I can't believe they actually can do this...

[tammy68]

Diving horses. Apparently it has been going on in America for years. How on earth would they get a horse to jump off a ramp from such great heights of their own free will. I can't believe they can be trained to actually take the plunge.

www.petticoated.com/pdqwinter04/otherdocs/divinghorsesW04.html

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VMWBF8Qx_U

And on this one they say, "Lightning jumps on his own; he is led to the ramp and freely walks to the diving platform (we use positive reinforcement to encourage him, providing oats after each jump). We never force our horses to do anything." www.thedivinghorse.com/about-horse-diving.html

Has anyone come across anything like this before?

[julz]

OMG!!!!!

[Amanda Seater]

!

[ruthp]

OK, I will no longer accept the "I don't think horses are supposed to walk through puddles" excuse!!! Next time Rosa tries that one, I'll show her the video. :-)

[wabuska]

Good to know it was mainly the riders who got the bruises and broken bones. Just goes to show the complete honesty of horses. Lightening must be getting some reward as they don't force him.... wonderful.

[riz]

I remember watching something like this years ago - the horses died from what I can remember. Very odd.....

[bumble]

Mmmmm not keen at that at all!!!!!!!!

[Lisa in Plymouth]

It used to be the main attraction at the pier in Atlantic City but it's not there anymore. A film was made about it by Disney (Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken). The diving girl, Sonora, and her horse Lightning were diving for about 12 years I think during which time she was blinded but continued to dive and no-one knew any different.
I don't think this is common in the US now in fact i'm not sure if the high dives still take place anywhere in the US, but there are travelling shows in Europe that do this with monkeys chained on to the horses/donkeys/mules. They are actually made to walk up the ramp and then the end is pulled out from under them. I think in the US they walked to the end of a ramp then had an almost vertical ramp to slide down and off. The monkeys are often drowned.

That pony in the Magic Forest vid doesn't look too bothered, but it is alot lower than the high dives. He looks pretty well looked after and if they kept his predeccessor until he was 30 then at least he'll have a pretty easy life. As long as the tank is of adequate depth and he doesn't hit the bottom I suppose injury is fairly unlikely. The high diving horses in the old vids are quite amazing to see, were they unhappy or scared? It's certainly not something i'd ever choose to do with any of my horses but they do look 'settled'? I would have thought that if they were scared or in a panic that they would be scrabbling with their legs but they all seem to adopt a sort-of jumping position? I imagine that the most likely form of injury was to eyes and ears when they hit the water but after a few dives I guess they'd put their ears back and shut their eyes.

[Lisa in Plymouth]

Tammy - if you are interested the dvd is on Play.com for £3.99. It is a good film and has humane society approval so there was NO CRUELTY involved in the making of the film. Apparently during filming they had to keep the exit ramped blocked at all times because the horses/dogs at the animal training ranch kept going up the exit ramp and jumping in themselves to coll down.

[Lisa in Plymouth]

Some more info for you.

Sonora (Webster) Carver, 2 February 1904 in Waycross, Georgia - 20 September 2003 in Pleasantville, New Jersey, was an American entertainer, most notable as one of the first female horse divers.[1] Webster answered an ad placed by "Doc" William Frank Carver in 1923[2] for a diving girl and soon earned a place in circus history. Her job was to mount a running horse as it reached the top of a forty-foot (sometimes sixty-foot) tower and sail down along the animal's back as it plunged into a deep pool of water directly below. Sonora was a sensation and soon became the lead diving girl for Doc Carver's act as they traveled the country.

Sonora fell in love with and eventually married Carver's son, Al Carver, who eventually took over the show in 1927, after the death of his father.[2] Sonora's sister Arnette (Webster) French followed in her footsteps, becoming a horse diver and joining the show in 1928.[2]

In 1931, Sonora was blinded, a retinal detachment, due to hitting the water off-balance while diving her horse, Red Lips, on New Jersey's Steel Pier[2], the act's permanent home since 1929.[2] After her accident Sonora continued to dive horses until 1942. Her sister Arnette left the show in 1935.[2]

Arnette explained Sonora’s decision to continue riding after her accident in this way: "The movie made a big deal about having the courage to go on riding after she lost her sight. But, the truth was, riding the horse was the most fun you could have and we just loved it so. We didn't want to give it up. Once you were on the horse, there really was much to do but hold on. The horse was in charge."[2]

Arnette, who was 15 when she took her first dive on horseback, remarked in an interview that "Wherever we went, the S.P.C.A. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) was always snooping around, trying to find if we were doing anything that was cruel to animals. They never found anything because those horses lived the life of Riley. In all the years of the act, there was never a horse that was injured."[2]

Sonora's account can be read in her 1961 book, A Girl and Five Brave Horses, and seen in the fictionalized movie version of her life, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, starring Gabrielle Anwar. Sonora was, apparently, disappointed in the way that the movie depicted her life and career. She remarked to her sister Arnette after seeing the film that "the only thing true in it was that I rode diving horses, I went blind and I continued to ride for another 11 years."[2]

Sonora died at the age of 99 in New Jersey, on September 20, 2003.[1] She lived in Pleasantville, New Jersey at the time of her death.[3]

[rubyroo]

OMG that is awful! don't like it!