When a horse walks into a Miami bar it's no joke

A nightclub in Miami has been stripped of its licence after a bikini-clad woman rode a white horse on to the dancefloor.

The impact was rather different from the famous moment in 1970s pop culture when Bianca Jagger was pictured astride a white horse in New York’s iconic Studio 54 nightclub.

This time horrified onlookers gasped and screamed as the animal appeared to stumble and buck, throwing off the rider.

A video of the incident was shared widely, provoking immediate condemnation and demands that the Mokai Lounge be closed.

“It’s a horse, a real horse,” a woman’s voice can be heard to exclaim on the mobile phone footage.

The episode is now being investigated for possible animal cruelty and endangering public safety.

Miami Beach Police said it had traced the horse.

City authorities immediately revoked the club’s licence after the incident in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Dan Gelber, Miami Beach mayor, condemned the stunt as inhumane.

He said: “What kind of idiot would do something like this to an animal, what kind of idiot would endanger people’s lives at that club?”

Jimmy Morales, Miami Beach city manager, said: “I was disgusted and offended that any legitimate businessperson would think this was an appropriate action to take.

“This activity was not permitted, and as soon as we became aware, I immediately instructed staff to act swiftly in remedying this situation.”

The club’s owner insisted that he knew nothing about the stunt and was co-operating with police.

Years after the Studio 54 photograph, Jagger sought to set the record straight explaining that she had not ridden the horse into the club but rather made the “foolish decision” to sit on one for a few minutes. It had already been brought in as a birthday surprise.

“No doubt you will agree with me that it is one thing to, on the spur of the moment, to get on a horse in a nightclub, but it is quite another to ride in on one,” she wrote in a letter to the Financial Times in 2015.