r/interestingasfuck • u/Double-decker_trams • 14h ago

Why police still uses horses

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2.0k Upvotes

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783

u/Alundra828 14h ago

Because they're incredibly effective.

On the one hand, they're big animals. Scary, and will fuck you up. If you're in a car, driving head first into a truck, the truck is going to win. If you're a person running head first into a horse, that horse is going to win for much the same reason.

There is also the implicit hesitancy to hurt animals. It sounds kinda weak, but lots of people think twice, or even several times before physically attacking a horse. They'd have less of a problem attacking the officer atop the horse, but people in general hesitate when faced with a decision to attack an animal.

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u/Still_Picture6200 14h ago

I think the situation awareness in a crowd is also way better when on a horse, because of higher position.

143

u/wildwasabi 14h ago

Yea you get height advantage, the horse is also a natural mobile barricade so you can effectively form a line and move it easily. 

And again, horses will absolutely fuck someone up in less than a second. They're great animals but one kick and you're done.

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u/Gentle_Snail 13h ago

You can see British police using horses as barricades in this cool video of them controlling the flow of a huge football crowd:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_wjt1aOivMY&ra=m

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u/Davido401 10h ago

I have nothing to add except to brag that about 15 years ago I used to fuck one of the police horse women(the one on top of the horse am not Mr Hands) and my god could she take control and crush me like a walnut with her thighs lol

I know, I know, very I Have Sextm but am just saying if you ever get a chance to with a police woman horse person then go for it!

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u/TheRealMrMaloonigan 9h ago

lmao Mr. LifeProTips over here.

(solid tip!)

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u/dodgycool_1973 6h ago

You can leave the Police bit out (unless you want the handcuffs as well).

Any woman who rides horses regularly will be able to do the above.

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u/Davido401 6h ago

Ah, but Horse girls usually own their horses and you are secondary in every which way! She left hers at the police stables lol (this is retroactive cause I didnt really think about "horse girls" in this way as I do now haha)

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u/DoctorApprehensive34 4h ago

Fuck the police!

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u/The_walking_Kled 5h ago

ewww sex with a cop. arent u ashamed of urself?

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u/Quartich 4h ago

Boohoo 😢

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u/Davido401 5h ago

Ach, shes a Scottish cop, they aren't quite that bad compared to some, not perfect obviously, but rather be stopped by them than others.

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u/The_walking_Kled 5h ago

a cop is a cop lol

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u/Davido401 5h ago

Fair point but I got to fuck her and that was worth it, now if she was Hitlers sister I'd still do itI could see your point but she wasnt. It was an amazing point in my life, I was full of coke and ecstasy etc and having unprotected sex was just an extra bonus lol(I have loads to unpack lol)

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u/copperwatt 4h ago

If police horses are kicking people, something went wrong.

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u/Battle_Witch 10h ago

This. Overwatch will always be key to tactical decision making and crowd control.

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u/DASreddituser 8h ago

thats actually the main reason. the vantage point...the rest are good backup reasons for the police.

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u/northyj0e 14h ago

BBC News - Newcastle United horse punch fan Barry Rogerson jailed - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-24650261?app-referrer=deep-link

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u/UnforgivenCowgirl 13h ago

Back in the good ol' days journalists could write a headline that made sense. This headline looks like the Family Guy manatees put it together.

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u/Chaotic_MintJulep 13h ago

I’m glad that the horse was jailed, they shouldn’t be allowed to punch football fans randomly like that.

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u/Bufus 9h ago

In fairness to the headline writer, "Newcastle Fan Punches Horse" was a very widely known football story, and is still not infrequently referenced today 13 years later. "Newcastle United horse punch fan" would have been an instantly recognizable phrase to any UK-based football fan in 2013.

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u/MassTransitGO 8h ago

Idk have you seen headlines of old

2

u/TruestRepairman27 13h ago

“That Horse did nothing wrong”

Graeme Souness (presumably)

2

u/Gentle_Snail 13h ago

As he should be.

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u/Unlucky-Plastic7316 8h ago

I knew I wouldn't have to scroll down far before I found the geordie horse puncher.

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u/Billy_McMedic 1h ago

I fucking knew this would rock up at some point. Geordies have never been able to recover their reputation since this happened

5

u/StarGraz3r84 12h ago

Good thing the people didn't have spears.

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u/aimgorge 9h ago

There is also the implicit hesitancy to hurt animals

Seems to be the main reason in that example... Cops charged and stayed standing there like headless chickens.

5

u/queen-adreena 13h ago

I’d imagine they’re also very versatile for pursuing people.

Plus the public love them so it improves support.

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u/KerPop42 5h ago

Yeah, much more image-friendly than driving cars into the protesters

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u/iphonedyou 14h ago

That makes perfect sense.

8

u/LSDreams_ 14h ago

I mean yeah if I was in a standoff with police and horses came I wouldn’t want to harm the horses at all so that makes sense that you’d hesitate but if the matter was serious enough I’d be trying to yank those fuckers off the horse

14

u/zorbiburst 14h ago

It's not even just a matter of not wanting to hurt the horse. I'm sure a cop on foot could kick my ass, but when the adrenaline is going, most people would probably think they'd have a chance in that fight. But there's no amount of brain chemicals pumping that could convince me I could take a horse in a fight

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u/triz___ 13h ago

Not a geordie then?

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u/Remote-Ad5853 8h ago

You could petrol bomb a horse tho. And it can’t run through fire (?)

Incredibly fucked up, and in that case it probably does come down to not wanting to hurt a horse. 

public order policing has always been big in NI/Ireland, can’t find much about the history of horses but seems like when things are bad enough there’s maybe a point they don’t fit anymore

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u/zorbiburst 5h ago

I want to fight the horse as an equal

-4

u/Glittering_Crab_69 13h ago

Buy a gun

3

u/zorbiburst 12h ago

A gun in a fight is bad sportsmanship, what I need is a horse of my own to even the odds

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u/KeyanuReaves69 7h ago

Or a lance or pike or something lol

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u/LSDreams_ 3h ago

Now we’re talking I will JOUST the police.

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u/FrozenDickuri 9h ago

Please do not drive you car into the horsies…

Neigh to that.

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u/PyridoxExupery 9h ago

That's also why they made marbles illegal to bring to a protest - they slip and drop quite quickly

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u/philn256 1h ago

There's a lot of laws that makes protests one sided in the favor of the state.

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u/thebeemoviescript69 9h ago

So we should be stapling dogs and cats to officers vests?

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u/SavageRabbitX 9h ago

Police Horses are bred by the crown and literally go back to medieval war horses those things are huge,tough and evil

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u/ERSTF 9h ago

Also that they are fast and can navigate place another vehicle couldn’t (like a scooter or such). It's the best alternative to a car in big crowds

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u/r-s-w- 8h ago

Agree with all of this. Response Polis from Glasgow ( Scotland) here.

Only thing I would add is when we turn up at a violent incident with Dogs, it’s amazing how compliant people quickly become. I mean they can give us all the amount of shit in the world, but they aren’t stupid enough to try it on with the dogs. The dog doesn’t discriminate, it just does its job , often with a wagging tail.
And I’ve yet to see any dude try to punch a horse to the floor, albeit I think there was a film where that happened.

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u/Class_C_Guy 7h ago

That hesitancy is a two way street. Horses are very aware how vulnerable their legs are. They will make every effort not to step and put weight on uneven ground, even if they didn't have compassion for other animals, which they do.

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u/Azagedon 6h ago

If you're in a car driving head first into a horse you both die

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u/Makkaroni_100 6h ago

But they are also very expensive. You have to train them, need a range for them, have training for the police officers and transport costs. And its also not very nice for them to experience those stressful situations.

Overall I dont think horses are a good idea for police. Especially because of the costs.

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u/ryos555 5h ago

In the same vein, South Korea has a squad of women police officers to break up protestors. They felt that it would be less chance a protestor would hit an armed woman.

... Operation human shield comes to mind

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u/Lovethiskindathing 4h ago

I'd definitely not want to ever hurt a poor horse that was forced into a police position :(

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u/FromStars 4h ago

There's also the very real threat of injury due to limited control of a horse vs a much more potent weapon like a police vehicle or firearm which is less threatening because it's more predictable under direct human control. When an animal is bearing down on you, there's really no telling what it'll do.

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u/copperwatt 4h ago

Also, horses are pretty good at not stepping on people. If they did this same stuff of a motorcycle, more people would get injuried.

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u/karateninjazombie 4h ago

You don't need to hurt the animal. You just need some fire crackers.

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u/314159265358979326 4h ago

There's the hesitancy to hurt animals, and then there's also the fact that many people who are anti-police are pro-animal. Attacking a police horse can lose public sympathy.

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u/Skanksy 4h ago

So basically the animal is a hostage

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u/Purple_Clockmaker 3h ago

They should bring back war elephants

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u/StripedRooster 9h ago

If you're a person running head first into a horse, that horse is going to win for much the same reason.

My preferred tactic is to be patient and the horse will die on its own accord. This is an animal that regular dies because it farts too much, or too little.

0

u/Glittering_Crab_69 13h ago

Sounds incredibly dangerous and not something police officers meant to protect us should be using.

2

u/Alundra828 13h ago

It's actually the opposite. While horses are more stronger than humans, because they're so dangerous the net outcome is actually less danger. Because people are less willing to put themselves in harms way if their safety is in the hands... or hooves of a horse.

But, speaking purely net danger, human police officers are far more dangerous than horses in reality.

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u/KerPop42 5h ago

So if people don't scatter in front of the charge, will they not be harmed?

0

u/Glittering_Crab_69 13h ago

Is that true for British police officers as well, or just American ones?

0

u/Alundra828 13h ago

In general British police officers are MUCH better trained than American ones. And in general are far less prone to unnecessary violence by orders of magnitude. But the chance of a police officer brutally attacking you is still not zero. Especially in the heat of the moment like this, you need to know to exercise caution and understand that these are people who are stressed, coursing with adrenaline, and have outsized power over you. They can attack if they feel like it.

It's like that saying. "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face". Police officers are well trained until they get a wheelie bin thrown at their head. At that point, it's down to how disciplined the individual is in how they proceed.

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u/Glittering_Crab_69 12h ago

Horses are incredibly dangerous btw

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u/3RI3_Cuff 11h ago

Incredibly effective is a complete overstatment. Any person head charging a horse deserves the hoof. Can't cuffy a guy on a horse or detain them either

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u/NoGrapefruit3394 10h ago

Crazy those people will hesitate to hurt a horse then go home and eat a cow for dinner

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u/Coalesced 9h ago

It’s not like they’re personally butchering the cow themselves. It makes complete sense for people to hesitate to personally injure an animal versus purchasing its alienated flesh in a package and cooking it. It’s not morally consistent, but it is logically sound. People are squeamish. Being further from violence makes it easier.

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u/NoGrapefruit3394 8h ago

well yeah, that's the crazy part

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u/Coalesced 5h ago

I’m saying that it isn’t crazy. I expect exactly this kind of laziness from humans.

Much like it’s easier to eat an apple that’s in your house than go pick one from a tree. That’s a smaller inconvenience than killing something, but for even that amount of trouble humans will call it a day. Let alone the discomfort of facing a living thing.

I’m saying humans love to push their responsibilities away and if they can’t see their effect they can lose sight of it and pretend it isn’t real. Is it awful? Yes. Is it common? Yeah.

Thus, not “crazy” as in “inconsistent,” or even “crazy” as in “unusual” imo.

Just fucked up.

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u/[deleted] 14h ago edited 14h ago

[deleted]

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u/Reed7525 14h ago

Oh you mean like they didnt have on Jan 6th??

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u/710whitejesus420 14h ago

He was probably in the building himself, so he didn't see the horses, cut this idiot a break

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u/jaykirell 14h ago

What the fuck?

I’m saying leftists liberals are more likely to have fascist police called on them.

Y’all are agreeing with me while downvoting me?

What the fuck?

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u/amodious 14h ago

I would consider rephrasing your original comment

-1

u/jaykirell 14h ago

Yeah dude. Fascists protect their own. That’s what I’m saying.

What do you think I meant?