Wardy's twin
Well-known member
- Oct 21, 2014
- 8,875
Put aside the rights or wrongs of fox hunting, what an utterly ridiculous thing to do (grabbing the reins) to somebody riding a horse. If someone did that to me on my horse they would get a verbal audible warning (as the rider can be heard doing in this video) and upon failing to release the reins they would receive the full force of whatever i had available to me for self defence, whether that be fist, foot or whip.
When deciding to use force in self defense it needs to be proportionate to the threat. In this case the threat is that the jockey could become unseated and suffer serious injury from a fall or trampling, possible assault once on the ground and there is also the risk of damage a loose and scared horse can do. The force used is a short whip, unlikey to cause serious injury, broken bones etc, evidenced by the article which states 17 strikes caused just a bruise. If 17 strikes were required to get the aggressor to release the reins then so be it. In my opinion the force used by the rider is proportionate to the threat.
The hunt itself said it did not condone the level of violence she used.....