Steel Pier Associates’ plan to bring back the historic diving horses of Atlantic City by summer 2012 is meeting a herd of opposition from animal welfare groups.
An online petition and a Facebook groups like “Stop the Return of the Diving Horse Show to Atlantic City” have joined New Jersey and national humane groups to protest the practice.
What is the diving horse show?
This daredevil act drew crowds since the 1920s, as swimsuit-clad equestriennes launched themselves onto horses, running up high wooden ramps to jump 40 feet into the water.
In 1991, Walt Disney Pictures released “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken,” a film telling the story of Sonora Webster, a Depression-era diving horse stunt rider, who was blinded during a jump and continued to participate in the attraction. Gabrielle Anwar, now of USA TV’s “Burn Notice,” starred as Webster.
Atlantic City’s diving horse show was closed in the late 1970s amid uproar from animal rights activists. However, Steel Pier Associates announced plans February 4th to reintroduce the diving horse show this summer as part of a three-year, $100 million expansion and renovation of the Atlantic City waterfront area near the Taj Mahal Resort and Casino.
Apparently, the plan also includes revisiting horseback riding along the Atlantic City beach areas.
“The new [diving horse] act will be humane, provide the horses first class care, operate under modern safety standards to protect both the riders and the horses and will not subject the horses to cruelty,” read the official Steel Pier statement.
Animal rights lobbies went wild.
“The Humane Society of the United States emphatically opposes equine diving acts, which subject the animals to inhumane and potentially abusive situations in the course of their training, transport and performance,” commented Keith Dane, equine protection director, in a written statement (quoted in the Press of Atlantic City). “The stress and trauma endured by these animals, in addition to the risk of injury to them, make these acts unacceptable. They are senseless animal exploitation, for the sake of entertainment and profit.”
The online petition described objections to the diving horse show this way:
“There are many ways for people to have summer fun at your pier without events that involve terrifying and harming animals. Riders mount these horses and then dive from the tall pier into the water below, which has caused serious injury to both the horses and riders. Please show compassion and cancel plans to reopen the horse diving show.”
Petition advocates hope to collect at least 15,000 signatures before presenting it to Atlantic City Steel Pier President Anthony Catanoso. As of February 8th, more than 10,000 names were listed.
The obvious message is clear: if Steel Pier persists with the diving horse plan, animal lovers will tell him to go jump in a … (Well, you get the point.).
Catanoso lauded the diving horse act, speaking to reporters last week. “This is a full-scale, custom act,” the pier co-owner said. “We know the diving horse is controversial, but I think people need to look at the bigger picture. A diving horse is going to be iconic.”
Horse lovers may be left to wonder. Will the diving horse be iconic, as Catanoso suggested, or will the entire issue become ironic and anything but harmonic, if the act goes ahead? Time will tell who takes the first flying leap.
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