Xenia Denise has spoken out after a Palma de Mallorca carriage driver doused her with water and hurled body-shaming insults when she asked him to hydrate his horse.
The German tourist, whose Aug. 28 Instagram video of the confrontation has drawn widespread attention, documented the encounter in the Spanish island city where temperatures neared 90 degrees. Xenia approached the driver after spotting what she described as a thin, listless-looking horse standing nearby.
“In Palma, there are still emaciated, thirsty horses!” Xenia wrote alongside the footage. “I asked one of the owners if he could give his horse something to drink.”
What followed was anything but a simple exchange. The driver unleashed a multilingual tirade mixing German, English and Spanish, branding Xenia a “neo-Nazi.” He then pivoted to mocking her appearance, trailing behind her to shout “Look at that ass — she needs some McDonald’s,” before snapping: “Go eat a hamburger.”
Throughout the verbal assault, Xenia remained composed and continued pressing her original request. The driver appeared to finally agree — only to twist the water hose directly into her face.
“By the way, he also actually put his hands on my face,” Xenia alleged in her post.
Her call to action afterward pulled no punches: “DO NOT give these animal abusers any money… This kind of s–t needs to be stopped.”
The incident has triggered official action. The Palma de Mallorca City Council has opened an investigation and is weighing measures against the driver, according to La Stampa. Animal rights party Progreso en Verde has gone further, demanding his carriage license be revoked and announcing plans to take the case to prosecutors over alleged assault, harassment and incitement to hatred.
“This is not the first time that situations like this have occurred,” group president Guillermo Amengual said. He claimed numerous women have reported being verbally abused after raising concerns about carriage horses.
The carriage-drivers’ association has pushed back with its own version, alleging Xenia’s group provoked the clash by insulting the driver — including calling him a “gitano,” or Gypsy — before filming began.
Online reaction to Xenia’s video was swift and fierce. “Why is nobody stopping him??” one commenter demanded. “He crossed the line when he touched her face and when he poured that water on her.”
“There is no justification for animal abuse or animal torture in the name of tradition or entertainment,” another wrote. “it has to stop!!!”
Xenia directed her Instagram followers to a PETA Germany petition seeking to ban Mallorca’s horse-drawn carriages and replace them with animal-free alternatives. The petition notes two recent incidents in Palma where carriage horses collapsed within days of each other. The campaign mirrors activism in New York City, where calls to end horse-drawn carriages intensified after teen tourist Romanch Mahajon was thrown to his death from a Central Park carriage when the animal allegedly bolted.
The investigation by Palma authorities remains ongoing.