"panicking horse drowned as its owner tried to force its head under water in front of horrified families.

It was dragged into a deep river at the famous Appleby Horse Fair despite its obvious terror.

Its callous owner wanted to observe the tradition of ducking each animal's head in the river.

Advertisement
As the horse thrashed about, horrified mums, dads and children sitting on the river bank yelled at the man to stop.

But the beast, restrained with a rope wound tightly around its sensitive nose, suddenly vanished beneath the surface.

As onlookers yelled "Get it out!" other horse owners formed a human chain in a vain bid to pull it to the surface.

Sadly, just 34 seconds after it entered the river Eden, the horse was dead. All the would-be rescuers could do was tug its body to the bank. The cruel thug, who was from a traveller family, fled - chased by gang of angry horse owners. The RSPCA was yesterday trying to trace him.

It was revealed he had bought the horse at the fair in Cumbria and been warned by its previous owner not to take it in the river as it had never been in water.

One witness said: "There are idiots who try to prove how hard they are by riding the horses through the deep part of the river.

"That poor horse - you could see the terror in its eyes. The man wasn't capable of handling it. This has ruined the fair for everyone here."

The annual fair dates back hundreds of years and attracts about 25,000 visitors.

Traditionally, Romany and traveller families bring horses to the fair. They wash them in the river, groom them - then race them before prospective buyers."

This is awful! and am outraged

This has really made my blood boil. Drowning would be too good for the heartless b*stard who did this, but I'd happily hold his head under water anyway. :mad:

I hope they trace him and prosecute :mad:

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=508594

I heard about this yesterday and my heart sank. I have been to Appleby a few times and seen the horses in the river and on the show road which is frightening to see. My first horse was rescued from his cruel owners at Appleby. The horses look healthy but their treatment leaves a lot to be desired. The RSPCA are always in attendance but they do nothing. My sister shouted at an RSPCA inspector one year, as he stood by and watched.

There have been many deaths, horse and human over the years due to the speed at which the horses are raced on a slippy country road, god help you if you get in the way! Unfortunatley I think the police will allow it to continue, if they didnt there would be big trouble from the travelling community.

It is so sad to here of this poor young horse. :rant: :rant: B***ds

Oh my god that's awful :o How can anyone be so damn cruel :rant:

I bet the horse had a heart attack, they are very nervous animals so to treat one like this is very cruel indeed.

What a terrifying way for the poor animal to die! I sincerely hope that the RSPCA and police catch up with the heartless person who pushed the petrified animal into the water- they surely must have enough witnesses who would provide statements of identification.

I'm sickened by this :(

I just can't say anything else - I hope he's caught and prosecuted but even if he is (which I doubt), I can't see him getting what he deserves :(

Scum like him don't deserve to breathe the same air as me.

the only way to prevent it is to stop the fair.(which i think should happen)
unfortunately all that will happen is that the romany/travellers will go elsewhere.The same thing happens in Ireland @ similar events.

these animals aren't pets to this community they are meat and money,they won't change their opinions. so the "normal" community will have to continue to watch in horror. just as they do at slaughter auctions.

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds5Ul04Wq70&mode=related&search=) is what they were doing

* note no horrible pics I promise.

why are people watching that? the poor horses

why are people watching that? the poor horses

Think I'm missing something here... do the horse not like swimming? Or the driving?

I'm failing to see the bit of the vid that is disturbing, could someone fill me in here please?

(please don't misunderstand me, I am in complete agreement about the holding head underwater thing being nasty)

Think I'm missing something here... do the horse not like swimming? Or the driving?

I'm failing to see the bit of the vid that is disturbing, could someone fill me in here please?

(please don't misunderstand me, I am in complete agreement about the holding head underwater thing being nasty)

Whilst I agree that the drowning incident sounds like a cruel and stupid thing to do I didn't see anything disturbing in that video clip either.

Whilst I agree that the drowning incident sounds like a cruel and stupid thing to do I didn't see anything disturbing in that video clip either.

I think the video clip was purely to show the circumstances under which this tragic incident occured. I guess (I could be wrong?) some horses don't object to walking through water (although obvioulsy holding their heads under is cruel and unecessary) and some don't like water - hence forcing the animal into water where it panicked and died in the name of "tradition" :(.

I don't see a problem with the tradition of taking the horse through the river if they will go, not so sure about the deep side that looks a bit to much but the shallow side looks ok, obviously it must have been the deep side where it happened, and how awful to force the poor horse under like that... someone always has to push it that bit to far, what a terrible thing to happen :sad:

Some horses just love water and will happily go as deep as they can, even with someone on their back. Some horses are really good swimmers too- one of the horses that I used to be around regularly was always going into the very large and deep pool that their field bordered onto and getting out the other side. We walked as far as we could in the water and reckoned that he must have swum to get out because (tall as I am, and a good swimmer too) I couldn't find the bottom either by walking out or diving down.

The difference is that the horses that are on the YouTube clip don't look to be in any huge amount of distress or panic about going in to the water.

An animal that is afraid of or unused to water would have been fighting to stay on the land, and that surely can't have been missed by his handlers if they're anything like horse-aware.

The river at Appleby is shallow at both ends and then has a ledge in the middle. The horses shown swimming will have gone over the ledge into the deep water (to deep to stand in). This is done every year as a tradition, usually without problems, although some of the horses do not anticipate the ledge and panic. I think the Vid clip is just to show what happens every year. This year however, a man had taken a yearling into the deep part of the river and held its head under and the horse has been drowned.

The river at Appleby is shallow at both ends and then has a ledge in the middle. The horses shown swimming will have gone over the ledge into the deep water (to deep to stand in). This is done every year as a tradition, usually without problems, although some of the horses do not anticipate the ledge and panic. I think the Vid clip is just to show what happens every year. This year however, a man had taken a yearling into the deep part of the river and held its head under and the horse has been drowned.

I thought that at first, but in Hels' link it says it was when the horse panicked and slipped, falling onto the river bed that it died, it wasn't actually held under and drowned.

Not like it makes a whole lot of difference but I think it was more of a complete idiot trying to be macho than going in purposely killing the horse.

i also see nothing bad about the clip horses can swim and some do love water but there are some who hate it with a passion, ive owned both, they normally lead the horses in to the water so they can mount them usually young horses to break them so they cannot hurt themselves in the water if they were to attempt bucking or throwing the rider, it helps the horses to gain trust knowing they will emerge from the water unharmed. This is a horrible inccident and accidental or not should be investigated by the ilph not the rspca as i think the ilph will have more of a chance to put charges against the owners

I'm hearing other reports now that the horse had actually gone under and broken it's leg before being dunked again when it finally drowned... has anyone else heard this?

If the horse had already gone under and come back up there was no need whatsoever to dunk it's head and if it really had broken it's leg... well... ARGH! :rant: