Carriage driver screams at ‘lazy’ horse that collapsed in the middle of a road – before lashing out at a vet who begged for him to ‘stop kicking’ the animal
A carriage driver whose horse collapsed in the middle of a Melbourne road has been filmed appearing to kick the animal in frustration.
Onlookers filmed the confronting moment the driver started screaming at the horse, before lashing out at witnesses who begged for him to stop.
‘Get up, f***ing lazy b***,’ the driver could be heard saying to the horse in the footage, obtained by 7 News.
A carriage driver whose horse collapsed in the middle of a Melbourne road has been filmed kicking the animal
Veterinary nurse Krista Knight begged for the man to stop kicking the horse, before trying to explain it couldn’t move as it was still connected to the carriage.
‘Love, I know what I’m doing. Get out of the way,’ the carriage driver snarled back.
Dean Crichton, who runs Unique Carriage Hire, stood by the driver’s actions.
‘It is out of character, but it was a very stressful situation,’ he told 7 News.
‘I don’t condone his language but at times like that, help is better than negative comments.’
He said the horse, named Tuesday, was back at work a day later and suffered no injuries in the fall.
The carriage driver said ‘I know what I’m doing’ when confronted by horrified onlookers
Horse-drawn carriages were banned from operating on Melbourne’s busy Swanston Street in 2017 after animal rights activists campaigned against the practice.
Activist group Melbourne Against Horse-Drawn Carriages worked for three years to have them banned after a number of dangerous incidents.
‘We’re ecstatic. If they aren’t permitted to be in that main Swanston Street thoroughfare it will hopefully have the impact we want,’ Kristin Leigh, MAHC campaign director said at the time.
‘That spot was so dangerous for those horses and they just blatantly disregard the road rules.’
Horse-drawn carriages were banned from operating in Melbourne’s CBD in 2017 (stock image)