The German Animal Welfare Federation is calling on cities, event organizers, and festival committees to refrain from using horses in carnival parades. The animals quickly become stressed in the hustle and bustle: noise, crowds, and constantly changing stimuli can trigger flight responses. This poses risks for the animals and for the people along the parade route. Accidents involving horse-drawn carriages in the past clearly demonstrate the danger.
“Carnival parades create situations that are unpredictable for horses. Crowds, loud music, or someone suddenly grabbing the animal can be enough to cause a horse to shy away, pull, or bolt. This endangers everyone standing or walking alongside it,” says Andrea Mihali, horse expert at the German Animal Welfare Federation. Many parades pass through narrow city centers, accompanied by shouts from the crowd, drums, and music. Costumes, flags, and confetti constantly change the scene. Added to this are smells, such as smoke, alcohol, or food. Even for trained horses, this multitude of stimuli is challenging. It is not possible for the horses to avoid these stimuli in such moments.
Guidelines and training do not solve the underlying problem
In carnival strongholds such as Cologne and Düsseldorf, proponents of parades with horses point to the guidelines introduced in 2022 by the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture, Nature and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia. Among other things, these guidelines stipulate several points along the parade route where horses can be removed from the parade if necessary. In addition, the horses should be regularly prepared for their work – for example, by getting them used to certain stimuli such as throwing material, noise, or fluttering ribbons. However, even these measures do not change the animal welfare issue. Crowds remain unpredictable. In this case, there is no reasonable reason to expose horses to such stressful experiences.
Stress is not always immediately apparent
It is not always possible to reliably tell whether a horse is overwhelmed. The animals may initially appear calm on the outside, even though they are already under severe stress. In the hustle and bustle, a horse's subtle signals can easily be overlooked. Those responsible have to decide in a matter of seconds whether an animal is still controllable while the parade continues.
Basically, Carnival does not need animals: marching bands, walking groups, dance formations, and floats create a festive atmosphere even without horses. Cities such as Bonn are already demonstrating that horse-free parades work. The German Animal Welfare Federation is calling for horses to be removed from parade plans. This will reduce the risk of accidents and protect animals from avoidable extreme situations that serve no purpose other than entertainment.
