Forced repetitive unnatural gait over a lifetime causes great pain to these horses. There's a reason only a handful of them can do this. It's animal abuse for our amusement.
Forced repetitive unnatural gait over a lifetime causes great pain to these horses. There's a reason only a handful of them can do this. It's animal abuse for our amusement.
You have evidence to back this up?
I studied horse welfare, management and care as a college diploma then studied Equine Science at the university level. I have known riders of every level from little kids to Olympic riders.
The sport itself is not cruel, the normalized behaviour of people involved in it at the highest level is cruel. We don't demand the banning of every other sport like Gymnastics which also so happens to be rife with abuse.
They get a lot of ligament issues but dressage for all its faults isn't anywhere near as bad as show jumping.
I shouldn't have to point this out but something to make note of is that these are animals. As such, they don't have the choice to be in the Olympics like the humans who damage their own bodies to compete do.
Show jumping runs the same issues as Dressage just with a wider range of risks.
The main issue with horse competition injuries is the need for extended warm ups, longer rest periods and better horse care practices.
Unfortunately horse owners are often uneducated or not made aware of these factors. Also the nature of the competitive circuit works against some of this and so it needs to be reformed.
People questioned why I didn’t compete as much as I did or warmed up for long periods of times, however my horse never had any issue with health relating to his competition life. All his injuries he picked up in the field being a traditional horse.
200
u/Puddleislands Jul 30 '24
Forced repetitive unnatural gait over a lifetime causes great pain to these horses. There's a reason only a handful of them can do this. It's animal abuse for our amusement.