by NATASHA VITALE
A Nevada Assembly committee supported banning most “horse tripping” for sport, entertainment, or practice Thursday, sending a bill to the full Assembly.
State Senate Bill 72 was one of many bills prohibiting animal cruelty that were discussed in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources on Thursday. It bans horse tripping unless it is part of an event that is allowed by the local government.
The bill passed the committee by a vote of 10-2, with Assemblymen Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, and John Ellison, R-Elko, opposing the bill.
Horse tripping is defined in the bill as “roping of the legs of or otherwise using a wire, pole, stick, rope or other object to intentionally cause a horse, mule, burro, ass or other animal of the equine species to fall.”
The bill exempts tripping a horse for medical purposes and catching the animal by the front legs and releasing in a government-sanctioned event.
Ellison said that the bill was unrealistic, while Hansen opposed the idea that the horses were being intentionally harmed, and he compared calf roping in American rodeos to horse tripping.
“Having had a lot of communication with some Mexican rodeo people and having done a little homework in the meantime on these things, I think this was a really convenient target,” Hansen said of the bill.
This article was also published here through our journalism partnership with RGJ Media
