Why do that to your horse?

Just read this great article on the Epona TV website. Some very valid points made, such as "the problem with horse problems – the real ones that actually affect horses – is that their solutions often require us to make sacrifices that we don't really want to make. So we ignore them until they become our own problems and when they do, many of us seek to fix them with a minimum of effort and expense."

It's all about people doing things to/with their horses to stop the horse exhibiting "undesirable" behaviour or to get quick fix training results.  My personal bete noire is the bloody de Gogue (or Market Harborough, I think they are the same thing). Every riding school my kids have ever been to over here (apart from the English run one, interestingly) has at some time or other resorted to a good old Gogue. You can even stick them on your horse for some Club level dressage competitions. So much easier than actually educating the horse 'cos that takes a lot of time to do properly. I actually saw a horse at a competition last year being pulled so tightly in one of the wretched things that it felt it had no option but to rear, and of course that got it a beating.

I don't like a lot of other things people do to horses (you might have noticed). Draw reins, over-heavy contact, nosebands for strapping the horse's mouth shut, people dressing up their horses like a dolly ("but he looks soooo cute in his matching purple rug and booties"),  putting sparkly hoof varnish on them - WTF?, keeping them alone without other equines,  keeping them shut in stables for hours at a time, overrugging them, riding like a sack of shit, bouncing around all over their back and using the reins for balance then wondering why the horse tries to escape the arena ("he was sooooo naughty!"), wearing spurs with no clue how to use them properly, hitting a horse for refusing a jump when they had unbalanced it too much, and - dare I say it? - nailing bits of metal to their feet.

They always have a good reason (to them) for their actions - I'm cold so he must be cold, I don't want him to get dirty, he tanks off with me, he has to be in so the field doesn't get cut up in winter, he's being naughty on purpose (it's amazing how many people think their horse is out to give them a hard time!) - the list is endless.

People should think more about the effect their actions have on the horse, really think about it. Instead of just doing stuff 'cos the others on their yard do, or because it looks pretty, because they want to show off (just go to your average Western demo to see a bunch of blokes strutting their stuff and pretending to be John Wayne with zero regard for their horses' comfort) or because it makes life easier for them. But actually thinking about all this stuff is quite hard to do, even for those who actually possess a brain (and I've met a few who don't appear to have one), because nobody likes to think they might have to change their ways, especially if it'll be more like hard work for them......

Oops, this appears to have turned into another rant....better leave it there - for now ;-)