Compassion … Common Sense

Pre ride chat with my horse Scyther.

So I have been reading “The Compassionate Equestrian” by Allen M. Schoen DVM,MS and Susan Gordan.  These authors have come up with 25 principles to live by.  These fit right in with Common Sense- Horse Sense.  I’d like to share the first Principle today.

The Sentience of All Beings 

“We recognize the sentience (ability to feel pain/pleasure) of horses, as well as all beings.  We confirm that the horse is a willing, thinking, living being with most of the identical emotion-creating molecules found in human beings.  We recognize that the horse has bones, muscles, nerves, and organs as does a human, and that these structures are just as susceptible to injury, damage, and disease as those of people. “

I have been around horses since I was about 4 or 5 years old.  One of my first memories with a horse was standing next to a foal and feeling it’s muscles, fur and movements under my hands.  I remember being impressed with how sensitive each hair was to my touch.  The foal was aware of me and I him.  He would move and then watch me.   I realized he wanted to understand me as well.  

Many of the first adult equestrians, that I worked with were hot tempered and easy to anger.  They demonstrated some of the worst treatment of horses I have ever witnessed.  I could see the fear in the horse, especially in not knowing what was causing the brutality. The horse would look like the animal in a National Geographic that was about to be eaten by the predator.  My compassion for the horse, deep desire to understand and treat him with kindness and empathy comes from witnessing the horse receive abuse because he was reacting as a horse.  

One of my vivid memories was of my horse’s western pleasure trainer.  I went to his barn to work with him for a few days, before taking my new two year old quarter horse mare “Rosie” to a horse show.  He was too busy to help me much, and mostly told me to just sit still and let the horse work.  Rosie was ridden in a huge bit, it had a 4 to 5 inch shank and at least a 3 inch port.  I was terrified to touch the reins, knowing that the leverage of that bit would make her feel very uncomfortable or even pain.  At our first show, I was so nervous, I dropped one rein during the trot. Rosie was perfect despite this, staying in a steady jog and lope never lifting her head or changing her pace. Luckily, the judge didn’t see the rein drop, and we received first place.  Rosie was a beautiful dappled grey mare.  However, the next class didn’t go so well.  She started to quicken in the lope, and I failed to rein her in correctly.  We ended up on the inside track cantering past all the loping horses.  When I got out of the arena the trainer took her from me.  He rode her behind all the trailers away from the arenas, so no one would see.  He spun her in tight circles while spurring her repetitively until he drew blood.  As I watched in horror, I promised her we would not return to this trainer, and I would take lessons somewhere else and learn how to ride correctly.  

Horses are not a tool if you need something to do exactly as you say, get a car, bike or ATV.  The magic is in the relationship and connection with the horse not the activity.

“Treat the horse as a horse- in a way he can understand and in a manner you would want to be treated.”

S. Potts