Don’t Let History Repeat Itself—Here’s How YOU Can Help Protect Horses Exploited in HBO’s ‘The Gilded Age’

HBO is stuck in the past in more ways than one, as the studio still exploits live horses in its series The Gilded Age.

If you missed last season, here’s a quick recap: Multiple whistleblowers alleged that horses on set had been overworked, including one who had died. The period drama’s third season began filming on August 5 in Albany, Schenectady, and Troy, New York—and PETA’s reminding everyone to be on high alert so that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Casting Call: The Gilded Age Needs Whistleblowers!

As filming for The Gilded Age is underway, PETA is calling on cast, crew, and local fans to keep an eye out for abuse on set, which can include the following:

• Food or water deprivation
• Denying animals adequate breaks
• Forcing animals to work long hours in extreme heat
• Inadequate access to shade from the sun and elements
• Physical abuse
• Lack of veterinary treatment
• Dangerous stunts
• Explosives, fireworks, or open fires on set near horses

If you or anyone you know sees something concerning, please report it to PETA’s film and television whistleblower hotline immediately. (Keep in mind: If you see something and don’t know whether it’s worth reporting, please get in touch anyway. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.) If you believe an animal is in immediate danger, you should also contact the local police.

Keep reading to find out what whistleblowers saw on the set of The Gilded Age and what PETA is doing about it.

Previously on The Gilded Age …

PETA’s ‘Horses’ Storm the Set of The Gilded Age Over Another Damning Whistleblower Report

August 23, 2022: In the wake of a whistleblower report alleging that horses were being worked to the point of exhaustion on the set of The Gilded Age, PETA supporters dressed as horses descended on the production equipped with signs reading, “We Don’t Want to Be in Your Damn TV Show.”

The whistleblower alleged that apparently distressed horses were denied water and adequate breaks while being forced to work long hours in 90- to 100-degree weather. A horse reportedly also broke away from a wrangler and trampled an actor, an incident the whistleblower claims could have been avoided had the production taken a break for lunch to allow the horses to rest.

HBO really shouldn’t use horses in its productions at all—but at the very least, it needs to help ensure the welfare of horses on set. In addition to our bold demonstration, PETA called on local animal control to investigate the allegations of cruelty to horses and asked HBO for a necropsy report that reportedly had been done on the horse who collapsed and died in June.

Whistleblowers Alert PETA to the Death of a Horse on Set

July 7, 2022: Multiple whistleblowers told PETA that a horse died on the set of HBO’s The Gilded Age, which may have prevented the network from sweeping this incident under the rug.

After receiving the complaints, PETA contacted HBO executives and producers for more information about the alleged death of the horse—who, according to one whistleblower, suffered from head trauma and was 23 years old with preexisting health conditions. The complaints revealed that the horse had been seen “severely frothing” at the mouth. HBO has confirmed reports of the horse’s death in the media, stating that the horse “collapsed and died, likely of natural causes,” which left more questions than answers.

Apparently, HBO’s standards for animals used in productions are as backward as its period dramas. Horses have died on an HBO set before: A decade ago, the network tried—and failed—to sweep the deaths of three horses on the set of the series Luck under the rug.

When HBO’s execs refused to come clean about the deaths, we learned from whistleblowers that one of the horses had been given a cocktail of potent drugs and that another was 8 years old and arthritic. After PETA catapulted news of the deaths of the horses into the public eye and pressed law-enforcement officials to launch an investigation, the network canceled the series.

Despite our win for horses back then, it seems that HBO hasn’t yet learned its lesson. PETA penned a letter to let the network know that this pattern cannot continue. We demanded that HBO launch an investigation into the death of the horse and stop using horses in its productions.

Help Horses Exploited by Hollywood

PETA has revealed that horses have been injured and killed during several Hollywood productions, including Flicka, American Outlaws, Simpatico, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and War Horse. On film and TV sets, horses are often pushed past their limits, forced to perform dangerous stunts, and terrified by their highly unnatural surroundings.

Networks like HBO have the money and resources to use humane and realistic computer-generated imagery as well as other alternatives instead of live horses, so there’s simply no excuse for exploiting these sensitive animals, let alone allowing them to be injured or killed.

You can do your part for horses by taking action below: