Coloured Australian Pony Stud

Hi there folks, thanks for commenting on my posts, its great to hear other perspectives. I enjoy having my ideas challenged, if only to make me think more deeply and do some more research into why I think my perspective is correct. Sometimes, usually from well argued and well informed points of view, I do change my mind. I am always trying to learn and develop my understanding of horses, how they learn and behave and how they are influenced by humans. As an aside and a topic for later posts, the latest book on the subject is Equitation Science by Drs Paul McGreey and Andrew McClean, have just finished reading it and can highly recommend it to anyone wanting to understand horses and what we do to them when we train them. There is an excellent chapter on what they call apparatus (gadgets) which explains very clearly which parts of a horse's body they operate on and explain how in many cases the claimed benefits are biomechanically dubious or outright erroneous.

What has always troubled me about the Pesoa, is unless it is very loosely attached, the horse receives pressures in its mouth from the locomotion of its hind legs, pressures which are completely unrelated to anything other than the horse's head carriage. Anyone spending any time with ridden horses knows that it is easy to get a horse to flex its cervical vertebrae and drop its nose behind the vertical to avoid mouth pain, whilst at the same time having a hollow back, stiff loins and trailing hindquarters. This gets rewarded in the show and dressage arenas a lot.

Yes aif, I haven't ever prepared a horse for CCI**** level or GP dressage, though in a past life I saw a lot of CCI**** horses in action in Adelaide, and most of the four star horses went around in snaffles, most with no martingales. Andrew Hoy rode Darian Powers around Sydney in a plain snaffle. Maybe all of these riders, behind the scenes, are using the contraptions that force horses into the desired outline but if that is what it takes to get to that level, and it can't be achieved through correct schooling, long term muscle development etc, then perhaps the sport can't be justified on animal welfare grounds. If the kinds of things we do to horses were done in public to dogs and cats there would be a justifiable outcry. Just because horses do learn to tolerate unrelenting mouth pressures via gadgets doesn't make it ethical to do it. And the fact that tens of thousands of perfectly healthy horses with behaviour problems end up in abattoirs demonstrates the high cost that those who can't handle the pressure pay.

Link to the Stacy Westfall demo on Youtube. Compared to a lot of reining demos which are characterised by gaping mouths, swishing tails and pinned ears, this trainer shows what can be done without a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl0ukPkRMQM&feature=related

I personally train with a bit, though am experimenting more without and am in awe of riders who can execute higher movements without them- so yes you may be one of those more than mortal riders!

As to the footballers and the gadgets on the horses- there are some fundamental differences. The footballers choose to be there- the horses don't. The footballers can and do negotiate with their coaches, doctors etc as to the duration, timining and difficulty of the conditioning session and may remove themself from the session if it gets too painful or difficult- the horses can't- they rely entirely on the skill, experience and ethics of the trainer and when forced into a physical position by restraining gadgets, sharp bits etc are at high risk of physical and mental damage if worked beyond their capabilities or with no regard for the impacts of such devices. The footballers get paid big bucks and get a whole slew of other benefits, not all of them beneficial, the horses get made to work far harder, for far longer and get exposed to the risk of significant injury or death and are usually housed and managed in such as way as to be prevented from expressing even the most basic of social interactions with conspecfics. They don't get to go on team drinking sessions after an event...

Horses are our slaves, not our team mates, we sell on our horses, we don't sell on our team mates,(perhaps there's times we wish we could- they can get "traded" but that doesn't mean they get euthanised.  Horses can't resign from the job if they don't like the boss or the work, except by sustaining an injury or by developing conflict behaviours that are so dangerous to their human riders that they are removed from the sport, often by way of a knackery.

Given this, it us up to the humans, with all the brain power and the insight to train and use horses ethically and humanely, giving them the time to develop the muscular conditioning and mental skills to complete the tasks we set them. If that means relying on gadgets the apply unrelenting pressure, or pressure that can only be avoided by causing pain in other parts of the body (muscle pain from adopting an unnatural position to avoid mouth pain)  or by forcing them to do something that causes consistent pain, then perhaps some horses sports are no longer justifiable at all. 

I don't believe this is the case with eventing, though with modern dressage it may well be true. The fact that spurs and a curb bit are mandatory for higher level dressage says that the body governing the sport has little interest in allowing the those riders so inclined to choose not to use them. So how would we ever know what can be achieved at GP level in snaffle bridles? 

 The fact that is is perfectly legal to crank shut a GP horse's mouth with a noseband means the horse could be in agony but can't open its mouth to relieve the pressue.  How is that ethical or even beautiful?  It should be mandatory that nosebands are fitted loosely so judges can tell if the horse is truly "accepting the bit" or merely has its mouth wired shut. 

I have seen Georgia Bruce's horse do passage and piaffe at liberty and bitless under saddle so it is possible to get the outline and the movements without a bit, let alone a curb...

Also, from page 58 of the updated FEI Rules for Evening-

Article 540 OLYMPIC GAMES

Every four years, Eventing in the Olympic Games will be organised under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Olympic Three Day Event is for Seniors. It will be conducted at the Four Star level in accordance with the “Special Regulations for Equestrian Events at the Olympic Games”.(my italics)

Thanks again for the comments.