The King’s Life Guard, a major attraction for anyone visiting London, involves soldiers from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at Horse Guards.These officers have the duty of standing guard. Despite this, tourists are given the opportunity to pose next to them for photos, though they do so at their own peril.
Tourists are warned of the horses on a sign.YouTube/ busk1976
The guards are safe enough; however, a sign placed near one of the guard posts cautions visitors that the horses ‘may kick or bite’.
The sign also advises, “Don’t touch the reigns.” It appears that the intention behind this sign is to keep tourists from coming too close.
Nonetheless, videos that have been shared online indicate that many individuals ignore this warning in hopes of getting a better picture.
One woman found out the hard way that the warning sign was not merely for decoration.
She tried to take her picture by quickly moving in next to the horse, taking the spot of another tourist who had just moved away.
The horse seemed to be taken aback by her sudden approach and responded by turning its head sharply towards her and biting her arm.The woman screamed as the horse pulled her closer to its body. She eventually freed her arm and hurried back to the safety of the crowd.
At first, she seemed to be alright, managing to stay on her feet while others in her group comforted her.However, the situation escalated when she later bent down towards the ground, surrounded by people who were clearly worried about her.
The person filming the event, known on YouTube as Buska in the Park (@busk1976), was informed that the woman had fainted due to the ordeal.Following this, the King’s Guard asked him to alert armed officers nearby. He quickly directed the officers to where the woman was still down on the ground.
Armed officers gathered around the woman after she fainted.YouTube / busk1976
The video capturing this incident was posted on YouTube on July 21. It has quickly gathered over 40,000 views and hundreds of comments.
Many viewers have expressed that tourists ought to heed the warnings given on the signs when trying to take their photos.One viewer emphatically noted, “Stop running up to the horse for goodness sake! Read the signs!”
Another commented, “The signs are there for a reason please read them.”In a follow-up, the YouTuber who uploaded the video remarked that the woman ‘walked away fine’ after everything that happened.
