Plan rides to rescue of tripped horses

Jeff Schweers

Friday, March 29, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

On a beer bottle-strewn stretch 20 miles north of downtown Las Vegas stands a dusty arena. A sign on Losee Road advertises the site as a charro, a Mexican rodeo where horses reportedly are tripped and slammed into the ground.

County officials say they haven't seen it happen, but they're hearing more reports of horse-tripping here as neighboring states outlaw the practice.

Not that the local authorities could do anything about it. Nevada has no law preventing the so-called sport, which involves lassoing the legs of a galloping horse.

But a group of horse enthusiasts led by Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, has asked the County Commission to stop what they call the inhumane practice.

On April 16, commissioners plan to conduct a public hearing on an ordinance outlawing intentional tripping a horse for entertainment or sport.

It is similar to a bill Titus introduced at the 1995 Legislature.

"This is basically the same thing, but it would apply just to the county," Titus said Thursday. "Mine would have been statewide."

Titus said she was approached by several horse clubs because she had previously sponsored the puppy mill bill, which placed some restrictions on pet adoptions and required pet shops to state where the animals were bred and have veterinarians certify their health.

"They knew I was sympathetic to cruelty to animals," Titus said.

The horse tripping allegedly had begun in Elko County, Titus said, and has now spread to Southern Nevada.

Titus suspected that the practice has jumped the state line because it was recently outlawed in California. Texas, New Mexico and Maine also have laws banning the practice.

Titus introduced a bill based on those laws, but it was referred to the Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, where it never saw the light of day.

Titus accused Rhoads, a rancher, of caving in to rural counties and other ranchers who don't want to see any animal cruelty laws.

"He didn't even allow it to be heard," Titus said. "He just put it in the drawer."

The proposed county ordinance would prohibit the use of any device that would intentionally cause a horse to trip, fall or lose its balance "for the purpose of entertainment or sport."

Horse tripping is prohibited by the film and television industries, horse shows sanctioned by major breed associations, the Humane Society of the United States rodeo guidelines, and the American Humane Association Rodeo guidelines.

The proposed ordinance wouldn't interfere with lawful laying down of animals by a veterinarian, nor is it intended as a rodeo animal welfare bill or meant to interfere with any American rodeo competitions, county officials said.

Such events could be regulated by existing county codes that prohibit animal cruelty, but officials said specific language was needed to address horse tripping directly.

"If we can get Clark County to enact it, it would give us more ammunition to go back to the Legislature and try to enact it statewide," Titus said.

Otto Merida, executive director of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, said he was unaware of any type of Mexican rodeo events in Clark County, "unless something secret is being done by invitation only."

He said people in the past have tried to get permits from the City of Las Vegas and Clark County, but officials turned them down.

Merida said he didn't think the proposal discriminated against the Latin community, because horse-tripping events are not necessary to hold a charro.

"Anything that tends to break legs on horses, we would probably be against," Merida said.

Titus said the measure has the support of mainstream groups, and is not intended to be anti-Hispanic, even though horse tripping is part of traditional Mexican rodeos.

Said Titus: "It shouldn't be done, no matter who's doing it."