How police horses have been used to crush protest from Selma to LA

They’ve broken up enslaved families, terrorized Native communities, & charged into crowds marching for freedom. Horses didn’t choose this role — law enforcement did. And it’s time we put an end to it.

In Los Angeles, where protests have risen like heat from the pavement, police mounted on horses have turned city streets into stomping grounds — even as video and social media shine a light on their violence around the clock.

They’ve rammed bodies into walls, herded voices into choke points, and trampled dissent until it falls silent.

You can call it “crowd control,” “tradition,” or “visibility.” But this isn’t the Wild West. And horses aren’t used because they’re safer or more cost-effective. They’re used to send a message: We own this street — and you don’t.

From the Edmund Pettus Bridge to Sunset Boulevard, mounted police have enforced control through spectacle. A towering officer on a thousand-pound animal doesn’t de-escalate. It dominates.

On the Edmund Pettus Bridge, officers climbed onto horses to make their point louder than any order could. They sent hooves into hymns, steel into skin — charging straight at Black marchers whose only defense was their unity. Singing. Praying. Linking arms. What those horses represented was clear: a brute force over basic rights.

And it didn’t stop there.

Police on horseback storm a protest of marchers during “Bloody Sunday” in Montgomery, Ala. (Associated Press)

Police using horses to terrorize Los Angeles protests reflects long history

Across the American West, cavalry raids devastated Native nations. At Standing Rock, mounted officers drove into water protectors. In South Central LA, they’re still used to scatter crowds demanding justice. It’s not about safety. It’s intimidation — and plausible deniability.

In 2020, a Columbus, Ohio officer rode directly into a protester. The city paid $5.75 million to settle. In Houston, video showed a horse trampling a woman — the mayor apologized, but the trauma didn’t leave with the horse.

Police blamed the animal, blamed the victim for “getting in the way,” and kept it moving.

A US Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge. AFP via Getty Images

In Los Angeles, several recent incidents show officers ramming people into walls, corralling them into dangerous choke points, or stomping protesters until they’re unconscious — then dragging them off the street.

Mounted units are also expensive. Cities spend over $200,000 per horse each year on training, veterinary care, and gear. Overseas, the cost is even steeper. London’s Mounted Branch budget totaled £13.78 million (around $17 million) per year as recently as 2018.

That’s public money — money that could fund housing, mental health crisis teams, school counselors. Instead, it props up a 19th-century tactic that leaves both people and animals hurt.

And no, it’s not safer for the officers.

Between 2014 and 2020, mounted cops were injured at three times the rate of their non-mounted peers. Most injuries — 64.9% — happened while simply trying to manage the horse.

Horses don’t choose this. They’re shoved into chaos: sirens, fireworks, tear gas. Some suffer torn ligaments. Others collapse in the street. They don’t know what protest is. They just feel fear — and react.

When things go wrong, police departments don’t take responsibility. They blame the animal. They blame the protester. They blame everything but the system that created this violence.

Some cities got the memo. Others double down.

Other cities got the memo. Portland. San Diego. Seattle. They retired their mounted units. They saw that fear isn’t protection. It’s harm, dressed in tradition.

So why is LA still galloping backward?

Why are cities like Tulsa and Houston still sending cavalry into crowds like it’s 1865?

There are better ways.

Crisis teams. Trained mediators. Civilian responders. Foot patrols. Bike units. Anything but horses slamming into skulls.

Because what’s the real threat here?
Not the protesters. Not the chants. Not the signs.

It’s the audacity of truth on the pavement. It’s people refusing to be trampled.

Screenshot of a video showing the moment before LAPD officers push an elderly man with their horses. (Instagram)

Mounted units are ineffective and traumatic, especially in Black and Indigenous communities. We don’t need horses to patrol urban parks or protests. We need people trained in care, de-escalation, and human dignity.

You can see some of the other solutions in my full article in the Black Wall Street Times. This practice is unnecessary, and it needs to stop.

So ask your city. Ask your council. Ask about the budget.

Why are we feeding, shoeing, and outfitting horses to crush our neighbors, when those same dollars could be feeding people?

Because no one should be trampled for speaking out. Not by a badge. Not by a boot. And not by a horse.

Dream Big, Act Bigger.