That is absolutely heartbreaking. Poor animal. I hope they were able to work with him after this poor thing.

I don't see the owners doing anything because they are not in the video, and there is no context as to what gave rise to this situation.

I see a horse that, for whatever reason, is in a blind run, most likely because it got frightened by something at first, and now feels as though the debris of the cart is pursuing it.

Unless you share your location, there is no way to ascertain whether any laws have been broken, even if you had all the events on video.

Looks like the horse got away from its owner, ran off and fell. Certainly not the first horse to do so and doesn't look intentional. It's hard to get the full scope of the incident with less than a minute of video time.

I don't know of any place where it is against the law for a frightened horse that somehow lost it's owner/handler to run off.

I think a better option would have been to catch the horse and attempt to calm it down and bring it to a place of safety.

Also a bit of concern for the owner/driver who could possibly have been seriously injured prior to the horse getting loose.

I had a cart accident with a young mare I was training once, and that accident completely ruined her ability to ever again pull a cart. Fortunately she was not injured, as we were working in the pasture on grass. But she did bust a portion of the fence and the cart and harness were also damaged.

Horses (any animal including humans) can be so terrified that they completely loose the ability to reason and run wildly in a panic. It is called Flight or Fight...

I just hope the horse was ok and the driver too

Ouch. There is not context; it could have been an innocent accident, but that poor horse. Hope someone was able to catch and calm it.

I agree with @mmshiro . I don't see any owners in the video that would tell us their behavior is illegal or not and a horse pulling a cart or sled isn't illegal... It's not fun, but sometimes horses pulling things do get frightened and/or loose beyond the owner's control. Unless there is evidence that it was the owner who sent the horse running (such as beating it) or intentionally let it loose, it's just a very unfortunate circumstance. They may be liable for any damage done to the vehicle(s) it hit, but otherwise, there is nothing "illegal" unless there's a specific law in the area saying loose livestock is illegal - and even then, it might only apply to intentionally loose livestock.

Video is from August 2018 so almost a year ago. Stuff happens horse's spook and get away from owners. Doesn't mean any cruelty was going on or illegal stuff.

Hi,

So nothing illegal except for maybe some damage to property which who exactly the guilty party is in that one i don't know. With horses- most state rules have it that motorists are to take extreme caution around livestock. My guess is that at some point this horse was spooked by a motorist that was not passing slowly, giving the horse a wide berth or paying attention to the directions of the handler (motorists are supposed to look for and respond appropriately to signals and communication from the livestock handler.)
So I'm not really sure what you're looking to do? Sue the horse? Sue the owner? Sue the motorist? Basically something went wrong, the horse spooked and he's lucky to have come out of that crash trotting off sound. Either way, if you're driving and you see anyone riding or driving their horse, pass with caution, be willing to wait, and please don't honk your horn or rev the engine.

closed for moderator review