NEW ORLEANS - Police and the Louisiana SPCA are investigating after a now-viral video appears to show a man beating his horse along the Uptown parade route.
The incident happened Friday night during the Krewe of Oshun parade. The LASPCA narrowed down which horse club the animal belongs to and are working to identify the rider. He could be facing a animal cruelty and abuse charge.
Kelsey LaBore, the woman who shot the video, is still shocked by what she saw.
"I couldn’t believe me eyes,” LaBore said. “It was heartbreaking and horrifying to watch."
LaBore says a scared horse kept backing up on the route and refusing to move forward. That's when the rider started hitting the horse repeatedly in the head.
"That's not how you correct,” LaBore, a horseback rider herself, said. “If you're uncomfortable get off the horse."
Owner of Equest Farm near City Park, Leslie Kramer, agrees.
"You're hitting them in the head and beating on them, all it does is scare them more,” Kramer said. “It doesn't serve a purpose. He should have gotten off and tried to reassure the horse.”
But the rider didn't and now the LASPCA and the New Orleans Police Department is investigating. LASPCA officials inspect every horse before the parades to ensure the animals are healthy and have the proper paper work and vaccines. However, they have no way of knowing the training level of every rider and horse.
"It's really important that the group prepare the horse and the rider in advance but we don't know that when we go out. We're just checking for the health and condition of the actual horse,” LASPCA CEO Ana Zorrilla said.
LaBore says she's hoping riding clubs featured in Mardi Gras parades will do a better job to hire people specifically trained for the job.