putting yourself in harm’s way. You’ve tried to help, don’t get hurt.

If the horse is cool, start walking towards safety. Don’t try to pet the horse or do any horse-whispering crap, just get out of the situation. The horse will want to go with you - they are herd animals and most horses see humans as herd mates of some kind, it will understand the concept of being led towards safety. Once you’re in a safer situation, just let the horse go. Again, it’s not worth being accused of theft.

If there’s a visual danger nearby (fire/smoke) and the horse won’t move, take a bandanna/shirt and use it to cover the horse’s eyes. Hold the ends under the horse’s jaw, and talk to it in a constant, soft voice while you walk. It’s scary for everyone involved, but if tear gas is involved this is much safer for the animal.

If the horse is injured, call a veterinarian. Most large cities will have a large 24hr vet hospital, smaller ones will have ‘emergency’ lines for closed hours; they may not have large-animal veterinarians on staff, but they will know where to find help. On top of that, vet clinics have no affiliation with police and their only priority is the welfare of the animal. Report that you’ve found a police horse in distress, but you’re not comfortable contacting the police yourself and need to know where to take it so it will be found. Do NOT try to perform medical care yourself.

Lastly, but most importantly:

***DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, INTENTIONALLY HARM A POLICE HORSE***

There’s a much bigger reason for this than the moral ‘don’t hurt animals’. Often times, we like animals more than other humans, and we feel strong emotional responses when they are harmed. Writers still use that as a vehicle to spur anger or hatred of a certain character of a group: Want the audience to hate John Wick’s enemies? Have them kill his dog.

This will absolutely be used against you - if a protester or rioter were to harm a police horse, it will be used by the police and by the media to influence public opinion. A horse’s death won’t cause the same outrage as a man’s will, but it will have a visceral, emotional response from everyone who sees it. We all innately know that the horses that are used by police force did not choose their career. They didn’t grow up wanting to walk through cities and face angry humans. They do it because it’s what they do, and unlike the cops that ride them, they don’t want to hurt you. And yes, I know that the police put them in danger every day. You can’t control their actions, but you can control your own. Do your best to avoid catching them in the crossfire, for your own sake as much as theirs.

When working with protester’s horses

This will be a much smaller section, but it’s important to mention too. Unlike police horses, protester’s horses are not necessarily trained to handle the noise and chaos of even a peaceful protest, let alone a riot or a police attack. A responsible owner won’t bring a nervous horse to a protest, will stay in a group with fellow riders, and will leave long before any threat of danger. (And, yes, I’ve seen the clips of the lone rider in Chicago that brings his horses to protests. I can’t really judge much there because those horses seem to fear nothing.) But, that said, the best of plans can fail, and sometimes danger comes before you’re ready.

If you are walking with a group of protesters on horseback:

Ask the riders where they want you to stay, and stay there.

If you can’t ask or have suddenly found yourself in their company, stay in line with the horse’s left shoulder. This is the absolute safest place to be when near a horse with a rider that isn’t going to try to hurt you.

Don’t pet the horses unless you have been invited to.

Keep your voice down when near the horses, and avoid sudden movements.

If the horses spook at any time, get out of the way. Don’t try to stop them from running and don’t try to be a barrier. A scared horse has no thought process aside from ‘move as far away as possible, as quickly as possible’. Remember what I said about horses avoiding stepping on you? That all goes out the window as soon as they’re spooked and start running. At this point, you’re a crunchy speed bump to them.

This is not likely to be relevant, but for the sake of mentioning it - some horses, especially mares, can be protective of their riders. This is the rare case where a horse can be overtly aggressive. As with everything, watch the ears - if they’re pinned flat against the horse’s neck, that horse is about to take a chunk out of someone. Back off, and avoid eye contact.

If you find a riderless horse that is not a police horse:

All of the points from the ‘riderless police horse’ apply - but this is a horse that probably doesn’t know how to handle a city. Be VERY careful, this animal is far more likely to accidentally hurt you than a police horse is.

Only approach if it’s an emergency and/or the horse is in distress, and if you do, focus on relaxing and moving calmly - this horse is FAR more likely to spook than a police horse.

And finally - if you own a horse, and you’re considering bringing it to a protest, don’t. You’re putting yourself, your fellow protesters, and your horse at risk. It makes for a cool twitter feed to see later, but as someone who has ridden horses in urban settings, it makes for very scary, dangerous situations. It can have a very inspiring effect on a protest, but it’s ultimately not worth the risk. If you are part of a group that is all taking horses and all going, keep your head on a swivel and always watch your horse. You have the right to say ‘I’m out, this is stressing my horse out too much.’ Your horse would probably agree that black lives matter if you could explain, but you can’t, and the situation is going to be horribly frightening and stressful for the average horse. Make a cardboard replica of a horse/unicorn/dragon head and mount it on your bicycle instead, it’ll probably be safer.

All of that said - I’m well educated in horses, but I’m not an expert by any means. If anyone has any additions or corrections, please add them in!!

I hope this is just interesting to you, and you will never have to use it. But, if you do, I hope it helps you. Remember to wear your masks, stay six feet away from any human with a respiratory system, and know that you are loved, admired, and appreciated. Stay safe out there, loves <3

#black lives matter #protest2020 #protester safety #blackouttuesday #protest horses #spinedog speaks

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