There is a painful truth – horses are abused every day. Equestrians at every level, in every discipline, at every age level, skill level, and popularity level are involved in some form of abuse. That is not to say that all equestrians period abuse their horses, but rather to say that abuse does not discriminate. They come from every country and not all of them are obvious.
And, we have all witnessed some form of abuse against horses.
“What?” you may ask… just put in any popular movie involving horses as a central theme. Most of them involve some form of horse abuse by the bad character. Many are less obvious and help to found myths and ridiculous theories about riding, training and caring for horses.
Let's not forget about horse racing which in itself goes against the horse in every way possible and in no way puts the horse's interests first.
But that isn't even my issue, or why I am writing this post right now. What I want to know is where did we lose our voice to speak up against these abuses? How many of us have witnessed a horse being roughed up or mishandled, being punished for the rider's glaring mistakes, and rather than speaking up we have turned a cheek and walked away? I know I have, and know of too many others who have admitted to the same. We admit that it is painful to go to horse shows because of the plethora of abuses that go on in public, but why do we not speak up and speak out?
What causes us to shy away, to back down when an angry rider begins lashing out on their horse for their own failings? I want to make a late resolution and encourage all to join in with me – to speak up and speak our mind when we see these things. Be they public or private.
Just because a rider is a “nice person” does not mean they are nice to their horse, and cannot be the grounds to dismiss their abuse against the horse. Or that they are champions in the show ring. These are not valid arguments! This is how rollkur has continued to progress in the international dressage scene – as those making the rules argue that because the riders are professionals (aka making money) it is okay. These are ridiculous arguments!
I am just tired of seeing horses hurt, and tired of being chided by those with little knowledge for speaking my mind against these abuses. It is time that knowledge and skill progresses in the horse world and pushes abusive riding out the door – which is caused largely by ignorance and ego.
This goes for those in the private and public eye including clinicians and speakers, instructors, regional, national and international competitors, “professionals” and so on.
Join 3,000 Equestrians
Receive New Articles In Your Email
I have to say I have done it too.. walked away with out say something when you know a horse is being abused… Why? you may ask.
well for lots of reasons:
1 We have became a society that dose not want to get into others business. good or bad. and yelled at or being ridiculed ourselves, or worse being sued for “Melding”.
2 because we hope someone else will say something… or at least that is what we tell ourselves.
my story of saying something…
A fun day of gymkhana and games on horses for adults and kids with their beloved pets.
Great place for me to work with my young horse that needs to get out in public.
Young boy on a cute, cute paint pony, ridding in a curb bit, and SPURS ( what 8 year old needs a curb bit and spurs, I ask my self). he dose great for most of the day, pulling too much on the pony’s mouth, but am told he needs a bit like that or the pony will run away with him. ( I see no such indication in the 6 hours we are there), anyway, getting on to the end of the day… pony is tiered, hot and wants to just stand and rest. boy wants to ride over to his friends. and proceeds to kick pony and pull back on reins. boy is getting mad as pony is backing up faster and faster. getting kicked hard with those spurs.
I have seen enough, the pony is getting mad too and is going to buck or rear because there is no other answer.
I walk over grab the pony and ask the boy to stop. he yells at me to let go his stupid pony, he is going to make him go.
I say you can not make him go forward when you are pulling back on the reins.
Boy looks at me like I have lost my mind. and tells me to get lost. (great getting told off by an 8 year old)
I promptly tell him his pony is tiered and he should get off.
Well he gets off and goes strait to him mom, (of course I don’t get along with her)
and then I get told to mind my own business and to never talk to her kids or touch the pony. with out even wanting to listen to me about what happen.
So needless to say the boy got back on the pony, kicked him and yanked on his mouth. making it go.
I ask you are going to let him treat his pony that way.
All I got is a dirty look….
So why say something?!?
I agree that it can be very uncomfortable to speak up and say something… but in the same breath will argue that it is a skill we must practice. If enough people were to reprimand this woman and her son I should hope she would eventually realize that her approach is amiss.
In marketing they say a person has to be exposed to the same product advertisement some 18 times before they even become conscious of having seen it.
You are one of those 18 exposures to something other than what she considers to be correct… but if everyone practices and rallies together there will be more people who are confronted about their abusive handling of horses and it will begin to swing the tide in the other direction. 🙂
I have spoken up time and time again when I see abuse heaped on the horses I care for. The “riders” of these horses are poorly trained at best. I see horses with their heads tied down, lunged for 30 minutes or more before they are ridden, I see them with incredibly poor riders balancing themselves on thier horses’ mouths. I speak up and/or make these “riders” stop what they are doing. What do I get for it? An hour in the supervisor’s office getting chewed out for having the audacity to question a police officer. What do I do afterward? I keep speaking out for the horses. The man who taught me, my mentor told me”We are here for the horses. They depend on us to keep them safe and healthy. That’s what a horseman thinks of first—the horse. His name was Charlie Whittingham—he trained race horses.
I, too, have unfortunately witnessed a lot of abuse against horses. I left a lesson barn because of it. I’m always too frightened to speak up, because most of the people I see doing it are coaches or owners of their own horses. Nobody likes to be chastised by anyone, especially a kid like me. I’ve assumed I would just be told to mind my own business. So I hug my lease and tell him how grateful I am to know how to treat him kindly.
I have always wondered about this too. I see abuse in the horse world all around me, from mild to outrageous. However if you say something, the people who are doing it and virtually all supposed “horse lovers” around the incident will look at you suspiciously, then turn away, mumbling. You can even be attacked if you try to say something!
Local humane societies seem helpless and unable/unwilling to do anything about-they can’t seem to even deal with obvious neglect.
I don’t know what the solution is, we are a “mind your own business” society and we all are very, very afraid to do anything about what we see.
I HATE to say anything because I know I’ll be told, and not very nicely, to mind my own business. It’s always ugly, and I always end up questioning my eyesight and knowledge. But I say something anyway I can’t NOT speak up. It never gets easier, and I HATE having to do it. But I usually like the horse better than the rider.