How could rogue military horses go on the rampage in London? “This cannot be compared to police horses”

Five horses from the British Army’s ceremonial cavalry rocked London on Wednesday morning. Suddenly they bolted. But aren’t such horses trained for unexpected events?

The horses and their riders took a walk around London to get some exercise. Just before nine they passed a construction site, where a load of cement suddenly fell. The horses were frightened, five of them threw their rider away and took the horse’s legs. One animal hit a taxi, another was injured when it smashed a window in a collision with a tourist bus. After two hours the horses could be calmed. Three riders and two passers-by were injured.

“I am shocked by the images,” said Benoit Van Houtte, who leads the cavalry of the Belgian federal police. “Precisely because such an incident is so rare. But these are horses that are used for ceremonies and are probably not taken out of the stable very often. You cannot compare that with police horses. Our horses, which currently number ninety, work six days a week. In the field, or during training. They are not engines that you can keep indoors until something happens.”

“Horses are herd animals,” says Van Houtte. “And unlike dogs, for example, which become aggressive and may bite if they are startled, a horse will flee. And then the rest of the herd will follow. With pleasure, they like to do that.” But police horses such as those of the federal police are trained not to do that. “We teach them everything that might scare them: a firecracker, a crush barrier thrown in front of them or noise. But you can never avoid being scared. So we have to teach them to step two meters aside and then return.”

The police horses are purchased when they are between three and six years old. “The first year is just training. And then they enter the field very gradually. First in a green zone, then in traffic. Once they patrol a demonstration with a risk of violence or a risky football match, they are usually already nine years old. And a horse that responds poorly is temporarily no longer used for such assignments and receives extra training.”

Van Houtte has been working for the cavalry for 35 years. “We have only had three incidents in that time and never an animal was injured like in London.” The most recent was during La Boum, the illegal rave in Brussels, during corona. “Our horses were not afraid, but had slipped and walked back to the barracks near the Bois de la Cambre. They trained there when they were young and knew the area as well as you and I knew the elementary school playground at the time.”