What is it to be a real horseman? Can you be a horseman even if you’ve never before been involved with horses? Can you be involved with horses every day and still fail to be a horseman?
That is a question that came up with a recent posting to an email group, Classical Dressage, that I am a member of which was also accompanied with the link to a great video of a number of people working to help with a large number of starved horses in bringing them back to life.
What has touched me so much in this video, outside of the immense amount of dedication on everyone’s part, is that many of them showed up to help who have had no previous experience with horses.
Then on the other side of the coin there are those who have caused this great amount of suffering to the horses involved, which I would suspect have many years of experience with horses. I see it other places as well, being so involved that we become blind and end up causing more harm than good. You can go to any show and see that multiple times over of riders hurting their horses for the sake of a $10 ribbon. The price of the prize may vary, but the symptoms still remain the same.
- Cleve Well, a prominent AQHA trainer and clinician, has been accused of abuse on several occasions.
- WalkingHorseChat.com posts videos of ‘Freak of the Week’ gaited horses in action.
- A blog devoted to exposing the abuses behind showing and competition, Shame In The Showring, gives you an inside look.
As much as we continue to expose the abuses that are going on to horses in every sport, discipline and level of involvement (from day one beginners to the creme de la creme of horse ‘celebrity’), little is being prevented.
It is my opinion that without increasing overall education (not just in the horse industry but on the whole) we are only kicking dirt on the forest fire. There has to be more. Our culture has moved towards zero responsibility, we have morphed into a corporate mindset on the personal level. No one is taking responsibility to earn an education about horses before riding or owning one… or rather instead of nobody, very few.
Those who are highly educated that I encounter who are looking to learn to ride horses – do so with the same adept skill in which they undertake other areas they have no education in. They ask questions. How many experienced riders do we know that still ask questions? Less and less. Then there are others who I encounter who feel they know all the answers (even if those answers aren’t enough to enable them to do all that they want, which is exactly why they are contacting me), and because of that there isn’t a question in the world they would like to ask.
Do you still ask questions? I do, every day. Every second it seems when I’m working with my horse. Not necessarily questions about what I’m doing, but often now it is why I am doing it. How it is going to impact my horse, what the motivations are, etc. I don’t, however, ask myself questions about how much money I can make with my horse, or if I place in a certain class it will increase my perceived value and skill by my peers. Admittedly there was a time when I asked questions like how I could turn my hobby into something that profited me (and I did so with breeding horses for a time).
Now, however, I do offer services that bring money.. but they aren’t the source of my survival and I’ve given up on achieving ‘fortune’ through my horses. It takes me to a place in my mind, to think about using my horses in such a way, that seems akin to prostituting them out. As it stands right now they help me teach people and in that I am always grateful for all that they give and settles in my heart much better than the thought of them as being ‘money makers’. That is probably much of why I gave up competition, too much in it for the money and accolades to let me sleep sound at night.
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Petra Z. McGowan
December 14th, 2009
thank you for the insightful post…i agree that number of horses become the victims of the omnipresent lure of $$$, it sure says a lot about our society…
(
Erica K.
December 15th, 2009
Very well put Petra.
Valerie Potts
December 17th, 2009
I have been involoved with horses for almost 20 years now. I am always open to learning more. I don’t believe that one can ever ‘know-it-all’. I am always looking to improve my knowledge in all areas.
That said there is a lot of ‘new’ stuff out there that isn’t right (example: Rollkur) It is up to the rider/owner to take in new information but also to ‘pick-it-apart’ in a way. To look at it from all angles and ALWAYS have the horse’s happiness and welfare in the forefront of the mind.
P.S. I saw a training video of Cleve Wells at a horse expo/trade show. He had a booth there and had a video. He was working a horse and CONSTANTLY jabbing the horse in the sides with his spurs! The horse swished it’s tail at every jab and wore a very unhappy, sour expression. I’m not surprised to hear that people have been after him about ‘abuse’! That was the first time I had ever seen/heard of him and I watched the video for about 2 minutes and walked away disgusted. It only took those two minutes for me to decide that this was not somebody I would ever ‘look up to’.
Erica K.
December 17th, 2009
Valerie,
I too recall seeing Cleve train at a horse fair, it was very short because he is far from the only trainer at fairs and expos to be doing abusive things to the horse – so I tend to glance quick and keep moving. I have petitioned a few fairs to stop bringing certain trainers back when they are obviously injuring the horse (and not just doing it through their own innocent naivete)…
What I notice is common among many of these trainers is that what they say is very sweet, promising, alluring (if that is all you pay attention to), but what you see is a far cry and doesn’t match up with the commentary. What I have also observed over my years of involvement with horses is that the majority of riders look up to someone. It is rare for me to encounter someone who has no “idol” of sorts as a trainer or rider. Many feel they can never achieve the great things this said rider has, don’t have the talent or promise, etc etc. It is really unfortunate because what I have learned is that anyone can ride, not just well but very well – particularly in comparison to where the general state of horsemanship has gone – as long as they get the right direction, encouragement/support and put in the time it takes to get there.
Have you noticed the huge increase in product sales that it seems accompanies every big name trainer now? I don’t know what your experiences were when you were fresh into horses, but as far back as I can remember – it was a big deal that John Lyons (natural horsemanship) was selling reins at one time. Pat Parelli of course jumped on the merchandise bandwagon, and now I get the impression that if the goal of a trainer is to compete with some of the ‘higher-ups’ they would have to find a way to merchandise because the money isn’t made in hands-on training of the horse and rider anymore. It is through sponsorships, tv spots, media stunts, etc.