I think the video above is interesting and asks many questions that we all should consider. I post it here in the hope that it will help trigger people’s critical thinking skills when it comes to horsemanship and riding.
I believe people who read this page are horse-loving individuals who care very much about the welfare of horses. If they are not, I don’t see why they would come here a second time – there is nothing here for those that do not care about the horse as a horse. So I know it is easy for us horse-lovers who ride horses to dismiss out of hand the suggestion that riding horses is cruel because if we believed it were cruel we wouldn’t ride them. However, I do think we should ask ourselves about the welfare aspect of riding and what we do in general with our horses. We all know of instances of cruelty to horses from people who profess to also love their horse. So I urge you not to instantly dismiss the assertions on the video clip, but to consider them one by one in the context of your own experience with your horse(s).
For my part, I am going to go through the clip and jotting down some points that I think are relevant as they come up during the clip. Maybe you will do the same and come up with your own points, and they may be very different from mine.
0.44 – 0.52
Claim: Horses do not need to be ridden.
I agree with this. We exploit a horse’s nature that allows us to ride them for our own purposes and not for the benefit of the horse.
0.55 – 1.06
Claim: Horses need exercise, but don’t need to be ridden for exercise.
Firstly, I don’t know that horses NEED exercise and if they do, how much exercise they require for a healthy life. Does a horse require more exercise than it would get living in a small herd on a few hectares?
Secondly, if horses require exercising by humans, the assumption is that riding is inherently cruel and leading a horse is not. I don’t believe this is a claim that is supportable. Not all riding is cruel and not all leading is kind.
1.18 – 1.31
Claim: My horse loves to be ridden…”
I agree that too many people hold the false illusion that their horse enjoys being ridden and worked. I believe in most cases it is not true – it is sometimes true, but not always.
1.55 – 2.47
Claim: The growth plates of bones of the spine do not close until about 6 years old and therefore riding puts undue pressure on a developing back that can cause long-term back pain.
I do not question that the maturation of the horse’s skeleton is not complete until approximately 6 years old. However, there is no information that riding inherently damages the horse’s back throughout those years of growth. Many horses that are started at 4 years of age and ridden to develop fitness and strength maintain soundness well into old age. It is known in children that physical exercise that stresses the skeleton in the right way enhances development of bone. The video makes a huge leap in assuming that because bone is still developing that riding will damage its development.
2.55 – 3.27
Claim: Alexander Nevzorov says….
The quote from Nevzorov has many false claims about the physiology of the horse that is too long to go into. But I believe it is safe to say that anybody who uses Nevzorov as a source to support an argument has already lost the argument. Nevzorov has been discredited so many times by many people and I have written about him as a scammer in the past.
3.27 – 3.43
Claim: Riding causes spinal damage to horses
I looked at the abstract for this study (I couldn’t find a translation for the entire paper). There are so many flaws in this study that I question the findings. The study did not compare spinal changes of ridden horses with non-ridden horses over time. Therefore, it is not possible to conclude that any changes to the spine of the horses they examined were not related to age. They was no control of variables such the amount of riding or type of riding or reports of injury etc. Furthermore, almost none of the horses that exhibited spinal changes showed clinical symptoms of damage or discomfort, so where is the cruelty if the horses showed no suffering due to the spinal changes?
I agree that riding could cause physical damage to horses, but the study quoted does not allow that to be concluded. Perhaps there are better designed studies that support the conclusions, but this is not one of them.
3.44 – 4.25
Claim: Saddles, bits, whips, spurs are cruel and damage a horse.
The claims are very general. That means it can be true in some instances and not true in others. But the author generalizes the incorrect use of such gear to make it appear that they are universally always bad. I feel this is hard to substantiate in the real world where there are excellent horse people using the equipment as intended and without stress to the horse, as well as bad horse people who do not.
4.40 – 4.47
I don’t know Fair Horsemanship, so I make no judgment on their work. However, I think the parting claim that positive reinforcement is a good approach to training horses is equally general as the claim that riding inherently cruel. As long time readers will know, I believe that positive reinforcement can cause a lot of emotional anguish in horses that is as bad as the worst negative reinforcement methods can create.
Overall, I feel the video does not do a good job of convincing people who know a lot about horses that riding is cruel. It appears to be a video more for the average person who doesn’t know much. But those people are not riding horses regularly anyway, so who is it suppose to sway?
Each of us has our own values and a belief about what is and was is not acceptable when it comes to working with horses. Most people can agree that the worst forms of cruelty such as physical violence and starvation are not acceptable. However, there may be considerable differences of opinion about training methods, equipment and uses for horses. It’s for each of us to come to terms with our own ways of handling horses and be able to sleep with a clear conscious.
The question of whether what we do is consistent with a horse’s welfare is something we should always carry at the forefront of the decisions we make about our horses.