From the moment you so much as consider owning a horse, a series of ethical dilemmas ensue unrelentingly until the horse dies.
There follow a few dilemmas for you to consider…
The horse’s need for company
Rider needs vs horse’s needs – competition
Time
Breeding & unwanted horses
Training method & coach selection
Gear selection & use
Horse choice
Lameness vs company
A horse requires [...]
It’s about time this blog had a spark of positivity – and here it is! Today I share with you the principles of permaculture and how they relate to horse training.
“What is permaculture?”
I hear you ask…
Permaculture is a way of providing sustainable food and shelter for people, whilst not harming the environment, the soil [...]
Downhearted and disheartened with equestrianism, exasperated by recent competition world developments including Patrik Kittel’s ‘blue tongue’ incident, and then, shortly after declaring that they serve the welfare of the horse, equestrianism’s governing body – the FEI’s proposed acceptance of anti-inflammatory/pain relief medication “bute” – phenylbutazone – for competition.
It seems that when humans compete, the horses’ [...]
Dressage Disgrace’s teleseminar with Klaus Hempfling on Rollkur was illuminating – it is important that we have these conversations, and I would like to thank Mark from Dressage Disgrace for making this conversation possible.
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What did Klaus say?
Klaus said that the dignity of the horse is lost, his sight is hampered and respiration is hindered when [...]
Over on Twitter, TrotonTV (John Bethell) wanted my thoughts on Anky van Grunsven’s reply about her student Patrik Kittel’s ‘Blue Tongue’ video recording, now being investigated by FEI. (I also wrote about it here).
140 tweet characters does not allow a particularly thorough reply!
So John, here you go…
We must use a degree of caution, knowing that [...]