A carriage driver has been caught on camera kicking a horse that collapsed in the street while a passerby pleads with him to stop.
Veterinary nurse Krista Knight filmed the upsetting footage in Melbourne, Australia, and posted it on her Facebook page.
The driver can be seen the kicking the horse, called Tuesday, and even telling her: “Get up, f*cking lazy b*tch.”
He is then abusive to Krista and tells her to “p*ss off” as she is heard saying “please don’t lay your hands on me.”
While the horse is lying on the ground, the driver kicks her to get back up.
Krista points out that kicking her while she’s still chained won’t help and she is in danger of breaking a leg to which the driver tells her to “shut up,” and tells her she shouldn’t be filming.
Since posting the footage on her Facebook page yesterday, more than 1,500 people have watched it and many have expressed their outrage at the driver. One person wrote: “Disgusting human being. Stupid tourist attraction. Animals are not here for our entertainment.”
‘Thrash and bleed from the mouth’
Krista wrote alongside the video that it was her husband who unchained the horse so she could get back up and urged people to share her video.
“The carriage driver was abusive to civilians and also to this beautiful mare causing her to thrash and bleed from the mouth. Just needed to keep the horse calm until it could be unhitched,” she wrote.
“Once standing he immediately attached her again to the carriage and continued on the ride, no water, no checking legs nothing. We need a protocol for this situation not abuse.”
Unique Carriage Hire driver owner Dean Crichton agreed the driver should not have used offensive language, but added there was no malice in the kick.
“He did not kick that horse with any malice, it was just a nudge like come on get up, like if your mate fell over outside the pub. Wayne lost his cool but it was a very stressful situation with everyone yelling at him. It was out of character for him to use language like that,” he told MailOnline.
Horse back at work the next day
“It would have been better if that vet had put her phone in her pocket and helped, and they would have got the horse up straight away,” he added.
He said the horse had just stumbled and wasn’t hurt.
“Tuesday was back at work the next day, having suffered no injuries in the incident,” added Dean.
Some viewers may find the below footage upsetting.
It’s clear this driver has absolutely no regard for the horse, he just wants him to get back up so he can continue working.
Please share so more can be done to stop animals being treated this way.
