# Will a charging horse really not step on a person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704 "2006-03-17T05:06:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/21 "2006-03-17T19:44:45Z")
What of the belief that cavalry cannot break an infantry square because the horse don’t want to hurt the guys in the square? Maybe it’s the [bayonets.](http://www.uxbridge.mec.edu/highschool/Pages/Square.html) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/22 "2006-03-17T20:01:44Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > … a charging agressive bird. They kick forward, and their sharp toenail can disembowel you. … I suddenly thought, “Deinonychus”, and it was like a bright light came on in my head. Thanks for the moment of insight. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Satyagrahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Satyagrahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satyagrahi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/23 "2006-03-17T20:21:24Z")
We’ve been through this before, with much the same conclusion: “Maybe.” [Here’s the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=131384) if you’d like to see those earlier responses. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/24 "2006-03-17T20:47:24Z")
Now. If you’re standing in front of a treadmill, and the horse is on the treadmill charging you, but the treadmill is running in the opposite direction at exactly the same speed as the horse… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/25 "2006-03-17T22:15:28Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Now. If you’re standing in front of a treadmill, and the horse is on the treadmill charging you, but the treadmill is running in the opposite direction at exactly the same speed as the horse… > > 😃 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/26 "2006-03-18T00:29:04Z")
> [@Satyagrahi](#): > > We’ve been through this before, with much the same conclusion: “Maybe.” > > [Here’s the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=131384) if you’d like to see those earlier responses. Funny, the scene in Ghandi brought this to my attention too. I guess you and I and \*\*Johanna all think alike, hmm? Well, at least I have a sort-of answer. A tidbit less ignorance in the world, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/27 "2006-03-18T00:37:09Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > I suddenly thought, “Deinonychus”, and it was like a bright light came on in my head. Thanks for the moment of insight. 🙂 Eeeeew. An ostrich with scales instead of feathers. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/28 "2006-03-18T00:46:40Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The elephant guy at [Riddle’s](http://www.elephantsanctuary.org/) Elephant Sanctuary says they tend to trample small things on the ground, including people lying down. Last month, I read a “biography” article about two painting elephants. One of them, Ruby, was given paint as a way to distract her from stomping on ducks. Our impression while reading that was horrific - why would they keep ducks in the elephant enclosure?! Especially if she was prone to stomping on them! Seems they left something out - they didn’t keep ducks with her, the ducks would be lured in by [spilled food](http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:aLy33t3H_i8J:www.riqualitypartners.org/nursing_homes/culture_change/1-4_The%2520Story%2520of%2520Ruby.doc+Ruby+painting+elephant+ducks&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1). Anyway, they stomp ducks, so I wouldn’t attempt having a lie-down around an elephant. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/29 "2006-03-18T00:51:44Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Anyway, they stomp ducks, I saw the baby Maximus go after a chicken that walked through his enclosure. He was fast, and those big 'ol ears flap. 🙂 The chicken got away. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/30 "2006-03-18T01:42:52Z")
**appleciders** , yeah. 🙂 I mentioned _Gandhi_ because it was the only movie I could think of that had this idea in it. The scene showed people lying on the ground, hands covering their heads, looking scared, and hooves frantically trampling the dust right next to them, but not on top of them. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/31 "2006-03-18T02:58:20Z")
My neighbor’s new horse got loose one morning and trotted up into our yard. He seemed calm and was happily grazing on the grass in our yard so I figured I’d go out there and easily snag him before he made it to the end of the street. Boy, was I wrong. I went out and slowly walked over to him, and he moved a few feet away just out of my reach, which is what I expected him to do. So, I backed off and let him relax before I tried again. This time, he raised his head, laid his ears back and _charged straight at me_ :eek: I raised my arms and yelled and he veered off to the side, but for a minute there I really did think I was gonna be trampled flat. I’ve been around horses quite a bit but I’ve never experienced anything like that. He didn’t act like a typical spooked horse and he was a gelding so it wasn’t aggressive stallion behavior. His reaction to me was just plain odd. My neighbor sold him soon after that because he was biting and also developed the disturbing habit of turning and kicking at people whenever they approached him. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/32 "2006-03-18T15:27:27Z")
Other people have already touched on the relevant facts: 1. Horses don’t like stepping on squishy surfaces, including people, if they have a choice. 2. Horses in true panic don’t care and will knock you flat and stomple you without a second thought. 3. Horses that are going fast but not panicking will do their best to avoid you. You can see many examples of this in horse races where a jockey falls off and the other horses will leap to avoid him/her without losing their position (PS I bet jumping in a jockey saddle is _no fun_ at all) However I have one teensy addition no one has mentioned so far: Everyone so far has talked about “lying flat” in front of a horses. Horses have bad eyesight, particulalrly for what is directly under their feet. For that reason, you should not lie flat – roll in a ball to present the smallest target. **Greywolf73** obvously that horse has some “issues.” Perhaps he was proudcut (not completely gelded) or gelded late enough enough in life that studdish behavior got established. Either way a horse with no respect like that needs some serious expert training. In acting that way he is treating you as a low-ranked (and uppity) member of the herd, a situation which, as you observed, can become quite dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/33 "2006-03-18T19:00:51Z")
Coincidentally, just now I was reading _Bless Me, Última_ by Rudolfo Anaya, and a bad guy on a horse tries to trample a kid. Just like in _Gandhi_, the thudding hoves thud right next to him, but not on him. (It increases the dramatic tension.) Unlike in _Gandhi_, the kid (Antonio) _fights back_ and drives the horse away. The bad guy had cut open the horse’s flanks with his spurs. So the kid just hits the horse where it’s hurt, and it runs away. I don’t know. This was a magical realist novel, with the emphasis more on magic than realism, so anything can happen in the narrative, realistic or not. I believe the point of the novel is that the kid is supernaturally protected from evil. If I was a horse and a kid hit me where I was sore and bleeding, I would probably forget all about my equine ethics and stomp the brat, putting myself in the horse’s place. I’m not using this as a “cite,” obviously. Just as an example of how you can go for years without noticing a subject, then as soon as you start paying attention, it starts popping up everywhere all at once. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/34 "2006-03-18T22:43:25Z")
Provide a horse a healthy dose of pain, I’ll wager on it bolting like an SOB. If the rider is less than proficient, he’ll likely fall off. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/35 "2006-03-18T23:39:19Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > Eeeeew. An ostrich with scales instead of feathers. There is a school of thought in modern paleontology that the velociraptor family may have been feathered, even though fully dinosaurs. Saiboat ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/36 "2006-03-19T02:23:39Z")
> [@Greywolf73](#): > > My neighbor sold him soon after that because he was biting and also developed the disturbing habit of turning and kicking at people whenever they approached him. :eek: caveat emptor ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704/37 "2006-03-19T04:33:38Z")
Charging horses don’t usually step on people. Those horses who pay cash, well, they are horses of a different color. If charged with abusive punning, I plead “Neigh.” 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-charging-horse-really-not-step-on-a-person/348704.md?page=1)