Controversial ‘horse diving’ makes a return in Atlantic City

The recent announcement that horse diving will soon return to Atlantic City has sparked outrage with animal rights activists internationally.

The daily shows saw hundreds of spectators lining benches surrounding a 12-foot deep tank designed for the horse to ‘dive’ into from 40 feet in the air - rider in tow.

This spectacle was stopped initially in the 1970s when animal rights groups protested against it claiming it was inhumane.

Horse diving was created by William ‘Doc’ Carver in the 1920s and was criticised for abusing horses with prods, electrical jolts and trapped doors - all in a bid to get the horses to jump from the platform.

It is claimed that horses were forced to dive up to four times a day - seven days a week.

The possibility of the return of the ‘show’ has caused severe uproar amongst animal lovers who say the horses become terrified and have no choice but to dive.

Anthony Catanoso, president of Steel Pier Associates, told CBS News: “I would never allow an act on the pier to be in any way inhumane or abusive to animals. The fact of the matter is, the horses are not forced to do it. They are never harmed. There is no documentation of an animal ever being harmed in the 50 years they did it on Steel Pier — or certainly when we did it in 1993.”

Photo by Holly Ford Brown