BELLEVUE, Iowa -- Two runaway horses pulling a wagon trampled spectators at a small-town Fourth of July parade, killing a 60-year-old woman and injuring at least 23 other people, four critically.The horses bolted after one rubbed its head against the other, removing that horse's bridle, police said. They galloped for several blocks with the wagon in tow, trampling parade-goers. The wagon flipped and ejected its two passengers, police said.
Among those injured were children who had stooped in the street to pick up candy that had been tossed to them.
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It's so upsetting that most of the victims were children. They say it's never happened before and maybe that's true..at least it's never been this bad before, but, nearly every parade we have it seems like there's one spooky horse that should have stayed home. And one redneck cowboy who brings him anyway. Crowds, noise, firecrackers..what horse wouldn't love that? Maybe people will be more aware now and have a plan, just in case.
It's so upsetting that most of the victims were children. They say it's never happened before and maybe that's true..at least it's never been this bad before, but, nearly every parade we have it seems like there's one spooky horse that should have stayed home. And one redneck cowboy who brings him anyway. Crowds, noise, firecrackers..what horse wouldn't love that? Maybe people will be more aware now and have a plan, just in case.
We always have a Christmas lighted horse parade at night here, it's really pretty..but, there's always some spooked horse who tears up my holiday lights. Every time. I like horses, but, I don't trust them in crowds.
18 comments:
They should stick to sweaty clowns on stilts, and fat dudes driving their lawn mowers in drunken zig-zag patterns. And Little Leaguers on flatbeds whipping Jolly Ranchers at the crowd.
I don't trust any horse. I don't care how gentle or safe anyone says it may be. I grew up on a farm with many horses and I won't get on one. Horses are stupid animals. They are spooked by the dumbest things. And they will trample you in order to get away. I've seen it time and time and time again. A horse nearly killed my mom when it was spooked by a ball that was blown across its path by the wind. It was ridiculous. Stupid animals... all of them!
in the UK for the royal parades and the like they train the horses to tolerate loud noises for months, sometimes years...
i don't know enough about horses, but would it matter if the bridle was rubbed off? seems like they were already spooked they person 'driving' the buggy had no control over them.....
i just read it wasn't even horses that were used to being harnessed and pulling a buggy!!!
Shelton, I've known some smart ones, but, in general, I'm with you. I had one that spooked over paper blowing. A gum wrapper would send her flying. Rodeo!
Total Idiots! My friend was riding in the Griffith Park Hills a few years back and she heard screaming and laughing, well, she pulled her horse over to the side of the hill and down comes a man, who we later found out, owned one of the local boarding stables near us, totally out of control riding bareback with a halter on some horse he just bought! Anyway, my friend dismounted her horse because it was completely freaked and walked down the hill. At the bottom, the man had fallen off, hit his head on the side of the hill and was out cold. My friend is Polish, and she muttered something really mean and kept walking! He died a week later. This guy didn't know a thing about horses, he was just a rich idiot who owned a barn! Accidents happen all the time, but in the case of the parade, it was the owner's fault! You couldn't pay me a million bucks to take a green horse to a parade! Not a million!! bima
DD, Oh My God! My horse Patriot, was and still is deathly afraid of squirrels! Put your heels down quick if you saw one on the fence of Viva's the local Mexican restarant that is next to the trail! The obese squirrels are fed by the busboys, yummy snacks like tortilla chips! 6 or 7 of them scittering around your horses legs! Sometimes woodpecker birds get into the action! I'm gonna send you a picture. Imagine doing a 180 degree turn on your 17 h horse, in an english saddle?!!! Heart attack!!! stupid horse!
bima
it was the owner of the horses' wife who died.....terrible lesson for the idiot to learn, but he used horses that weren't use to being harnessed or pulling a buggy...
last time I was on a horse I was about 15. We were riding 2 to a saddle. We took the last stretch full speed, man I was hanging on. The horse turned into the gravel lane & lost it, he tried but couldnt corect, broke the harness and he fell on his side with us both on it, on top of us! I thot I was a goner! I just knew my liver had exploded. The horse shot back up like a light and we got up sore & laughing our asses off. Our friend ahead of us pee'd all over her saddle at the sight. I never rode a big horse again, just littler ones.
rox
That's very sad.
Crabbie-the things you post are just terrible, but they make me laugh! So I guess I am terrible too!
Horses scare me. I wanted one so badly when I was little. We had the space, the barn, the tack, etc. but my mother would have none of it. She always said the neighbor kids would want to ride, and they would fall off and sue. As I've gotten older they freak me out, and I would not ride one now, though whenever my husband or one of his visiting relatives see a stable sign, they want to ride. Ridiculous. They don't know anything about it, and they don't know the horses.
This is so awful that the guy didn't really realize his and his horse's limits and that it killed his wife and injured so many.
In a neighboring town, a boy was run over by a float in the Molalla Buckeroo parade yesterday. The kid was doing what he was supposed to. I hope he's okay.
Speaking of Jolly Ranchers. . . my son and I accidentally happened into a parade here in town when we were on the way home from his school (when he was in grade school). I don't remember what the occasion was---maybe memorial day? Anyway. . .I still was driving my red Honda Prelude Si. We were stuck in traffic in the southbound lane, and the parade was coming down the northbound lane, so I opened my moon roof. People on the floats and trucks were throwing candy, and as they realized that we were waving through an open moon roof, it got to be a contest to see who could throw the most candy in it. It was hilarious. And painful. I clearly remember how excited my son was. He kept exclaiming "Look what I OW! Mom! I got. . Ouch!" while rubbing his head. They threw those candies hard, those little high school bastards. LOL it's cracking me up just to think of it. We made a great haul.
Police horses undergo rigorous and intense training to desensitize them to crowds and sudden noises. Something tells me these horses didn't have the benefit of that training.
Too bad.
Police horses undergo rigorous and intense training to desensitize them to crowds and sudden noises. Something tells me these horses didn't have the benefit of that training.
Too bad.
My daughter in law works with a gal that was standing on the opposite side of the street when the horses bolted and she said it happened so quickly, there was not a second to respond.
I've been in crowds where a single horse bolts. I stopped one myself once, spur of the moment and all that..but, I can not imagine TWO harnessed together coming at you. There is nothing you could do to stop that, short of rammimg them with a truck. Jesus.
I keep thinking..stand by a pole. Seriously. You could duck down behind it and cover your head (and your kid's) and the horse would have to veer around it. If there was only one horse. You might get a broken leg, but, it's better than a broken back or head. Damn, it's scary.
I think of all the parades my kids sat on the curb waiting for candy. I would never let them run to it, it had to come right to them or they weren't getting it and I thought that was keeping them safe. Horses have always scared me because of the sheer size and strength of them. I was thrown when I was a young girl and I've never had the guts to get too close since.
Exactly Miss Tia, any horse put in a parade should be bomb proofed. We never took our horses out in public if they hadn't been trained to deal with surprising sounds, loud sounds, crowds & so on. Too much can go wrong, they are big & people can get badly hurt & killed.
They had no business having them out there if they weren't used to being harnessed & pulling a buggy, that takes some getting used to for a horse. You don't just hitch up green horses & go.
The horses would be under stress just from the new situation of being hitched, then everything else on top of that. It's terrible that people got hurt & killed because this goof didn't know enough to know better.
Some horses spook easy, some have nerves of steel. Much like people, some are excitable, some are calm. If you can't ensure your horse to be calm in public & well trained for that situation then you've no business having them there, too big of a risk & your ass will get sued.
Wow Bima! I've never heard of a horse frightened of squirrels, that's a good one.
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