Your interest in the idea of the 5 Freedoms of Animal Welfare has encouraged me to post a few more photos. A starting point – would be the rules for equipment. It would seem that it is about time show jumping gear rules were reviewed.
Horse tries to evade pressure of the bit - even with his mouth held shut by a hanoverian noseband, he attempts to escape the pressure.
Draw-reins used by this show jumper are detrimental in that they de-train the horse's 'slowing', 'shortening' and 'stop' signals. From the biomechanical perspective there are also issues, but this is another story...
Do you have a differing view?
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Related posts:
- Do competition horses achieve the ‘Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare’?
- Shocking bits legal in FEI show jumping
- Equestrian competition’s sad expose
- Part 2: How to help your horse become a happy horse.
- Anky van Grunsven, Patrik Kittel and the horse’s blue tongue
- What does lateral thinking have to do with horse cruelty?
- Why this blog – Ethical Horsemanship?
- Book Review: ‘Lessons in Lightness, the Art of Educating the Horse’
- Rollkur use investigated by EponaTV
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Bidda Jones (RSPCA Australia) gave a frank and fair commentary on horse welfare at the ISES Conference in Sydney this week. One important thing she had to say was: ‘what’s in it for the horse, on balance it appears that the bargain struck between horse and human is heavily weighted in favour of humans’. This seems like a very true consideration to me. So… this leaves us with ‘how to make the situation the very best for the horse?’ We must do all in our power, and challenge those things that may seem outside our power.