One of the hardest parts of understanding horse welfare has been the lies and omissions that pervade equestrian activities. Shortly after I took my first riding lesson I went to watch a four star eventing competition. I studied the professional sport riders, hoping to see what “real” riding looked like. However, I was confused by how wound up the horses appeared much of the time. “That’s what a high level horse is like,” I was told, “they’re really hot blooded.” One dressage test involved a horse wringing it’s tail every time it was asked to move into a different gait or switch leads. I asked about it, and was told this is how horses stay balanced and upright while being ridden. By flipping their tails back and forth rapidly. Not every horse did it, though, so it was confusing to me. I wonder if the person who told me that truly believed that, or if it was something they told me just to stop my questioning.
In the subsequent years of handling and observing horses, it became frustrating for me to hear different “truths” about what a horse was expressing or thinking from the horses’ behavior vs from the people surrounding me. A horse bucking and shaking its head after every jump was “excited,” a horse standing stock still without breathing was “calm” in the crossties. They were sensitive but thick skinned in the same breath. Lame in one leg and naughty in misbehaving under saddle. A professed soulmate and proclaimed idiot. It made my head spin. How could a horse be avoiding work by “faking” an asthma attack pre-lesson, yet also not have the foresight to know that knocking over their water bucket meant being thirsty all night? How could it be both? Yet somehow it made perfect logical sense to the more experienced horse trainers and owners. I was the one who didn’t know how horses worked.
The truth is we need people from outside of the equestrian world in order to change the equestrian world. There are some things that do require knowledge of horses to understand the nuances, but many times the anecdotal “truths” about horses break down under scrutiny. We need adult beginners to ask WHY and then follow up with “no, that doesn’t make any sense.” When people start as children they absorb whatever they’re told as the truth because it comes from a trusted adult. Adults have a keener nose for bullshit. Adults are fully aware of their ability to say “no, and I’m taking my money elsewhere” if things don’t compute. I think as more folks are attracted to horses as adult amateurs, we may start seeing more rapid change in how horses are treated, both in and out of horse sports.
Maeve Birch is a horse enthusiast trying to find a better way to be with horses. Find the beginning of her explorations with horses in her memoir, Standing in a Field With Horses, available from Amazon, Smashwords, and other online bookstores.
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