crashdang said:
Hi, PM. Your reply is well written and your intentions are good and I'm sure you treat your horses well. But I must agree with Pain Freak on this one.
You write that your horse loves it when you take him out, but he hates it when you make him go home. Why? Because when you two are leaving home, he feels free, and we all feel good when we are free. He hates turning back because where does he end up? Behind a fence? In a stall in a stable? In horse prison? Granted, that is treating a horse very well in human terms. But would your horse be happier in that stable or outside running free? Think from the horse's perspective.
Horses were designed to carry weight? Huh? A horse is ideal for carrying a person if you think in human terms. I doubt any horse thinks that.
Your horse loves having you on his back and if he didn't want you or anyone to ride him, no one would or could? Well, did your horse love having someone on his back from Day 1, or was he broken to accept someone on his back? How long did that take? Was he happy back then?
I didn't want to post this because I didn't want to call you out or show you up. But as Pain Freak pointed out and I completely agree, deep down you know what's true. I've had many opportunities to ride a horse in the past and I turned down every offer. I don't think it's right. But I wouldn't jeer you or insult you if I saw you riding your horse on the trail.
Jerry,
I understand and respect your position, and I don't feel like you're calling me out in any way. Your belief, though romantic, is not based on one ounce of fact. I don't feel like you've shown me up, instead, my first thought when I read your post was that some education is in order.
Actually, I gentled and broke my horse myself, and he's never bucked a day in his life. He is kept in a large pasture with other horses, living as he would if he were free. As a matter of fact, he is a Mustang and I adopted from the BLM. He was a year old, born free, and totally wild when I adopted him. Truth be told, I have two mustangs and neither of them was any problem to train, nor did either of them fight me in any way. Ever. When I ride him, it is with a bridle called a side pull. The side pull is a simple piece of rope over his nose. There is no bit in his mouth, and no pressure on his face whatsoever. Even though my horses live in a pasture and are essentially "free", if the weather is bad, they are brought in and if necessary, blanketed to keep warm.
I believe with every fiber of my being that my horses prefer their lives with me as opposed to running free. Why? Let's look at the horse's life as you believe it should be: At the turn of the century, an estimated two million wild horses roamed America's rangelands. By the 1950s, their population dropped to fewer than 20,000. Later, in order to increase profits from the sale of horses to slaughter houses, wild horses were rounded up by airplane and forced to run until they dropped from exhaustion. Public concern developed over falling populations and inhumane treatment by profiteers who captured and sold the animals for slaughter. This outcry prompted the Wild Horse and Burro Act to be passed in 1971 which prevented this abuse.
Currently, there are about 32,000 wild horses and burros roaming on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states. Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators (thanks to humans) and their herd sizes can double about every five years. Now because of our unchecked population growth, there is less and less land for these horses to live on, so that means more wild horses and less food to sustain them. This leads to suffering and death by starvation and lack of water, if disease doesn't get them first. Consider something called Colic. Colic is caused my many factors, but the most common cause is worm infestation from grazing. In an attempt to relieve themselves from the pain, a colicky horse will lay down and roll back and forth. However, since a horse's intestine is approximately 122 feet long, often the rolling and thrashing that accompanies colic results in the intestine becoming twisted. If immediate care is not recieved, the horse will die a torturous death, and if he's lucky, his intestine won't explode before he dies.
Let's not forget injury. What about the unfortunate animal that finds itself on a highway in the path of an oncoming car? Or the animal that breaks his leg and suffers for days before he eventually dies? Or the animal that cuts himself and dies weeks later from a festering infected wound that has turned into blood poisoning. If starvation, injury, or disease isn't enough, what about natural disasters like wildfire or floods? What about the seasons? You think these horses like fending for themselves when it's 40 below and they have to dig through the ice and snow until their hooves are bloody just to find a mouthful of food or water, only to die of starvation anyway?
While I absolutely agree with you that there are too many horses are abused (as are every animal), I can't for one minute believe that if horse's could choose for themselves, they would choose the life above over a life that includes vet care, regular feed, companionship, safety, care and maintenance, and love that comes with living with humans. Your idealism regarding the horse would be perfect if our country were not in the state it is today. There is simply nowhere for the horse to live his life as it should be, since humans have effectively screwed that up for the range animals.
I don't know all the anatomical details that allow horses to carry our weight, but I do know that riding a horse is not abuse. If the horse were in pain, there is no way he would allow us on his back. Think about it logically - my horse weighs 1200 pounds. I weigh 130 pounds. I'm an afterthought. Besides that, anything that our good Lord does is not wrong, and He rode while walking on this earth and will return on the back of a horse (sorry guys, not a bicycle) - but that's a whole other conversation that is not appropriate for this thread.
While I am not interested in debating this subject, I will extend you an invitation to come see my (formaly wild) horses for yourself. I guarantee there is no way you could spend anytime with my horses and think they aren't perfectly happy right where they are. Remember, they know what it's like to be free.
:~)
PhotoMom
