Echo Ridge Show Jumping

Guess what bud this is? Where are we :-)?

I just got back from about an 8 day stint in the hospital, and since I was dealing with pain and was watching any number of others dealing with pain, it got me thinking about the difference between the way humans are able to express discomfort compared to the more stoic way that injured horses have to endure it.

Horses have all kinds of issues that are not created by humans, but they have ever so many which are.

It is so easy to assume that because horses are unable to verbally express discomfort and anxiety that they are not feeling those emotions and feelings.

Which leads me to these thoughts: we need to ask ourselves, since we all profess to love horses, whether what we are doing or failing to do Is causing pain that if it were happening to us would leave us begging for relief.

If we wouldn't want it done to ourselves we shouldn't ask it of our horses. In our daily riding are we demanding performances that our horses are not fit enough to accomplish without fatigue and stress? Are we doing sports or activities that take horses too far toward the outer limits of their abilities making it more likely that they will be injured? If we are, and we know it, are we getting involved in making positive changes to those sports or are we simply going along with the crowd and letting the horses take the hits?

Horses are completely vulnerable and powerless to escape what humans make them do. More and more I feel that the true definition of a good horseman, a good horse woman, is someone who puts the best interest of the horse as a number one priority. Competitive success is not a measure of being a good horse person. What is that measure is doing right by our horses.

Being in pain ourselves for a while lets us better appreciate how important it becomes to avoid doing it to creatures with limited abilities to let us know what they are feeling.