A video circulating on social media in the past few hours has sparked renewed outrage after it showed two individuals racing horses with serkin on a public road in Rabat, Malta – while oncoming cars approached them head-on.
According to newsbook.mt, the footage was originally uploaded by a person related to one of the riders, and appears to have been filmed from a car following the pair. Voices inside the vehicle can be heard encouraging the riders to push harder, despite the obvious danger to the animals, the riders themselves, and other road users.
The incident occurred in Triq it-Tigrija, a narrow country road leading toward Telgฤงa tas-Saqqajja, where the lanes tighten significantly. In parts of the video, the horses are visibly forced into the path of incoming traffic. Several shocked drivers are heard honking as the animals are raced directly toward them at speed.
The blatant disregard for the horsesโ well-being in this latest video is not an isolated case – and it highlights a wider, persistent issue. Malta has long struggled with a culture of informal horse racing on public roads, one that continues to place animals in threatening and unnatural situations.
Animal welfare advocates argue that such acts constitute clear abuse: horses are placed under extreme physical stress, pushed to run on hard surfaces not designed for their physiology, and exposed to vehicles that could easily injure or kill them. Meanwhile, motorists and pedestrians are left at risk due to unpredictable, illegal behaviour on the roads.
This incident once again raises urgent questions:
Why do these practices persist? And are current enforcement measures truly effective, or is Malta tolerating a dangerous, outdated tradition at the expense of animals and public safety? For many in the community ย and for animal rights campaigners, this latest case is yet another reminder that Maltaโs approach to animal abuse remains reactive, not preventative.
As more videos emerge, the concern is no longer whether these acts happen, but how often they go unreported.
Newsroom
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