Animal cruelty in ANY form must be something the City of Ojai does not tolerate. The "dancing" horses that continue to be part of the Ojai parade show evidence of having torturous training devices used on them. Parade goers who own horses, and understand how the training takes place, were horrifed. Some riders were using spurs that cut into the sides of the horse's flanks while others showed clear evidence that this had been done in the past. These devices and packages are implicated in the practice of soring, which is the abusive act of intentionally inflicting pain to accentuate a horse’s gait.
“Soring has been an illegal act for more than 40 years. Nevertheless, increasingly shrewd and more difficult to detect—yet equally painful—methods of soring continue to plague the Walking Horse Industry, said Dr. René A. Carlson, President of the AVMA.
Furthermore, there is a potential for injury to parade audience members, as well as other participants. During the 2016 parade, there were two riders who were thrown off their horses right in front of the announcers stand and the horses very likely could have gone straight into the bystanders, according to one of the parade officials.
Watching horses suffer is nobody's idea of a good time. We petition the 4th of July parade committee to allow horses and their riders to participate, sans spurs and without doing tricks. It's enough to see beautiful outfits and the magnificent animals without forcing them to endure this brutality.
