From the Gallery: https://pbase.com/britestar/barnum__bailey_circus
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In this act, a rider less horse enters the ring. The horse repeatedly & rapidly circles the ring on his own. The team leader (on the ground) suddenly leaps from the side onto the back of the fast moving horse. However, on this occasion, the rider (the short man in black) missed the horse and instead fell hard on the raised surface of the circus ring. He was obviously injured.

However, the man's first concern seemed to be the horse. Getting up and holding his injured hip, he limped over to the horse. The next several minutes were spent with the rider comforting his horse as if to assure the horse that everything was okay. Another member of the team immediately came to help the fallen rider. The rider (now up) shook his head and just continued to gently pet & talk to the confused horse.

After several minutes, the rider finally told the horse to circle the ring again; which the horse did without any hesitation. The rider then did his stunt of jumping on the horse at full out gallop. The man was obviously in pain. He didn't stay for on long. However, the horse had been calmed and was remained calm when it left the ring - on his own - after the stunt was complete.