Horse Tripping – Really?
posted by citizen.E on Friday, August 15th, 2008 / 
Print & Hang in the Barn
I know we’ve (I’ve) been dealing a lot here lately with horse cruelty/welfare issues, and so I hope you don’t think I (citizen.K) is turning soft. PETA and I are not friends.
But, having just recently learned about a ridiculous “cultural” ritual called horse tripping I was astonished to see this practice isn’t just automatically outlawed under animal cruelty statutes.
Horse Tripping Is…
- The practice of Charros (or Mexican cowboy’s) by wherein they lasso the legs of a galloping horse so they trip, fall, and often times sustain a fatal injury.
Ummmm…again, why is horse tripping not automatically illegal due to laws already protecting animals from abuse and inhumane treatment?
Weak Answer
Apparently, the question with banning this practice, in some states, is that there are politics involved. Apparently most politicians in states where horse tripping is coomon are afraid of alienating ethnic VOTERS by passing a law they feel would signify a singling out a specific group.
Grrrrrr.
Supporters argue that horse-tripping events are an important part of Mexican history and culture.
I’m appalled the legalities of horse tripping is even a question. I am even more appalled that legislation banning horse tripping has died on Arizona’s Senate floor (shame on you, Arizona).
I, for one, cannot believe there is such a huge group of people trying to stop slaughter yet few people campaigning against horse tripping (torture). I personally would rather see a horse go to slaughter than end up at one of these rodeos. Sure, there are fewer horses involved in horse tripping, but abuse is still abuse.
There really needs to be an additional bill passed to make the incredibly sick practice of horse tripping illegal?
If citizen.K were so inclined to re-take up the law enforcement badge (with an eye for animal cruelty investigation), banning horse tripping would be the first stop on my docket.
5 Responses to “Horse Tripping – Really?”
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August 15th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Just because something has been a cultural tradition for a long time doesn’t mean it’s right or that it should be allowed to continue IN OUR COUNTRY. What Mexicans do in Mexico is the Mexican government’s jurisdiction. There’s no way that our country should stand for horse tripping when it is so OBVIOUSLY cruel and inhumane. I try to possess a great deal of cultural relativism, but I draw the line when it requires someone being hurt AGAINST their will. For instance: female circumcision. I too had no idea this existed until now. What is it with the spanish culture and animal cruelty? dogfighting, cockfighting, bullfighting, horse slaughter, and horse tripping all occur in Mexico. Spain has the running of the bulls in Pamplona. I just don’t get it. I’m not trying to discriminate, but I can’t ignore that cruelty to animals seems to be pervasive in spanish culture.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:48 am
WORDS FAIL ME on this one…….something MUST be done.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Saying, “it’s just their culture” is akin to saying “I don’t know any better.”
Show me a world where ignorance of the law is an excuse for breaking the law, and I’ll show you anarchy.
What those opposed to “cultural” bans on things like horse tripping and dog- and cockfighting are asking for is affirmative action for lawlessness.
All I have to say about that, with a nod to the female circumcision reference, is that we use to have slavery as a culture. Now we don’t. We had a bloody, horrible war about it, but righteousness won. The country is a better place for it — as is the rest of the free world, because we set an EXAMPLE for those places suffering from oppression, ignorance and inertia.
I am, as Citizen K said, also no freind of PETA. At first blush, this looks like a situation where a constitutional “no animal cruelty” amendment would serve us well. Where we need to tread lightly is in specifically defining the cruelty we are bannig to practices that cause injury or death to the animal.
What could happen with a “no cruelty” defined as “injury” is such: you have a new girth and you go for a trail ride. you get a bit lost and are riding for several hours in the heat before you find your way back to the barn. Your horse has rubs and a girth gall and some thorn scratches on his pastern from the briars you had to blaze through to get home.
No horse person would imagine this is cruelty, but that is the bread and butter of PETA types: finding the lewd in the mundane.
Please think carefully before supporting any legislation that is not written narrowly. Sure, it feels good to “ban cruelty,” but WE, the GOOD GUYS are going to be the ones getting the short shrift before long.
I haven’t read the AZ legislation, but the Border states are probably most reluctant to do what is most relevant.
Makes me wish I ran the world, I tell you…
December 29th, 2008 at 9:51 am
And to the PETA folks excited that horse slaughter is banned from US… where do you think all the unwanted horses are going now? - that’s right, good ol’ south-of-the-boarder. You think they had it bad in the states? Can you IMAGINE the horrors they face down there? Congrats, PETA. Now our unwanted horses are shuffled down to Mexico to be stabbed to death before being stuffed into some gauchos taco.
March 5th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Actually, tripping a horse by its front feet is the safest way to stop a horse at full gallop. Imagine what would happen if a running horse was stopped by a rope around its neck, it would be much more dangerous. It is also the only way to stop an untamed horse with a rope on foot. This sport comes from a practical way of controlling horses. Horses actually rarely receive serious injuries, and they get way worse rope burns around the neck.