VIDEO: Carriage driver kicks horse in head, calls it 'lazy' after it collapses on street, witness says
MELBOURNE, Australia - A video of a frustrated Melbourne, Australia carriage driver kicking a horse and yelling at it to get up has viewers across the internet outraged.
Krista Knight, a veterinary nurse, posted the shocking footage to Facebook. She told FOX 35 News that she and her husband saw the driver kicking and yelling at the horse from afar and came over to try and calm the man down.
The horse appeared to have slipped on the asphalt and couldn't get back up. According to Knight, the chains and leads from the carriage were stopping the horse from moving her back legs, so every time the horse tried to get up, she would fall back down.
"We tried to explain to him that the horse could not stand because she was still attached to the carriage and her shoes were so slippery. He ignored us, swore and continued to try to get her to stand and kick her," she said.
Onlookers can be heard asking the man to stop kicking the horse.
"He kept calling her a stupid f***ing lazy b****. And swearing at me," Knight said.
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After several minutes, Knight says her husband was able to unhitch the horse, named Tuesday, from the carriage and she stood up right away.
"As soon as she was standing, he hitched her to the carriage again while she was still visibly stressed and then they went on a ride with passengers. He did not check her legs for injury, there was blood in her mouth and he didn’t offer water or wait for a vet."
According to the Daily Mail, the owner of Unique Carriage Hire addressed the situation, saying that the driver, named Wayne, lost his cool at the time, but would never hurt a horse.
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"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," he told Daily Mail Australia. "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."
In an update, the Daily Mail reports that the man has been fired.
Knight says, "He needs some serious education on how to handle horses and what to do in this situation. There needs to be a protocol that’s best for the animal."