Yet another Chinese period drama has been accused of horse abuse.

Last week, Who Rules The World made headlines after it was alleged to have deliberately tripped a stunt horse, causing it to fall and injure its neck.

Now, The Long Ballad, which aired in 2021 and which stars Wu Lei, Dilraba Dilmurat, and Zhao Lusi, has been thrown into the spotlight after a netizen raised questions of whether a horse too had been injured in a scene.

Sharing a clip of a horse falling off a broken rope bridge, the netizen wrote: “Did the horse that was in the period drama that aired previously fall off the cliff and die? There is no explanation. It is said that the horse was also injured very badly. Was it special effects or did it really fall? Come forward to explain.”

While the name of the drama wasn’t mentioned, it is understood that it was a scene from The Long Ballad.

The horse falls off the bridge and down the cliff

Turns out, it was a dummy horse.

On Saturday (Apr 30), the drama’s martial arts director, Fan Yizhu, took to Weibo to share that a “fake horse” was used for the scene.

“My dear fans, I am here to clarify about the fake horse in The Long Ballad,” he wrote, adding behind-the-scenes footage of the shoot.

No animals were harmed in the making of the drama

Yizhu said that a dummy horse made of sponge was used for the scene and that he loves animals too much to sacrifice a life for work.

“It's not worth it and it is not necessary. I really love life," he said.

The netizen immediately apologised after Yizhu clarified the matter.

Photos: Fan Yizhu/Weibo