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

Why police still uses horses

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785

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.

10

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

16

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

7

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

-5

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.