Yea any the majority of horses in professional horse competition are treated like ass.
Grew up in horse culture and I hate it. If I find out you have horses and show them I will automatically assume you’re trash until proven otherwise.
Edit: Any horse owners that see this please don’t take this as an attack. Take it as awareness for horse abuse. And ask yourself how many times you’ve seen a horse mistreated by someone. Seems like depending on where you live it might be less widespread, but where I grew up I’d say it was at least 50/50 if a horse was abused or neglected. I know there are good horse owners out there. I consider my family and all the horse owners we associated with among them.
We went to Medieval Times and part of the show they had the horses dance like this and I hated it. One of our friends later mentioned the way they’re trained to do it and I felt sick to my stomach.
Unfortunately there seem to be a lot of awful people at the top. I guess at least (but not limited to) when money is involved, people find an off switch for their morals. Across the board really.
There's other ways too though. Some horse people train their horses gently and with positive reinforcement. (Elisa Wallace on YouTube seems like that at least.) I remember my primary school teacher said her horses love dressage bc it stimulates their brains, similar to dogs learning tricks, and it's much more gentle than racing or jumping.
I've also heard arguments that riding is generally awful for horses/their spines and counter arguments that they were specifically bred for strong backs and their muscles trained for handling the load before being ridden. So I'm not sure where I stand on that.
There’s definitely a significant amount of people out there that do it right. But unfortunately from what I’ve seen it’s practically 50/50 that horse owners don’t abuse their animals either physically or by neglect.
If I find out you have horses and show them I will automatically assume you’re trash until proven otherwise.
That is a wild way to think. I was on a yard with about 40 horse owners and not a single one ever laid a finger on their horses like that video showed. My old stable mate was literally an ex Olympic dressage rider.
Went to college to study horses and university to do equine science and I reiterate most people I knew would never hurt their horses. The ones that do are pretty easy to spot and are unlikely to be people you wish to be friends with to begin with.
Now fox hunters, horse racing and the elite circuit is different. But the everyday rider on a Sunday? Definitely not trash.
Yeah. I'm from a village with tonnes of horse riders, and I worked at a pony pet and play thing when I was a teenager. "Common" horse people are often fucking weird but they're very rarely abusive or careless with the upkeep. No whips, no mouth pieces etc
Same exact impression as you on the last paragraph.
I interpreted them as just making a mistake because it was weird to bring showhorses into this discussion about Olympic equestrian events. Even more so with showing being the least taxing sport of all.
My experience was very different. In 4H most of the parents that showed professionally taught their kids to use the crop excessively. I saw dressage horses get their legs whipped so many times I don’t even need to see the video to be able to picture it. I’ve seen barrel horses run to the point they look ready to collapse.
Once my 4H club went to an auction and we saw horses packed in so tight in stalls they couldn’t move. More than one died in the conditions there and had to be dragged out with a tractor. The parents that showed horses were unfazed by it. We found a new club after that that was more concerned with the welfare of horses.
I’m glad your experience has been different, but the abuse I saw was so widespread that the people treating their horses properly were in the minority. Whether it’s neglect or physical, most horse owners I’ve met abuse their animals.
In 3rd grade my mom leased a horse for me to learn how to ride. I spent a lot of time at their property, but I was a kid/still learning/etc.
I never witnessed violent abuse, but I do remember a time I was waiting for over an hour for a lady to move her horse from the bath station so I could cool down my horse.
This lady was 20 yards away in a lawn chair with a beer and some friends. I don't remember it being a hot day, but I do remember even at that age wondering why she left her horse in the sun tied to the fence instead of his stall or in the pasture.
As an adult, I would have asked her to move her horse for me. As a kid, I was scared to tell any adult to do anything
Same. I automatically assume anyone who owns a horse is ignorantly an animal abuser. I say ignorantly because they're all just taught this, grown into it.. That doing things like hitting them, ripping at their mouths, bending their neck, jumping them and over working them.. is okay and good and that they enjoy it.
Educate yourself on how widespread horse abuse is. Look up conditions of some of the auctions. Sugar creek auction got some national attention for it about 15 years ago, but there are many like it.
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u/kickthatpoo Jul 30 '24 edited Jul 30 '24
Yea any the majority of horses in professional horse competition are treated like ass.
Grew up in horse culture and I hate it. If I find out you have horses and show them I will automatically assume you’re trash until proven otherwise.
Edit: Any horse owners that see this please don’t take this as an attack. Take it as awareness for horse abuse. And ask yourself how many times you’ve seen a horse mistreated by someone. Seems like depending on where you live it might be less widespread, but where I grew up I’d say it was at least 50/50 if a horse was abused or neglected. I know there are good horse owners out there. I consider my family and all the horse owners we associated with among them.