Seriously. There is nothing right in this video. Not. One. Thing.
Why are they hitching their horse on the road?
Now, let's see. The guy touches the horse on the flank, presumably adjusting a strap. The horse cocks a leg, so the guy kicks him...the horse kicks back and gets his leg over the shaft. That should not happen...unless the shafts are, as they are, too low.
Then the guy tries to get the leg back OVER the shafts without dropping the shaft. The horse takes this pretty well, but is clearly getting more and more frustrated. DROP THE SHAFT you idiot. It would have been way faster to drop the shaft and re-hitch than do what they did.
When they finally succeed, the old guy gets in the wagon then the other guy tosses him the lines.
Finally, the horse, apparently glad to get out of there, sets off at a pretty good lick.
So, what's wrong with this?
First of all. I've kicked a horse back for kicking before. If applied correctly, it can work. The horse, though, wasn't actually kicking. It was reacting to the strap adjustment a little oddly, perhaps because it thought it was a fly. So, the punishment was excessive.
The big issue, though, was that they should have unhitched and started over when the horse's leg ended up over the shaft. It would have been easier, quicker, and less traumatic for the poor animal. They also didn't need to shove him to back him up...unless, of course, he wasn't properly trained to back up, which strikes me as rather basic for a harness horse. Lots of yanking on the mouth, too.
Just drop the shafts. Sheesh, people...
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