I call myself a moderate horse person.  I’m open to various points of view, but believe that none of the extremes of the horse world are ideal.

There are extreme methods that are obviously cruel and that anyone can see cause physical and mental harm to horses.  These include the “big lick” Tennessee Walking Horse world with its soring practices, inhumane shoeing and stacks of pads.

Other methods I reject include using spurs cruelly and putting bits in horses’ mouths that could cause physical injury and/or severe pain.  Many horses receive terrible tongue injuries from bits, and it doesn’t matter if the rider is always careful…many of these injuries happen when a rider falls off and the horse steps on the reins.

Injuries from spurring

Tongue injury caused by a bit

My desire to be kind to horses and to avoid cruel methods led me at first to natural horsemanship.  At one point I was somewhat of a “purist” in my beliefs, which included only using bitless bridles, treeless saddles, and never putting shoes on horses.

This led me to another extreme in horse beliefs which I also soon came to reject.  People such as Alexander Nevzorov are against shoes, bits, and organized horse competition in the name of preventing cruelty to horses.  They believe horses should only be ridden bareback, for short amounts of time after their backs have been strengthened slowly over a few months.  Nevzorov publishes beautiful pictures of himself on horses doing haute ecole movements using only a neck strap.  In this ideology, horses choose to freely work with humans and no force or coercion is involved.

After evaluating these beliefs, I decided I could find no cruelty in sitting on a horse’s back and asking him to carry me.  All of the time I spent “playing” with my horse did involve coercion by necessity.  If I ever gave my horse the choice to eat food or play a game, she would much prefer eating.  So wasn’t withholding food so my horse would play, in itself a form of coercion?

It did seem valuable to study horse body language and learn to communicate with my horse better.  Yet later, in the times I spent doing a lot more riding and a lot less playing games and ground work (including round pen work), I learned that riding a horse for many miles also helps develop a deep bond with your horse, and spending a lot of time with a horse over the years in any capacity will help you learn all about the horse’s personality.  If you are a kind person, you will become friends.

After a period of disillusionment, I became somewhat of a skeptic.  Leading up to this, I read many books and watched many videos from top trainers.  But when I went to see the trainers in person, I always came away disappointed.  Just starting out with horses, I embraced and tried many things.  Yet the more things I tried personally, the more things I learned didn’t work.

I should clarify: since the first horse I trained myself was very atypical and difficult, she didn’t respond to the many different methods I tried.  Since that time, I’ve come to learn that many if not most horses are straight-forward and easy to train.  In fact, I believe that you could choose from many methods espoused by various top trainers and have great success in teaching your horse.  Teenage girls without formal training often turn out excellently trained horses, just from the sheer volume of time spent with a particular horse.

But what about the other horses?  Most people have not dealt with “square” horses, or have had brief episodes with them.  These horses are often passed on, sold, or even put down.  I’ve come to understand that horse training is a business, and the big name trainers could not be profitable if they had to spend months and years training a single horse.  That’s reality.  But can’t they be honest and let people know that not every horse has a mellow and moldable personality that is easily shaped and tamed?  That there may be no simple trick or technique to teach a horse to be calm or to never spook, and these things can only improve with years and miles of consistent riding?  What bothers me is that if horses don’t fit into a certain program or time frame, then even “natural horsemanship” trainers will reject these horses and say that the horse is mentally unsound.

Out of all the endless methods that will work in horse training, the only truly important factor is compassion for the horse

I still lean toward natural horsemanship, but some of my beliefs have been revised. The truth is that many horse are discarded as being too dangerous, too damaged, and too crazy.  Some of these horses end up having physical issues caused by people who didn’t know how to handle them.  I’ve known a horse with hooves that were never trimmed properly before age twenty.  In her mid-twenties, she was not comfortable barefoot even when turned out on a soft pasture.  Was it wrong for her to have shoes on even if it kept her out of pain?  What I’ve found is that even with the best of intentions, it is extreme (and ignorant) to believe that every horse can be ridden bitless, always stay barefoot, be turned outside 24/7, have free choice hay, etc, etc.

I’ve known and owned horses that were trained very poorly and abused.  By the time they came to a good home in their mid-teens and twenties, they had a history of mistrusting humans and many issues to work through.  The reality for me was that I had to discard some of my bright and shining ideals and become more flexible in order to use whichever tools were the most humane but still worked for the horses.

Even if you bring a horse “back to the beginning,” and start over with all the ground work, and progress to the basics of riding, the truth is that when you put a saddle on a horse that has already learned to be saddled, he will remember his previous experiences.  So even if you establish a brand new relationship built on trust and kindness, the horse will still flinch and may always flinch if someone used to cinch him up roughly.  When you put a bridle on for the first time, and gradually build up safely into faster gaits under saddle, the horse that once knew he could bolt through a strong bit at will is going to remember that and may never be safe in a bitless bridle or simple snaffle.

I still have ideals for horses and their people.  I believe in using the great things we’ve learned from natural horsemanship about horse instincts and body language and how to communicate better with horses.  I believe that horses should never be ridden in saddles that don’t fit and hurt their backs, that many bits are cruel, and that many horses can be ridden bitless.  I believe that ideally horses should never wear shoes, and that boots are a great alternative for rough and rocky riding.  I believe that horses should have their hooves trimmed regularly and by people who understand hoof anatomy and function, as well as how horses wear their hooves naturally.  In addition, I believe every attempt should be made to provide horses with 24/7 turnout, quality nutrition, social interaction with other horses, dental and health care.

Some natural horsemanship people don’t think I’m quite “natural” enough since I will ride a horse with a treed saddle, with a humane bit that makes it safe to ride the horse, and agree that there are a few horses that may need shoes.  Yet in many ways, my ideals may actually be a bit higher than theirs.  You see, I don’t think it’s ever OK to discard a horse due to behavioral issues.  I don’t think any horse should have their hooves overgrown just because they are difficult to handle, even if it means they must be sedated to receive the care they need.  I’ve heard stories of horses that have been put down for their behavior when they most likely had solvable medical issues.  Of course, any horse that has incurable suffering should be put down, under my moral code.  But I’ve been around a few horses that I heard were later put to sleep for being “crazy,” and although I saw that the owners and handlers were frightened of the horse, yet their behaviors were not even approaching other horses that I’d seen rehabbed and turned into well-loved and well-used horses.

Is it a matter of pride?  Or why can’t people just say, “I’m not skilled enough to deal with this problem.”  It always becomes the horse’s fault, and the person justifies their actions by saying “the horse would have killed someone if I hadn’t put them down.”  They will never look at their own horse management practices such as making a horse literally insane by keeping them pent up in a small stall and feeding them high energy foods.  Or making their hooves and back hurt with some type of fancy show trimming and shoeing.  In order to give up on a horse, my conscience says that the horse must have balanced nutrition, adequate turnout, a good social life with other horses, feel safe in his situation, have his health care needs taken care of, and have been treated kindly for a period of time.  At that point, all of the horses I’ve seen with problems have been able to make progress with humans and being handled and ridden.

I hope that with horses, more people will only have one extreme of belief, and that is to always give the horse the benefit of the doubt, to find the reasons for the horse’s behaviors, and to find someone who can help.