‘Is it just me laughing?’: Brother trains his baby horse to kick his sister in the shins, but no one can decide if it’s hilarious or pure evil

Sibling rivalries are the stuff of legend — literally, in the case of Norse gods Thor and Loki — but some definitely take it further than others. Brothers play pranks on their sisters all the time, but the jury’s still out on whether training an animal that famously has strong legs to lash out at your relative is a stroke of genius or a sign of psychopathy.

See for yourself and then be the judge. TikTok account @animalmomentz shared a video which claims to be from a brother who trained his baby horse to kick his sister in the shins. There’s no doubt that the precious pony giddily trotting over to its owner after it’s done the deed is adorable, but the hilarity and the cute factor are somewhat diminished by the footage of the sister-kick itself — she sure does seem to be in severe discomfort as she walks away from the horse, hobbling.

The people of TikTok seem to be split down the middle on whether this is an indication of affection or abuse. On the one hand, some were too won over by the beautiful baby horse to care all that much about the sister’s shins. “He is THE cutest horse I have ever seen,” one commenter gushed, while another did their best impression of the horse’s interior monologue: “Heh.. I did what you told me boss [proud].”

Countless others, however, immediately showed concern and empathy for the sister, with many asking if she was OK. “Dude I hope she’s okay like that look like it hurt like real bad her limping after she got hit in the knee,” someone sympathized. Others were completely unrepentant in their mirth. As one shamelessly asked, “is it just me laughing?”

But wait, hold your horses, are we sure we know what we’re looking at here? The Sherlock Holmeses among us have noticed something that may turn this whole story on its head. “I got a feeling those were 2 different horses,” one comment points out, while another concurred: “do ppl not see them being completely diff horses?” Sure enough, if you take a closer look you can see that the horse that kicks the unfortunate young woman has a much lighter coat and appears to be much bigger than the baby horse running towards the camera in the second clip.

So, what’s really happening in this video? Was the other horse kicking the sister staged? Is she even anyone’s actual sister? Are these just two entirely unrelated clips bolted together in order to generate a discussion about online ethics? It’s hard to tell, as sibling rivalries do genuinely affect just under half the American population — A 2023 YouGov poll found that 47% of U.S. men and 46% of U.S. women admitted to having a rivalry with at least one or more siblings growing up. The percentage who sicced adorable equines on them is probably much smaller, though.