Four years ago I was watching video of a horse being punched on live television in the Tokyo Olympics. The result of that incident was the removal of horses from the Pentathalon event, a cascade of people searching for more ethical ways of working with horses, and a chapter in my book. This year a new round of scandal surrounding equestrian Olympians has occurred, and the Olympics haven’t even started yet. More people will be looking for a way out of the competitive horse world. People who have hit horses with whips many times, because they were told from the time they were children that if they loved their horse then this was what it took to keep them safe. Those people, if they are looking for a place to land, will be wandering the wilderness in the same way I was in the time period that my memoir was written about (albeit some with much more horse experience). They will be hacking a new trail for themselves when the obvious, wide, “safe,” paved path of hitting a horse when they’re not doing what the human wants is right next to them. What I ask is that we extend a hand if someone is wandering and say “I, too, have hit a horse because I was told that was my only option. I, too, don’t wish to go there anymore.” The beacons of more emotionally aware, ethically sound horsemanship are out here. I hope that more equestrians can find them. It’s really hard to feel alone.
-Maeve Birch, author of Standing in a Field With Horses
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