r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Turnoversleepy • Oct 01 '22 • Wholesome 2

Horse Diving Sport in 1923 Video

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11.0k Upvotes

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2.7k

u/PathRepresentative77 Oct 01 '22

...why?

Also, how do you even train a horse to do that?

1.8k

u/MacCaswell Interested Oct 01 '22 • Wholesome

I don’t think that’s something you “train them to do” as much as it’s something you just repeatedly do to them…

727

u/milworker42 Oct 01 '22

I agree, those horses have blinders. I wonder what their heart rates must look like when they do that.

350

u/irmadequem Oct 02 '22

I believe that it averages pretty low because of how many must have reached 0

104

u/cannibalzombies Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22

It's the internet and I'm probably wrong but I think I recall reading that after a certain point the horses seemed to enjoy it. I guess if they have a few under the belt and know they're safe a splash in some water isn't all that bad, possibly refreshing

283

u/trust-me-i-know-stuf Oct 02 '22

Yeah no way I believe that.

101

u/jwhaler17 Oct 02 '22

But I WANT to though!!!

9

u/Ialreadylove_you Oct 02 '22

I mean, you don’t start off having them jump off tall towers. You probably just start with a pool and build up from there. It seems plausible they could enjoy it, if they’re used to it

-3

u/Agitated-Joey Oct 02 '22

Well think about how big a horse is compared to a human. Now think about how high you’d jump into a pool from a diving board for recreation. Now scale up that hight by how many times a horse is bigger than you. I bet that distance equates to roughly the same hight that’s shown in the video. So while it may look like a huge hight for you to jump into a pool, to a horse it’s like a standard diving board hight. I bet some of those horses loved it.

10

u/kukkaistyty Oct 02 '22

(english is not my first language so i apologize in advance) But jumping from a diving board could hurt u if u did not know the right form. A horse does not know the right way to jump. Even in the video u can see that the horses head is pointed out or sideways. Imagine jumping head first into a pool and your head being in that position

6

u/UnholyDragun Oct 02 '22

Not to mention most of us humans are instinctually afraid of jumping off a diving board into water. We usually need encouragement and need to see others do it first to feel safe about it. That being said. I wouldn't doubt it if some horses started enjoying it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

3

u/kukkaistyty Oct 02 '22

Plus the platform that the horse is standing on is slanted so it easier to get them to come down. Imagine you have hooves that are slipery and are standing on that kind of platform in such hight

3

u/UnholyDragun Oct 02 '22

True, they don't have a choice in the matter. Can't hesitate or back down. They're going in whether they want to or not.

Edit: I was also wondering how many horses broke legs and had to be put down?

2

u/TheWretched_1 Oct 02 '22

Yea I mean isnt that probably why the cannonball is most likely the first diving method we all learned. If you think about it, the cannon ball is pretty much just one's coolest attempt at the signature fetal-position pose which you have disguised as a forward locomotive force; capable of destroying any water (and occasionally social) surface tension.

1

u/UnholyDragun Oct 02 '22

Interesting, this makes sense. 👍

3

u/Haunting_Beaut Oct 02 '22

Horses have poor depth perception, they assume that even a small puddle can drown them, I’ve ridden many horses who were sensitive to water some more than others.

-1

u/Xaqv Oct 02 '22

How do you explain sea horses, then?

3

u/Haunting_Beaut Oct 02 '22

Quite possibly sea horses aren’t actually horses. Crazy, I know.

0

u/Xaqv Oct 02 '22

Exactly! It’s in their nature having evolved terrestrially after being Pegasi.

-1

u/Mektarpolypan Oct 02 '22

I bet a lot did.. and a lot didn't . Animals will like some things and hate others... Wouldn't surprise me if a lot of horses did end up enjoying this..

One of my dogs loves it when I attack him with socks, the other not really.. just one of those things 😂

1

u/QncyFie Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22

Jesus dude. That's not how physics works. In fact, it's more of the reverse. An ant can be thrown of a plane and nothing happens. A cat can jump from heigher places than humans. You cannot just see things relative to size and ignore gravity among other things lol

1

u/Iapar Oct 02 '22

I think its the other way around. More weight means faster acceleration. So it hits the water harder.

0

u/collectivebutthole66 Oct 02 '22

I grew up with a horse. Very rare. Their loyalty and love for their humans are like no other animal. 10x that of a dog. I only work to be able to afford that companionship again… These horses love it as much as their owners do, 100%

0

u/Cowmoo80 Oct 07 '22

No it’s true. Not dive but they love to swim (grew up with them)

1

u/trust-me-i-know-stuf Oct 08 '22

Except this thread isn’t about swimming……..

1

u/Cowmoo80 Oct 08 '22

Oh I thought you were saying horses didn’t like swimming not diving

1

u/Tesadus Oct 02 '22

But it’s on Reddit, you have to believe it

57

u/babidibabidi Oct 02 '22

horses love diving into water, but not like in this video, head and front feet first or from such a height. Instead, they love to dive in a river and swim in it, in a hot summer day to cool off

1

u/cannibalzombies Oct 02 '22

Well yeah, but you can train a horse and I'd imagine it would be possible for it to eventually feel comfortable with it, especially starting much lower and building up. Again, I'm not even sure I'm remembering correctly but I do believe it's possible the horses didn't fully hate it.

0

u/Houdinii1984 Oct 02 '22

The bigger they are, the harder they fall. It's literal.

-1

u/Complex-Intention-43 Oct 02 '22

that should also be the case for corrupt politicians and corrupt wallstreet people.

but they always get bailouts and bonuses.

1

u/MuchTimeWastedAgain Oct 02 '22

As a kid one of our horses would stay in a stock pond hours at a time. Just chilling.

1

u/Eastern_Slide7507 Oct 02 '22

Most people also love diving into eater but not like that.

31

u/UnholyDragun Oct 02 '22

The things us humans tell ourselves, in order to feel okay about some of the fucked up shit we do...

2

u/Xaqv Oct 02 '22

If you believe we are created in the image of the only deity, then God has given us the license to do it!

1

u/UnholyDragun Oct 02 '22

WTF?! So let me get this straight. You believe your god has given you the right to torture other living creatures for sport? 🤢 Just when I think you crazy ass cultists can't get any worse... I sincerely hope you get away from that nonsense and develop some compassion. 🙏

2

u/Xaqv Oct 02 '22

Or is it that that God was created in our image by us so we can do whatever the f......we want? Take your pick!

1

u/UnholyDragun Oct 02 '22

Ohhh, my bad I see what your getting at. Glad to see you have more sense than I thought. I sincerely apologize.

2

u/Xaqv Oct 02 '22

No worries! I should have been even more obnoxious like a TV pulpiteer!

→ More replies

2

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '22

😂😂

3

u/The_Karaethon_Cycle Oct 02 '22

There’s no way. There’s just too much mass and surface area for a horse to fall into water from that high and not feel extreme pain. Go dive into the water head first off a low dive with your hands at your side and see how painful it is on your skull. Those horses are getting their shit rocked every time they do that. Especially with the way that horse turned its head slightly to its left right before it hit the water. It’s neck probably hurt like shit after that.

0

u/Shaquandala Oct 02 '22

Yes like slaved loved working for their masters and weren't even treated that badly 😍

1

u/JAB2010 Oct 02 '22

I think they only get one or two tries..

1

u/adonis-in-the-making Oct 02 '22

Unless ur a talking horse i ain’t believing that.

1

u/SaturnCloak Oct 02 '22

It’s true, my family has bred horses for two centuries, it’s how we made our fortune. They love water

1

u/milworker42 Oct 03 '22

They must have trained them at lower heights.

-92

u/saucyB52 Oct 01 '22

oh....tha pore witle ponnie

that horse is leaping into valhalla viking warrior in tow more like it

40

u/Platypuslord Oct 02 '22

I bet you would cry like a bitch and shit yourself if someone put a blind fold on you and threw you off a building into a lake.

13

u/BasicallyAQueer Oct 02 '22

Perhaps he would even fart and cum.

5

u/ParticularDish Oct 02 '22

And that's when he would agree to do it knowing that fact now.

14

u/raichiha Oct 02 '22

Dude, wtf? Even just falling down and breaking a leg can be a death sentence for a horse. That horse is absolutely, undoubtably in a state of pure terror and panic as its blinded and suddenly free-falling through the air. Christ, if you were blindfolded and thrown off a 20 foot cliff while having no idea what was going on, you wouldn’t be afraid? They don’t have the level of situational awareness in this setting to know “Oh ill be hitting the water, it’ll be fine” they’re just suddenly forced off a cliff and begin free-fall. Absolutely these poor little ponies.

-1

u/Mooneclipser Oct 02 '22

My dude, you aren't ever going to make a horse do anything it doesn't want to do, no matter how much whipping is involved. Those horses are trained to do that and there's a really simply way to tell - no one is beating the sh1t out of them at the top of the platform. Watch the start of the video again, that rider isn't even kicking, she's just sitting there. The horse is trained so well it knows what to do. It knows its job.

But yes, the risk in horse diving is far too high. Glad they banned it.

4

u/Lumini_317 Oct 02 '22

  1. At the point the video starts, the horse has already started to go through with the jump. This does not have any implication to how the rider actually got the horse to do so.

  2. People force horses to do stuff they don’t want to all the time. Jumpers who refuse jumps are often whipped and forced to go around again. Racehorses are forced into gates even when they’re clearly scared. Bucking broncos are forced to buck via the strap around their flank. Horses a “forced” to accept saddles, bridles, and other such tack.

  3. Even if they’re “trained” to do this, it doesn’t mean they want to or enjoy it. Once you’ve gotten a horse to repeat the same thing enough times, they’ll start doing it with little prompting. For example, “dancing horses”. There’s a movement where the horses will pick up their feet in a pattern (not to be confused with a piaffe). It may look pretty (although often it’s pretty sloppy), but the way to achieve it is nothing but abuse. A horse is tied up to a post (or two) and repeatedly hit to get them to move forward. It forces them to trot/walk in place. They’re then hit on the legs to get them to raise their legs higher. After only a few days of that, a horse will begin the movement with only a mere tap—or even just upon the sight of a whip-like object. Technically they were trained to do just that, but that doesn’t make it humane nor does it mean the horse enjoys it.

1

u/Mooneclipser Oct 02 '22

Correct. There has been a lot of horse abuse over the years which is why there are now governing bodies in place to stop it. True, this was the training method of the day but with the advancement of science and sympathetic horsemanship, riders can achieve these same results humanely. Not every trainer is a saint though and hopefully over the next few generations these archaic methods will be eradicated.

As a side note, when the video starts the horse's center of gravity isn't past the point of no return, so it has every opportunity to back out of that situation, but there's absolutely no hesitation.

From memory, the horse runs up the platform on its own and the rider jumps on as it levels out, giving her only seconds to get into a safe position. I don't remember whipping boys along the ramp though.

Did you see, or at least hear about the scandal, at the modern pentathlon of the Tokyo Olympics? Granted she wasn't the best rider, but no way was anyone making that horse do anything!

Or Dujardin's gold medal dressage performance from London 2012, where she won, despite a mistake, all because she was in harmony with her horse, compared to silver medal girl looking like she was at war the whole time?

2

u/Xaqv Oct 02 '22

I was shocked! Haven’t had any interest in competitive sports, let alone dressage, since!

4

u/Nytfire333 Oct 02 '22

Ahhh, the meta, new viking weeb

1

u/milworker42 Oct 03 '22

I'm sure that is what's happening there.

1

u/saucyB52 Oct 05 '22

i did good here dont ya think

just a few more and ill have a hundred

102

u/Agreeable-Yams8972 Oct 01 '22

The definition of insanity

0

u/Complex-Intention-43 Oct 01 '22

that and religions.

2 definitions of insanity

13

u/Mirza- Oct 02 '22

Bruh ritualistic behaviour is literally one of the core behaviours that makes us human, even elephants wave branches at the moon.

28

u/Ecstatic_Crystals Oct 02 '22

Ritualistic behavior =/= religion. Thats like saying me getting up and making coffee the exact same way and time everyday is religion.

4

u/NinjaCuntPunt Oct 02 '22

Finally! A religion I can get behind!

2

u/sparkles696969 Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22

.

3

u/SarahSamurai Oct 02 '22

I pray to the god of coffee every day, and I perform a coffee making ritual while I’m praying.

4

u/Ecstatic_Crystals Oct 02 '22

Funny thing about that is there likely is a religion with a god or goddess of coffee.

1

u/TitanTB Oct 02 '22

I think thats a poor example because if you were to say "he makes he cup of coffee every morning religiously" It wouldnt be inaccurate...

One of the definitions of religion: "a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance"

2

u/Ecstatic_Crystals Oct 02 '22

Yet it WOULD be inaccurate to say that someone "making coffee religiously" is the same as religion or is a religion in some way.

1

u/TitanTB Oct 02 '22

Yeah, can't agree with you on that one.

1

u/Ecstatic_Crystals Oct 02 '22

Not trying to sound rude when i ask this, but why not? Is it the wording having the word religious in it?

1

u/Special_Lemon1487 Oct 02 '22

At least coffee does something for you. Mmm coffee.

1

u/Mirza- Oct 02 '22

You can only make this comment if you are ready to discuss the definition of the word Religion itself. I'm not gonna do that here. But obviously:

Ritualistic behaviour != Religion

but

Religion = ritualistic behaviour

1

u/Ecstatic_Crystals Oct 02 '22

Thats true, but youd have to prove the ritualistic behavior is due to a religion first, which is harder to do in beings who do not behave or communicate like humans.

1

u/Mirza- Oct 02 '22

I'm not saying that ritual is due to religion, I'm saying that religion is due to ritual. But yes, even the definition of ritual will of course be always ambiguous

1

u/Ecstatic_Crystals Oct 02 '22

I disagree with that last bit but thats okay

1

u/Xaqv Oct 02 '22

And, to stay on topic (somewhat) : horse diving? = divination heroin?

-1

u/herenextyear Oct 02 '22

I agree on that statement on ritualistic behavior. Is there a spot on complex’s comment where they specify that characteristic of religion? I assume you know quite a bit about what forms a religion in order to comment that. Would you agree or disagree that ritualistic behavior does not require religion? I am just trying to understand where you thought he was talking about ritualistic behavior and not “religion” which is the word they used.

-5

u/fucktheDHanditsfans Oct 02 '22

Take your meds

5

u/herenextyear Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22

Interesting. I’m not really sure what this has to do with me taking my medication for any condition. More likely, my comment was contrary to what you believe, and you’re unable to form a thoughtful response.

Typo

6

u/duhSheriff Oct 02 '22

Agreed brotha

3

u/ImTheBigT Oct 02 '22

The people downvoting you have some real thinking to do.

4

u/uglypaperhaver Oct 02 '22

Thinking may not be their strong suit...

2

u/Scary-Objective-4651 Oct 02 '22

I'll take a sausage egg and cheese on a plain bagel.

-3

u/SuicidalHalcauSt Oct 02 '22

Giving all of you up votes feeling bad for ya

-7

u/Mr_Skeleton_Shadow Oct 02 '22

reddit mfs try not to shit on religion without understanding jackshit about it challenge

1

u/ImTheBigT Oct 04 '22

You have no context of anyone’s religious background and yet here you are, being ignorant.

1

u/Mr_Skeleton_Shadow Oct 04 '22

well then you'd know what makes religion bad is dumbasses simply using it as an excuse to do bullshit instead of actually practicing the teachings of the religion and constantly thinking about them

1

u/ImTheBigT Oct 04 '22

The teachings are also bullshit. Name any religion and I’ll name a conveniently forgotten rule that proves my point.

-1

u/grandmaWI Oct 02 '22

I agree.

-4

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '22

The edgy atheist guy has done his obligatory edginess.

0

u/Big-Acanthisitta-149 Oct 02 '22

Your poor narcissistic human being. It gets better bud

1

u/phatboi168 Oct 02 '22

What's up with the super open religious persecution that's becomes very popular these days. I say, have respect for others faith. Just like you desire them to do for you!

1

u/necronlord172 Oct 02 '22

Also doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result

15

u/Zalensia Oct 02 '22

... with spurs digging into then and men beating them the whole way.

It's not training, it's conditioning through abuse.

3

u/MacCaswell Interested Oct 02 '22

Exactly! Like how they’ve always “trained” circus animals

0

u/Solid_Remove5039 Oct 02 '22

I assume you probably hate prong collars for dogs because that’s the same kind of correction

1

u/Zalensia Oct 03 '22

I'm in the UK, you're damn right I don't agree with them!

I have trained GSDs most my life, I'm disabled now, so don't anymore. I have never had to use ANYTING other than food and vocal commands to train any puppy into a fully grown, trained animal!

I now have a totally bonkers min pin, I was always told little dogs aren't the same as big dogs 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 they're right, lurker dogs get away with murder because they're small and cute.

They also belong on the floor, walking in 4 legs, not in a handbag!!!

2

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/MacCaswell Interested Oct 02 '22

Brutal…

2

u/ppw23 Oct 02 '22

The Steel Pier in Atlantic City featured a diving horse until 1978, it ended due to finances and not cruelty concerns. It was brought back in the 90’s, but public interest wasn’t there.

2

u/MacCaswell Interested Oct 02 '22

Jesus Christ… I guess it got to expensive to replace all the horses after like a week…

1

u/ppw23 Oct 02 '22

Surprisingly, the horses didn’t suffer injuries. A rider lost her sight from the force of the water during an open eyed dive she took. I could only find an article saying a few riders suffered broken bones in the dives. The horses were overseen by a group who adopted them out after their retirement to live out their lives in a more pastoral setting. I was shocked to see a few people wanting to see them return, fortunately that idea has been turned down.

-1

u/uglypaperhaver Oct 02 '22

"something you repeatedly do to them" is kinda the definition of training...

1

u/MacCaswell Interested Oct 02 '22

Not when it’s like straight up abuse…

1

u/uglypaperhaver Oct 02 '22

What in my comment did you interpret as condoning this?

Of course it's abusive but it is nonetheless equally obviously a type of training, however despicable. Negative conditioning and positive reinforcement are both types of training - again, obviously.

I was pointing out the internal contradiction in a comment. If you can't see that, that's on you - not me.

At little less rushing to judgment and virtue signalling would be much appreciated here, thanks...

;-)

230

u/Straight_Ocelot_7848 Oct 01 '22

There was a movie about a girl who lost her sight who became famous for it

166

u/ViciousTrollop19 Oct 01 '22

It's called, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. Part of Michael Schoeffling's short career.

98

u/miketoc Oct 02 '22

Man I instantly thought of this movie when I saw this but it was so many years ago I had no chance of remembering what it was. Thank you kind sir. Bless you.

7

u/Pascalica Oct 02 '22

I experienced this exact same thing and was scrolling through this in search of the name. I loved that movie.

16

u/AllThoseVapors Oct 02 '22

I love that movie. It's so good!

16

u/Straight_Ocelot_7848 Oct 02 '22

Thanks I’m going to watch it now

16

u/Jbusbus Oct 02 '22

That was one of the 5 movies that we had as kid loved that movie

15

u/c010rb1indusa Oct 02 '22

I think that movie was required viewing for every elementary school in the 90s.

12

u/Th3Batman86 Oct 02 '22

My mother in law was a horse person and loved this movie. I would refer to it as “blind horses can’t swim” just to drive her nuts. “THE GIRL WAS BLIND NOT THE HORSE” was always the retort.

6

u/Mogwaier Oct 02 '22

I remember my aunt referring to it as Wild Horses Can't Jump

5

u/IhaveaBibledegree Oct 02 '22

Why such a short career?

10

u/ViciousTrollop19 Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22

He left acting and decided to live a quiet life making and selling handmade furniture. At least, that's what IMDb and Wikipedia say. Supposedly, it was due to lack of future roles?? No idea why though.

2

u/LizzieBee01 Oct 02 '22

God I loved him.

1

u/ViciousTrollop19 Oct 02 '22

Yeah, I totally had a crush on him too.

24

u/WingedShadow83 Oct 02 '22

Was just coming here to mention this! I remembered watching it as a kid. I think she didn’t close her eyes when she hit the water or something.

6

u/Rivendel93 Oct 02 '22

Lol, it's obviously not funny she went blind, but the idea is definitely funny.

19

u/Jono391 Oct 01 '22

I do remember watching this when I was a kid.

1

u/tidus1980 Oct 02 '22

That's more than she could do.

18

u/crystalsorrow Oct 02 '22

Wild hearts can’t be broken. It’s based off the story of Sonora Webster. I love that movie so much.

11

u/haleyhair Oct 02 '22

I still love this movie!

12

u/Straight_Ocelot_7848 Oct 02 '22

Say we’re old without saying we’re old

1

u/ortsed Oct 02 '22

The Man FromSnowy River has a similar scene

1

u/DeejDarling15 Oct 02 '22

Sonora doesn't prefer that movie.

42

u/jbcraigs Oct 01 '22

And how was the jump scored? What would be considered a good or a bad jump?

59

u/TheBoondoggleSaints Oct 01 '22

I don’t think these were diving competitions. I believe they were part of a traveling Wild West show. Supposedly the horses were never forced to jump but I’m sure they were mostly always strongly encouraged to. I don’t quite understand what the draw is to watching a horse and rider jump into a pool of water but it must have been popular enough at the time to warrant making it part of the show.

5

u/Apeiro_phobiac Oct 02 '22

I will say this, yes you can force a horse to jump. But in my experience, you are more than likely going to be thrown off that horse before it will ever jump. Even the best trained horse in the world won’t do something if they don’t feel it is safe. So I’m willing to believe that the horses enjoyed this to an extent. I of course could be wrong, so please don’t come at me. I’m just talking from personal experience with many different horses at varying points in training.

9

u/yourmomwasmyfirst Oct 01 '22 • hehehehe

It's pretty fuckin cool, that's the draw.

7

u/TheBoondoggleSaints Oct 01 '22

I guess it must have been cool enough that it continued into the late 70’s.

1

u/Uruz2012gotdeleted Oct 02 '22

The draw is danger. Like barn burners and jumping heavy cruising motorcycles over long rows of cars.

1

u/Fink665 Oct 02 '22

It was an attraction

1

u/Ritzie_Smitzie Oct 02 '22

Didn't they blindfold the horses so they had to go by feel or something. Because I don't think willingly just jump off cliff.

15

u/Which-Pain-1779 Oct 02 '22

This was a show at the Atlantic City Steel Pier for many years. It was never a competition.

1

u/tbnyedf7 Oct 02 '22

Saw it many times there in the 60’s.

1

u/DasbootTX Oct 02 '22

This is what I’ve always heard

1

u/Shel_gold17 Oct 02 '22

I think if you and the horse live through it it’s 10/10.

1

u/Bobisnotmybrother Oct 02 '22

Wasn’t a sport, more of a spectacle.

1

u/Bellbivdavoe Oct 03 '22

Looks to be more of a stunt that a sport. 🤔

93

u/TheLubber Oct 01 '22

Beat it mercilessly I’d imagine.

16

u/tallmantall Oct 01 '22

While it’s alive of corse. Can’t exactly do it when it’s dead now can you

20

u/DylanV1969 Oct 01 '22 • hehehehe

I dunno. I've seen people beat a dead horse too many times to count lol

5

u/YouShoodKnoeBetter Oct 02 '22

This comment is absolute gold. You took it and ran with it like an absolute champion.

2

u/DylanV1969 Oct 02 '22

Thank you, kind sir or fair maiden. May the four winds blow you safely home

1

u/YouShoodKnoeBetter Oct 02 '22

My pleasure! Best of luck in your future horsing around. You're spot on and galloping to greatness!

1

u/Straight_Ocelot_7848 Oct 02 '22

I see what you did there. clever girl

1

u/tallmantall Oct 02 '22

Can’t you see I’m a Tall man? Not a clever girl…

1

u/redstaroo7 Oct 02 '22

I don't know, you'd have to beat me off quite a bit to get me to do that

11

u/2IndianRunnerDucks Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22

I don’t know about training them, I had a crazy welsh mountain pony cross that used to jump off a pretty high creek bed into the creek below rather than walk down the track that the other horses would use.

32

u/dogedude81 Oct 01 '22

They trained them by literally pushing them over the edge lol

6

u/uglypaperhaver Oct 02 '22

Don't laugh - very likely platform titled down to dump them until they learned...

...or died.

10

u/dogedude81 Oct 02 '22

You can see the horse clearly trying not to fall the entire time. They are clearly forced over by whatever means.

I'm not laughing at the act. I think it's disgusting. I'm laughing at the stupidity of the question.

2

u/uglypaperhaver Oct 02 '22

Okay - sorry. Agreed.

4

u/beebsaleebs Oct 02 '22

There’s a movie about it called Wild Hearts can’t be broken

1

u/cnfmom Oct 02 '22

I thought I was imagining I'd seen a movie about it! Thanks for the name.

2

u/Jovet_Hunter Oct 02 '22

You are asking why the generation that did flagpole sitting does something stupid? Really?

2

u/taintoucher Oct 02 '22

You can lead a horse to water…

1

u/Mooneclipser Oct 02 '22

No doubt by starting small. A ramp and adjustable platform into the pool, do it until the horse is comfortable then raise it 6in. As the ramp gets (much) higher the horse is more likely to see more about him (audience) necessitating blinkers.

As with all disciplines some horses will love it more than others, it's all about finding the right one.

Super glad they put a stop to this.

1

u/mvnnyvevwofrb Oct 01 '22

Put a carrot in front of its face of course.

1

u/uglypaperhaver Oct 02 '22

I think it started with them being forced off the platform until they eventually realize they will survive and are rewarded as well.

1

u/pifumd Oct 02 '22

It's blindfolded isn't it? I'd guess by prodding until it goes.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '22

I think I remember this on another subreddit a few months ago. Mostly fear-based training of course, but the horse doesn’t so much as dive as gets launched from a full sprint when the bottom drops out of the floor at the last moment.

1

u/fuzzytradr Oct 02 '22

Sooo metal. I wonder what the highest height was?

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u/flash_27 Interested Oct 02 '22

I know, like how do you even judge that? It's not like you can teach your horse to do a "720 Spin Horsey Dive"

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u/Crazy-Entertainer242 Oct 02 '22

Disney released a movie in 1991, "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken." idk how I remembered that, but here we are. I'll put the summary of the movie below:

"Based on a true story, a runaway orphan in the 1930s becomes a diving girl for a traveling stunt show but a cruel twist of fate threatens to destroy her dream and Sonora must prove that if you want something badly enough, anything is possible!

A runaway orphan, young Sonora persists for a menial job mucking stables in Doc Carver's traveling stunt show. Her great wish is to become a death-defying ''diving girl,'' but Doc refuses her pleas. Undaunted, Sonora's gutsy resolve finally convinces him to give her a break. On the brink of stardom, however, a cruel twist of fate threatens to destroy her dream. Directed by Steve Miner.

The movie is based on the life story of Sonora Webster Carver, whose autobiography, "A Girl And Five Brave Horses," was published in 1961." - Amazon

Trailer: https://youtu.be/ew3S69fcRq0

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u/missanthropocenex Oct 02 '22

Because, Wild hearts can’t be broken.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '22

Watch 'wild hearts can't be broken'

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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '22

when you thought you’ve seen and heard all about human’s being the worst thing that had ever happened to this planet, you see this, this is new to me, i could never, ever even consider putting such noble being as a horse, to such a mortifying experience like this. jesus f christ.

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u/DyloniusDubs Oct 02 '22

I grew up in Atlantic City and even worked on the Steel Pier when I was a teenager. Rumor is they would use a small electrical shock to coax the horse off the diving board.

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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '22

What do you mean why? You try being bored in 1920.

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u/GuyWhoKindaLaughs Oct 02 '22

My wife has a horse. The horse is an “easy keeper” meaning it’s not super dramatic and fairly easy to care for (or something like that).

The horse still barely does what my wife wants it to. And when the horse has a great day and does everything my wife wants, it doesn’t last. Things like getting in a trailer, walking a certain direction, and other simple things can be a chore.

Not sure how on earth my wife could get her horse to do this. Hah

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u/blackcatmystery Oct 02 '22

Horses really like doing it. There is a band of wild horses that jump into the rio grand Texas

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u/Orpheeus Oct 02 '22

I assume this is one of those old timey things that stopped after either a horrific fatality or people actually understanding that it's not that interesting for how cruel it is to the horses.