A circus lion and a tiger turned on a horse during a riding stunt – attacking the creature in front of horrified trainers.

The brutal attack took place inside a tent belonging to the Chinese ‘Taiyang’ circus during show rehearsals in Cangzhou City.
According to a Taiyang Circus spokesman surnamed Xu, the incident, which was caught on video, took place around two weeks ago, reports the Metro.

The plan was for the lion and tiger to ride on the back of the horse, which can be seen with a small platform strapped to its back in place of a saddle.

The spokesman said: ‘But the animals didn’t cooperate too well. The horse kicked the lion, which began biting it in return.’
To make matters worse, the tiger which was also in the ring at the time, joined in on the attack, biting at the horse’s legs as it tried to flee.

The distressing footage shows the horse desperately going in circles around the caged ring as both the lion and the tiger cling to its body.

Circus staff used whips to drive the two big cats away, the video shows, with the panicking horse left bleeding and injured at the end of the ordeal.

Xu said the horse was ‘fine’ after the attack, and that it was ‘normal’ for similar incidents to occur during rehearsals. Their shows continued as planned.