… and other extreme Animal Right's groups. But not for the reason you might expect.
Has another equestrian ever warned you against criticizing horse abuse, because “we” need to be careful about supporting animal rights and subsequently AR groups like PETA, ASPCA, etc? I usually get a comment or private message to that effect every time I post about abuse.
Should we stay mum so as not to help out Animal Right's groups? Many of them are pushing to ban animal ownership, period. Helping them out could mean they take away our ability to own horses, to keep them, to ride them, to…
Oh my!
But to ignore horse abuses out of fear that our horses will be taken away (even if you provide the most exceptional care)… well I hate to say but it's terribly selfish. We'd rather see horses abused (without intervention) than be unable to own them ourselves?
- Equestrians were outraged as Farida Khan proudly shared videos of herself spurring, whipping and riding her horses to exhaustion. But how many horse shows do you attend to see riders yanking on the reins, spurring, punishing without intervention?
What we should be afraid of is allowing abuse to go unchecked and ignored. Abuse that's given laundry-list excuses to explain away why that person was justified in beating on their horse; “I was trying to load him in the trailer for an hour and a half,” so they felt it okay to wail on the horse with complete abandon. Or Dressage riders who employ Rollkur to the extent that they cause permanent damage to the horse, because they “needed to gain submission, he's a very hot horse and difficult to control.” The list becomes endless, really.
If I weren't an equestrian, but instead looking at horse events from outside the community I would likely want to ban horse ownership too. I'd think everyone was in support of abusing horses, even if they weren't doing it themselves, because it goes unchecked to such an extent in public view – let alone what happens in private!
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDKe4tlPQSg
- Like this video of the 2011 Reichert Celebration. Riders yanking on the reins, constant spurring, see-sawing the reins. Overall a lot of actions that seem more like ‘busy work' so the rider has something to do with their body parts. What's the purpose?
By remaining silent, by accepting these empty excuses, by quietly accepting this behavior in public we are indirectly helping extreme Animal Right's groups prove their point. That equestrians are incapable of humane treatment of the horses in their care and their community and should not be allowed to own horses.
Sure, we should worry about the goals of groups like PETA, but we should be terrified of how abusive equestrians represent the horse community as a whole.
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PeTA isn’t suggesting that horse back riding be banned. http://www.peta.org/about-peta/faq/how-does-peta-feel-about-horseback-riding/
Most animal rights groups aren’t pushing to end animal ownership, but Alexander Nezvorov, of the Haute Ecole, DOES advocate that horses no longer be ridden and that they should go extinct. Herein lies the real extremism.
PETA and the ASPCA do not want to ban horse ownership. So I’m confused – why exactly should we be afraid of PETA? Please do your research before unneccessarily slamming animal rights organizations.
PETA states on their website they feel riding is fine as long as the horse is not trained through harsh methods and is well cared for. And while they do not believe in Spurs, whips, etc as a horse owner that does use Spurs I would never say I am scared of PETA or the ASPCA and even the suggestion that a responsibile owner should be is ridiculous.