Taylor Hendricks, 22, is charged with assault after he was ejected from the Philadelphia Eagle playoff. For anyone who has been to a Philly game, that is hardly a surprise. However, Hendricks is charged with assaulting a police horse named Nicky by repeatedly punching the horse in the face.
Hendricks was intoxicated and without a ticket when he was kicked out of the stadium. That is when he started punching Nicky in the face, neck and shoulder. His blows also grazed the leg of the mounted officer.
He is now charged with aggravated assault, trespassing and taunting a police animal. It is not clear if the aggravated assault is based on his contact with the leg of the officer.
According to news reports, he pleaded guilty to two prior charges of public drunkenness. He is a graduate of West Chester University and is reportedly working as a district manager for a large payroll company in Allentown. The question is whether the payroll company will move to separate itself from a man who gets drunk and beats up defenseless animals. We have discussed how employers have fired employees for misconduct at stadiums or obnoxious conduct outside of work.
Do you believe that an employer should fired an employee for such conduct outside of the workplace?
A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.
Go right to the source and ask the horse
He’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse.
He’s always on a steady course.
Talk to Mr. Ed.
People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
But Mister Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.
A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And this one’ll talk ’til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?
Well listen to this.
I am Mister Ed.
and:
He’s 34 and drinkin in honkey tonks..
Kicking hippies asses and raisin hell.
Oh, it’s up against the wall Redneck mothers!
Mothers who have raised their sons so well.
etc.
1. He is only 22; 2. He was drunk. Way much ado over minor incident.
I would fire him, yes. Whether it’s cruelty to puppies, cats, horses, or children, I would consider that a character flaw that disqualifies that person from occupying my work space. Karen S is correct about the effect on the horse. Horses remember the last bad thing that happened to them. Causing an expensively-trained police horse to become head-shy is truly deplorable.
When the dork punched the horse in the head the cop should have shot the dork in the head with a .38 cal. bullet.
You have to have a SCREW LOOSE to hit a horse who isn’t hurting anyone in the FACE. Wish that horse had bitten his hand off!!
Does the horse have to press charges? Does it know when it’s being taunted?
I find it to be a stretch to conclude that this bonehead has breached any implied term of his employment contract justifying his termination.
They should let the horse have it’s way with him.
It depends on the crime for which they were convicted. Reasons for termination include lack of trust and risk to the employer’s operations, its employees and customers. Behavior exhibited by this man shows keen disregard for animals or others. Sack him.
But our great city of Seattle knows best in its “Fair Chance” employment mandates.
I don’t believe in terminating an employee unless the person has actually been convicted, unless there is a court order interferes with their employment. Suspension without pay, yes, until the charges are proven.
He pleaded guilty. Give him community service for a month walking behind the horse with a cart and shovel while wearing stripes. If the payroll company can manage without him then can him.
Oh my God, that poor horse. I despise people who hurt animals on purpose.
A horse can easily become head-shy from getting struck in the face. That can lead to a very dangerous instinctive reaction in which a horse will violently toss his head at any sudden move towards his face. If you get hit in the head by a horse’s face, it’s like getting struck with a mallet. Their skull can easily break your nose. Plus, the head-shy horse experiences a brief flush of panic at sudden moves. A head-shy horse is also more prone to pulling back, which is a term where a tied horse suddenly panics and violently throws his weight back or even forward trying to get free. The horse could calmly stand there tied, but if you trigger the head-shy response, he could suddenly panic, even breaking his neck or you. I got badly trampled when someone’s horse pulled back and wouldn’t stop. I ran to her head to try to untie her. At the same moment, she realized she couldn’t get free pulling back, and she threw herself forward…onto me. It was bad.
Police horses go through extensive desensitization training. I would hate for his trust in his rider and humans in general to be ruined because some sadistic jerk punched him in the face repeatedly. I hope that spineless waste of space didn’t jerk on his reins and hurt his mouth, or get him in any vulnerable areas like his teeth, eye, jaw, or throat. A horse’s head is pretty robust, but there are some vulnerable areas. If the horse becomes head-shy, he will have to be desensitized to movements around his face, or he could accidentally hurt someone who just wants to pet him, or who moves suddenly while the horse is on duty.
Every single time someone abuses a horse, they are responsible for all the downstream effects – every time that horse hurts someone else, or gets sold for behavior issues, on down the line.
Can someone please post an update to the story for the condition of the horse? His cop partner must have been so pissed.
I’ve worked with many head shy horses, and it’s challenging to overcome. Plus you often discover the horse is head shy when he freaks out.
https://www.equisearch.com/articles/making-headway
Yes.
He is a football hooligan and needs to be removed from society. Nobody punches the horses. That is a no-no. You are better off punching the cop than the horse. Whatever happens to him he deserves and more.