The horrifying incident begins showing a tiger chewing down on the horse’s neck, having taken the huge mammal down to the ground.
Desperate circus workers attempt to distract the tiger by beating it with sticks but it is soon joined in the attack by a massive lion.
Attempting to drag it across the ground, the lion clings to the underside of the horse while the tiger rounds from the front in order to launch another attack.
Ringleaders inside the cage are helpless to the gruesome attack, which finally comes to an end almost two minutes later.
Remarkably, the horse is seen back on all four legs walking around in the background, bleeding but alive.
The incident, which was filmed in Cangzhou City, in China’s northern Hebei Province, occurred during rehearsals for a stunt that went horribly wrong.
Trainers attempted to coax the lion and tiger into riding on the back of the white horse, which had a small platform strapped to its back in place of a saddle.
“The animals didn’t cooperate too well,” a spokesman for the circus said.
“The horse kicked the lion, which began biting it in return.”
He added that the horse was “fine” and that it was “normal” for similar incidents to occur during rehearsals.
