is this animal cruelty from the police?

[primarynoodle]

aibu to think rush hour on arguably the busiest road out of manchester city centre AND on the busiest bus route in europe is NOT the right moment to be riding a police horse down it?!

I think there is a massive difference between trotting a horse down a country lane and on a hugely busy road at the busiest time! poor horse looked terrified!

yep was from near platt fields so right near the nightmare that is hospital/uni halls traffic but trying to get about 10 double decker buses to safely overtake th horse was a nightmare!

Theres no need to be like that lally you only have to watch motorway cops to realise that some police officers are twats

I agree with that Pitch.....

I think I (and horse) are more at risk trotting down a country lane with tour de france wannabees, sunday speedway drivers and errant tractors than hi-vizzed up on a main busy road tbh!

that is probably a fair point bell!

YABU
Police horses go through months of desensitisation before they are let loose on the general public. In fact, if you want a 'safe as houses' horse, you'd do well to get a retired police horse!
My horse shakes his head for all manner of reasons: flies, boredom, dust up his nose, grooving to the tunes in his tiny psychotic brain...

YANBU if there's no real point to horse being there - is a stupidly busy road, especially at the moment there will be hoards of clueless freshers navigating the road on bikes too. But I presume the horses are actually there for a reason so guess YABU.

By the time police horses have finished their training they are unfazed by far scarier things than rush hour. YABU and a bit odd

I do eat bran flakes for tea.. maybe I am odd

There's a massive difference between your average horse trotting down a country lane and a police horse.

Police horses are trained to cope with all manner of things including loud noise, heavy traffic, flag-waving demonstrators, rioters and explosions etc, and to avoid stepping on things (including people) lying on the ground.

What bothers me is that they now have to wear perspex blinkers and knife-proof body armour, because hooligans see them as a target.

YABU - don 't be ridiculous! Police horses are trained to cope with riot conditions - they're well 'ard.

Why do the police use horses? Ive always wondered.

Because they're incredibly useful from a public order point of view . If you want to guide a large crowd , you can do it far more efficiently with six police officers on horseback , than twenty one officers on foot , because crowds are naturally more wary of large heavy hoofed animals they probably don't come across in close proximity too often . It's also easier to address a crowd and direct them by megaphone if you can see over their heads , and they can see you . It's also generally much more good natured as a rule as they also can be a way of engaging with the people being policed - I know of a particular horse at Hammersmith that LOVES doing the matches at Chelsea as he knows he'll get a shitload of polos while standing on the concourse .

I know a lot of mounted branch officers , as I used to work down the road from Imber Court which is the Mets training ground , and have actually been part of a rentamob when they've done the riot training for the horses . It's very very thorough by necessity , because the last thing you want is a horse having a panic attack through fear of the unknown at the wrong moment .

Probably just getting it used to heavy traffic, they have to learn somewhere. They don't however learn farmyard animals, last policeman I spoke to on a horse was going sideways up & down on a track because the horse was scared of cows. Am going to take a cow with me next time I want to do bad shit with mounted police around.

And of course it's not cruelty, you're just being silly.

Yanbu. I feel sorry for horses that they have to be dragged into policing of human society. Hopefully the police are good to them, but surely some get injured in riots etc?

Yabu. How do you expect them to be trained to handle riot situations? Riding through heavy traffic with lots of noise and movement is essential.

FYI my horse shakes his head for many reasons. Excitement, flies buzzing around, dust. Some horses are head shakers.

Thanks plomino.

For a normal country horse that would be extremely stressful but police horses have been getting used to busy and scary situations since they were foals as part of their police training. They are taught to be calm and work in busy and noisy situations so that hose was probably not at all bothered by all the traffic.