Sometimes I worry I'm not doing enough with my horses. Like, “I don't put enough training on them, which I really ought to do because it raises their market value.” Without training most horses are deemed at risk of the slaughter-house on the open market. Heck, even with training and championship titles any horse can face a bolt through the head.
But more than worry about creating some convoluted, ever-fluctuating market value in my horses, I worry about doing the right thing for them. I worry about being humane and seeing value in them for simply existing rather than the potential use I could get out of them.
I believe there's a huge problem with the way we view horses, and animals in general. They're a commodity. They're ownable, tradeable, sellable, reproducable, the list goes on.
The only good horse is one that's serving OUR purpose?
Of course we'd see horses like that. We see most other creatures like that. If they aren't useful they're a pest to be eradicated. And the useful creatures become pests once their usefulness has expired.
We move and remove and exterminate entire species of animals so that we can profit from their habitat, or even their lives. Animals are to be used for sport, hobbies and entertainment.
Humans have a history of doing this with other humans even, so animals aren't a far stretch of the imagination but that's a topic for another time and another venue. What I'm talking about is what kind of value are we placing on our own horse?
I still struggle with this idea that I *should* be working my horses every day to put a dollar value on them. But I also recognize this isn't my own true belief, it's one that I've been conditioned to believe over the years. Why? Because it makes me feel unhappy and stressed out at the idea of.
My horses are valuable because they exist. Their life has a value.
What makes me most happy is interacting with my horses where they are the instigators. What do I need to ride them for, every day, schooling hard around the arena for? A ribbon or pat on the back? To prove that I'm dominant over them? So I can boss an animal around?
What would be said if we interacted with other people the way many do with horses? They don't listen so we swat them with a crop or kick them with our leg. Yell and call them “stupid”, “stubborn”, “lazy”. We'd be called abusive and uncivilized is what would happen. Who would want to be around us with our looming ego believing we're the dominant person in the room?
But we do those things with our horses and expect them to love us, be excited to work with us and be always obedient.
Commonly accepted behavior towards horses is prime example of relationship abuse if it were two humans interacting instead of a horse and person.
I've decided to create a different kind of value in my horses. Their value isn't determined by the number of movements or tricks they can do, the level of competition they've reached. It isn't even based on how tolerant they are of clueless riders kicking, pulling and prodding them.
I'm turning the tables around and letting my horses be the judge of value. Are they genuinely interested in spending time with me? If not then that's a ding of value right there – but it isn't their value that has dropped, it's my own.
My value as an equestrian is dependent on the feedback from my horses. It's no longer about me telling them what's what. They are capable of thinking, feeling and responding all on their own, so I'm giving them back that responsibility and I'm taking responsibility for my own actions in return.
How do you measure your horse's value, and your own as an equestrian?
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