Do the horses in funeral procession look stressed?

[Gozleme]

Don’t know a lot about horses and am just musing while watching tv… but I noticed one in particular throwing its head around a bit and they like a bit out of step with each with quite a bit of head throwing at times

This must be a stressful situation for them with all the people and music.. or are they specific “parade horses” that are used to this sort of thing?

The horses are used to being on parade, it’s their everyday job being ridden through London. Loved seeing that beautiful bay drum horse.

horses are ever so much fun to ride, as long as you’re nice to them and look after them well it’s perfectly ok to ride them

Huh, what's going to London got to do with being knowledgeable about horses?

Although these are working horses, the slow speed of the funeral march is hard going for them I think.

The only one that looked stressed to me, and always does, was the drum horse. The reins attach to the stirrups/riders feet, and it always looks over bent to me.

The others looked more relaxed than I’ve ever seen them. They were all stood perfectly square at the end. As if they knew the occasion.

It looked like impatience. My sister has a stable and I asked her about it one and she said they don’t really get bored or stressed when I’m parades. Plus if a horse don’t want to be there, it would take off.

Sad yes, I agree. You nail what I mean (worded better) by making the point about existing as commodities for humans.

What does this have to do with a question about horses? This takes I AM A SPECIAL LONDONER to a whole new level 😆

Ah makes sense thank you

Yes it makes me really sad and weary @Damnloginpopup and a lot the time it's horsey people who defend the abuse because they're not ready for a conversation around the ethics of traditional horse riding/ training as it would cause them to change massively what they do with their horses. Usually the same people that say racehorses are 'treated like kings' and see absolutely nothing wrong with how they are broken in far too young and the way they are kept 🙃

😂😂😂

If you look at the silent footage of Queen Victoria’s funeral procession on YouTube, the horses are doing the same. There’s a couple of frisky horses who fall out of formation.

Thank you @EmmaC78 my daughter asked that very question! Now we know!
They all looked splendid to me.
We thought the men carrying the coffin looked like wind up soldiers especially when the cameras were above them. I'd be shaking with nerves having that responsibility!

The horses did look stressed to me, the way they were shaking their heads up and down and side to side.

But what do I know, I'm just a life long Londoner that bunked off school during the horse lessons. That will teach me.

I genuinely think a lot of the head throwing today could have been down to flies. They’re slow but persistent in September. My own horses are driven mad by them at the moment, even with fly spray on them.

I do get what people are saying about it not being a natural life for a horse. It isn’t. I wouldn’t particularly want my horses going into that life, but they are definitely well looked after, they get to be real horses on their summer break. Today I really didn’t notice anything stressed. Quite often you do.

Horses are like people and dogs and cats ( and even mice in my experience). They have different temperaments and personalities, one from another. These horses are chosen and trained for this sort of work. I don’t think it is going too far to say many of them enjoy it, they get bored in barracks or even in a field.

some racehorses ( the sort of horse I know best) don’t like going to the races, some even refuse to race. They are quickly found other homes, you can’t ( and wouldn’t want ) to force them to do anything. Some of them love the attention, when they are retired are miserable not to be going to the races, and are often taken in the box, sometimes to parade before the races.

“to represent the horse community” 🤣🤣🤣

They are just frustrated as they have 4 legs and are being made to go at half their walking pace to account for people who have 2 legs. That’s all. They are doing well as they are trained for this even though they would prefer to quicken the pace, they choose the ones best suited.

They were fine, but it’s nice that people care enough to ask. It was a combination of flies being annoying as fuck (despite them being doused in fly spray I expect) and wanting to go faster.

There was a lot in the news about Williams horse at the Platinum Jubilee being drugged as it had a very low head carriage .
Prince William wouldn't need his horse sedated he is an excellant rider .
The horse was likely bored rigid after all the practices "Again, we do this bloody excercise again "

Last week I watched a programme about the Queen and horses , and the famous Burmese who got spooked by a gunfire (and what horse wouldn't?) but the Queen quickly calmed her horse , kept her calm and her seat and carried on.

Ok just my two pennies worth from a fellow equestrian..... they look fine, yes a bit irritated but they don't usually walk at a snails pace. They are doing a fab job.

Mine would also be head tossing, snorting and probably getting a bit bargy if they were made to walk that slow. And as retired racehorses they too are used to noisy crowds and discipline but they still get pissed off, they aren't robots!

Just made me chuckle to myself thinking how my absolute buffoon would handle this. There’d be much dragon snorting, head tossing and the occasion fancy-pants sidestep highstep 😂 ‘outta my way, peasants!!’

There was a lot in the news about Williams horse

Should be a lot of speculative claptrap on SM

They were talking on one of them on the news this morning, he said the horses were originally from the mounties as a gift to the Queen so had been trained by them and they got to use them for the funeral.
All the head tossing and tail flicking looks like bored horses to me, they wanted to move on faster and were annoying each other for fun.

Yes to the impatience at having to walk slowly; also —and much to my concern —some horse people believe strongly that many horses feel discomfort from the types of bit used in their mouths. So some riders have chosen to move to bitless bridles. I have seen horses showjumping in them and I swear there is a lot less head tossing from the horses when they wear these bridles with a very gentle contact with the reins.

Duscomfort in horses from badly fitting saddles and uncomfortable bits is a thing and I think it will gain more attention in future.

I thought one was swishing its tail a fair but due to the flies probably
My horse is a ex harness racer , I use a bitless bridle on him
As he doesn't enjoy a bit in his mouth
I would imagine these royal horses have the best of everything and everything would be fitted perfectly , flies and the slow walk prob get a bit boring to even the best trained horses