A carriage driver whose horse collapsed in the middle of a Melbourne road has been filmed appearing to kick the animal in frustration.

Onlookers filmed the confronting moment the driver started screaming at the horse, before lashing out at witnesses who begged for him to stop.

'Get up, f**king lazy b***h,' the driver could be heard saying to the horse, named Tuesday, in the footage filmed by veterinary nurse Krista Knight.

A carriage driver whose horse collapsed in the middle of a Melbourne road has been filmed kicking the animal

Ms Knight begged for the man to stop kicking the horse before trying to explain it couldn't move as it was still connected to the carriage.

'Love, I know what I'm doing. Get out of the way,' the Unique Carriage Hire driver snarled back.

Owner Dean Crichton said the furor that erupted since the video was posted online would probably destroy the business he'd spent his life building.

He acknowledged the driver, called Wayne, shouldn't have called Tuesday a f**king lazy b***h, but that he would never hurt a horse.

'He did not kick that horse with any malice, it was just a nudge like come on get up, like if your mate fell over outside the pub,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'Wayne lost his cool but it was a very stressful situation with everyone yelling at him. It was out of character for him to use language like that.

'It would have been better if that vet had put her phone in her pocket and helped, and they would have got the horse up straight away.'

The horse, named Tuesday, relaxing in a paddock when not on duty carting tourists around

A tearful Mr Crichton recounted how he found the driver as a street kid 30 years ago and took him under his wing.

'He loves horses and would never hurt them. He started off polishing the stables and fetching coffee,' he said.

'He's not the sharpest, he can't read or write, but now he has his own family and isn't a burden on society.

'The horse just stumbled, she wasn't hurt at all she just needed a bit of help to get up. The last time one of our horses stumbled was five years ago, you see more kids fall over in Federation Square in five minutes.'

Mr Crichton said Tuesday was back at work a day later and suffered no injuries in the fall.

He said the horse, named Tuesday, was back at work a day later and suffered no injuries in the fall

His 100 horses spend vast majority of their time in paddocks and are rotated through to look after their welfare.

He recounted how he had been under siege by animal rights activists who abused his staff and tried to get his business shut down.

'We're being heckled, yelled at, spat on by animal extremists every day. My 24-year-old daughter has been harassed so much she's had to take out restraining orders on people,' he said.

'They jump into our yard, steal our equipment, vandalise our carriages, and even let the horses out of their stables.'

Mr Crichton said a recent poll voted horse-drawn carriages the second most popular attraction in the Melbourne CBD.

'All I want to do is show people around this lovely city,' he said,

The carriage driver said 'I know what I'm doing' when confronted by horrified onlookers

However, Ms Knight insisted there were no 'negative comments' made by onlookers, who were just trying to help the stricken animal.

'The carriage driver was abusive to civilians and also the this beautiful mare causing her to thrash and bleed from the mouth,' she wrote on social media.

'Just needed to keep the horse calm until it could be unhitched. Once standing he immediately attached her again to the carriage and continued on the ride, no water, no checking legs nothing.

'We need a protocol for this situation, not abuse.'