It’s carnival time and that means a plethora of parades where people will either march, or ride on a float, small engine powered vehicle or even a horse.

As a younger person, I can recall attending a weekend full of parades.

We’d see a lot of things during those parades; some were more memorable than others but we never saw instances of animal abuse.

For attendees of the Krewe of Oshun’s parade this weekend in New Orleans, that is exactly what some parade goers saw.

According to a video posted on regional media outlets, one such rider was having trouble with his steed during the parade.

From the treatment displayed in the video, there was probably a good reason why the horse was less than willing to take instruction from its current rider, but no matter the reason, he was out of line.

There’s some speculation that the horse was simply scared, which can be understood since it’s in the middle of one of the largest cities in our country, surrounded by lots of loud noises and strange lights.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, it’s a bit graphic, and could make any animal lover extremely angry.

No matter the reason for the horse to not obey the rider’s commands, anyone with a rational mind would know that punching or aggressively spurring the animal in the rear hindquarters is not going to calm its already nervous state of mind.

I would like to think that had such an act occurred at Saturday’s parade in Picayune, someone would have pulled that man from the animal, and saved it from further torment.

It is my hope that New Orleans law enforcement personnel, and some animal rights organization in that area, will step in to ensure this individual never rides a horse again.