07/09/2023
The horse sees you for what you are.
I recently was reminded of the idea of "if I don't carry my whip then my horse takes advantage of me", and it's something I utterly hate. If you'll indulge me for a few minutes, I'll explain.
The idea that a horse can only be convinced to do something with the threat of violence is abhorrent to me. I quite literally despise that there are "trainers" and "teachers" out there that convince people of this idea. Now, don't get me wrong, my very first teacher said this, did this and practiced this and I followed along.
I'll never forget this one day where I was dutifully carrying my crop and my horse was definitely not doing as I was asking which led to demanding, and of course that leads to taking advantage of the idea that I'm carrying a weapon that I can (and should) use against my horse. That was the last day I ever carried a crop.
The concept that is taught and seemingly very happily so, is that if you have to, you hit your horse with your whip at the first sign of insubordination. Imagine that.. Imagine doing that to any other being in your life. Got a hamster? Guinea pig? Rabbit? Cat? Dog? Human? Of course there are people that will physically hurt their pets, children, friends, spouses but we never look at them with forgiveness, or "well, I guess you had to because they didn't do what you taught them to do". We look upon those people for what they are, disgusting abusive people that should be charged. Not the horse world... those types of people are put up on pedestals, given lots of money and trophies and ribbons.
The horse world is full of "trainers" from the olympic level, to the rodeos, down to the tiny little barns like the one I went to with people that teach others to do what we would never do to another living being. To think of how to treat them in a way we would never consider with another and it starts with "if I don't have my weapon in hand, my horse won't listen to me" and "your horse is taking advantage of you, you need to teach it a lesson".
For the second part of the statement that a "horse takes advantage of me", I would say this simply isn't true. How that part is perceived is what drives the idea that you have to hit a horse to make it do what you want. Without the threat of violence (as that is the choice method of most "trainers") a horse "won't listen". Horses don't take advantage of people, they just do what they are allowed to do. If a horse steps into your space and you don't step it back or step out of it's way, well, it's allowed to do that.
The horse isn't "taking advantage" and it's a disempowering thing to say even. We should be perceiving this as a "I allowed my horse to do a thing and I don't want it, how can I fix it". This statement is empowering and puts the responsibility on our shoulders to make a change in our behavior to make a change in the horse.
So, if we empower ourselves and see how our own behaviors are affecting our horse, and if we empower ourselves to make the choice to be a friend to our horses, and if we empower ourselves to be introspective on how we can change to benefit the relationship, isn't that infinitely more powerful than resorting to violence and pain to get something done with a being that we supposedly love or just care about? Too many trainers consider violence as the path to "power" or winning that power struggle with a horse. Why is that? Why do they think that?
This concept should be resounding and reverberating throughout the horse world and changing how people treat horses, and I believe it is slowly.. one person and one horse at a time. We don't treat any other being the way we treat horses and there needs to be more people standing up those trainers that clearly hate their horses, because if they don't hate them, how on earth do they justify it to themselves to do the things they do that they'd never do to another or accept having done to them.
Or they're sociopaths.... something to ponder.
In the end though, horses see us for exactly who we are and we show it so clearly to them and to those that are looking.
