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Ethical dilemmas in horse ownership

February 23, 2010

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

Horses galloping

A horse requires being on flat ground for a chronic lameness, but his friends are in a large, hilly paddock and will disappear from his sight, this is a dilemma of the horse’s mental and physical health. Sometimes even the best plans are not so easy to implement. Should the other horses be confined closer (but it now reduces their feed/range, and increases the owner inputs), should a new friend be introduced (prehaps a goat or a pony – with its own set of dilemmas), should he instead have regular contact so as to appease his basic need, and if so is it enough? This is a difficult subject because for a horse, friendship appears to be a more pressing basic need than his physical health. He would rather (because evolution tells him to) be with the herd, even if it hurts and is ultimately to his detriment. Company is a more pressing need to a horse.

Rider needs vs horse needs – competition

Equitation jumping

Riders are trying to shape horses into things they were never bred to do, or have been bred to do – but the horse may not like his job. A horse, even if smartly bred, may have an accidental conformation that makes his job difficult or produces additional physical (or mental) stresses. For example: the too upright pastern in a jumper, too shorter neck in a dressage horse, predisposition to OCD. Sometimes horses are better matched to another ‘job’ than the one he was bred to do. He may be a terrific trail horse, he may be wonderful with kids, he may help rehabilitate people or other horses. Sometimes we have to be realistic about where in the natural life-cycle the horse sits – maybe he is not yet old enough to fulfil our desires, maybe now – purely as a factor of age, he can no longer be expected to the job he once loved or was skilled at. With age his job changes – when he is older, we cannot expect him to perform at the same level, but having kept him well-trained and of sound mind and body, he can be happy teaching a less confident rider in less demanding tasks, he may enjoy quiet hacking more, or a decreased workload, or even retirement. Typically competition riders at least have the finances to provide good feed, good therapists and good vets.

Financial considerations

The everyday dilemmas begin simply with the choice of where the horse is to live – and this is driven by individual financial considerations. Barns and grazing options can work out to be challenging to the budget, but they must also suit the horse. The best barn in the world is of no consequence if it stretches your finances to the point of not being able to pay for unexpected medical treatment or injury. These expenses need to be factored in before you even choose horse ownership. You need to factor in enough slack for the unexpected need for stabling for injury, for extra feed, for even a rise in feed prices during drought. These ensure the basic needs of the horse are met. If your horse gets an illness or a chronic injury, what is your plan, how will you cope?

Whilst on the subject of horse-keeping, expensive doesn’t necessarily mean appropriate to the horse’s needs – often making life easier for the owner than the horse, in a barn bringing confinement, less social interaction, with limited exercise, and more chance of developing stereotypies such as stall-walking, crib-biting, weaving.

Time

How much time do you need to have in a day to meet the horse’s daily needs and to undertake any training, or to meet your competition goals? How does this impact on your work, your family life and relationships? How does this impact your personal lifestyle balance? Does riding keep you sane, and therefore become a very important need to be personally fulfilled? If you have a young horse, or a more challenging horse – do you have the appropriate amount of time to give the horse that he will require? It may be a more difficult task for you if you work long hours, have to commute a long way to the horse, have a young family or a demanding job. Additionally, do you have the confidence and skills? Clinton Anderson got it right when he said that a horse is simply maintence on legs!

Breeding and unwanted horses

When and why do you choose to breed from your horse? There are many horses where a ‘back yard owner’ decides to breed from their mare – but sometimes it is to fulfil an owner want, rather than any sort of need. I have seen many situations where horses that should never have been bred from – poor conformation, unsuitability for the owner (who intends on keeping the foal), and here’s a prime one – the horse has behavioural problems… so what do you do… you guessed it… you breed from it! These sorts of owners lack the skill to handle a foal, typically lack suitable facilities, and lack the experience of running a broadmare. The foal is not going to have a good start… and may end up with health or behavioural issues, the first 18 months being so important to the social and physical development of a foal. These foals that do not have the opportunity to grow up in a herd environment, and with other foals, typically lack the learned social skills, important to him operating safely in a human world. These are the foals that become over familiar with humans (they have been overhandled, and under-disciplined for biting, kicking, pushing, even charging people and chasing them from the paddock). There are many horses that end up unloved, unwanted, that end up at the knacker’s yard, or are surrended to or saved by the brilliant equine welfare organisations, sanctuaries and individuals that have sadly become increasingly required because of humans making bad decisions.

Training method and coach selection

Hyperflexion

What training method suits the horse? What does the horse tell us? Listen to his subtle (and sometimes very unsubtle) signs. Constantly review and revisit evidence of these signs throughout your training and interaction with the horse. The fact is that whilst some competition-coaches place performance before welfare, there are others that have a better balance. Some of the best horse(wo)men never compete, but if a horse has a problem they are the first point of call. Why is this? This is because some of the training methods have become de-coupled from adequately addressing how the horse learns. There are some ‘cowboys’ who would not know what ‘habituation’ is, what ‘negative reinforcement’ is, but they sure know how to apply it – AND more importantly – the horse knows! Good training employs methods that whether you understand the terminology or not, lead to good horsemanship because of their
application of common principles. Sometimes trained ‘trainers’ become parrots of their mentor, rather than a thinking/evolving horseman in his/her own right. This too has happened many times, and is why I believe some end up moving away from doctrine-based training to something more holistic, open-minded and evolving.

Gear selection & use

Horse hell, show jumping

We are willingly being  sold: (a) unneccessary and even damaging equipment every day, (b) trendy equipment given the current fashion, (c) ill-fitting gear, either cheap or expensive… saddles, bridles etc, etc (d) good gear that is then ill-used – even a cavesson noseband can become a weapon if over-tightened. So… every time you put a piece of equipment anywhere near your horse, you have an ethical dilemma – in choice, fit ,quality and maintenance.

Horses unsuitable for rider

Oftentimes, people are drawn to horses (like partners) that are not what they need – they unknowingly sacrifice years of fun, safety and wonderful learning and growing opportunities for a horse that is beautiful, that is of a fancy or trendy breed, that is young,  ‘rescued’ or inexperienced. It all depends where you are at as a rider as to where your (rational) choice should lie. Be realistic, and go into a new relationship with a horse with eyes wide open. Once you own a horse, he becomes your biggest problem or your greatest joy – choose wisely. Like partners, people often repeat the same mistakes – and even go as far as replacing an unsuitable horse inadvertently with a replica of the former!

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Anky van Grunsven, Patrik Kittel and the horse’s blue tongue

November 15, 2009

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…

Example of unknown dressage horse ridden in Rollkur (hyperflexion)

Example of unknown dressage horse ridden in Rollkur (hyperflexion)

We must use a degree of caution, knowing that the link is a translation (for those of us who don’t read Dutch!)  With anything translated, there is always a danger of the old problem of ‘meaning lost in translation’.

For the benefit of our discussion here, I am talking about the translation made by Google today, 15 November 2009.

  1. Anky appears to suggest that the horse’s tongue was over the bit. The question arises: ”is it OK for the horse to go with the tongue over the bit at all?; but also why would he want to put his tongue over the bit?
  2. Assuming Anky is right, and that the tongue was over the bit, the answer is: because of pressure on his tongue that he is trying to escape. A horse trying to escape tongue pressure retracts his tongue in his mouth, and can then get it ‘over the bit’.
  3. My thoughts are that if the tongue is blue: (a) it probably not simply over the bit, but is either trapped between the two bits, or under both bits, but with sufficient pressure to limit oxygenated blood supply to the tongue, making it appear blue (unoxygenated), OR (b) [and this is a very unqualified statement on my part, as I don't know of any studies that have addressed this] perhaps it possible that blue tongue is merely a symptom of lack of oxygenated blood to the horse’s whole head caused by overbent neck limiting oxygenated blood supply.
  4. I am not sure what ‘losrijterrein’ means. It is possible this means hyperflexion or Rollkur, but I do not know. If this does mean hyperflexion, I am not sure if she is saying that audiences either (a) are used to seeing hyperflexion, (b) regularly complain about it, or (c) are used to seeing it enough to think it normal.
  5. The translated reply says that horses ‘can put their tongues over the bit for any reason and that it need not be negative’ – perhaps something here is confused in translation, or maybe not. I don’t accept that a horse going with  tongue over the bit is acceptable, one wonders why this wasn’t this pointed out to the rider by officials.
  6. Anky recognises that the FEI has to uphold equine welfare, but thinks that the problem has been blown out of proportion and that they need to support riders also.

Personally, I am relieved this is getting attention at the FEI.

Somewhere I have read that Anky says the science does not show that hyperflexion is detrimental to the horse. She is right in this comment – studies of Rollkur  have been inconclusive, they are not easy undertaken, and indeed the science does not as yet point firmly in one direction. A recent report to the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality noted studies contained  flaws in methodology, limited numbers, or unhelpful parameters were used and that

This leads us to conclude there is insufficient scientific evidence to confirm unequivocally whether or not there are welfare issues involved in training techniques using hyperflexion’.

The case of hyperflexion and the blue tongue is perhaps a situation where rather than relying solely on the current scientific evidence, common sense should enable us to utilise our knowledge of biology, pain, biomechanics (and physics – e.g. the lever action of the curb), which is what I believe many educated people are trying to do.

You will see on the FEI website, their rules governing Abuse of Horses (Article 142, page 35) – specifically notes that no person may use actions ”causing pain or unnecessary discomfort to a horse’. Given what has been observed of recent times, these actions have not been held to account for years.

This raises the question: given the implications for the FEI and equestrian sport in general, is the FEI the appropriate body to conduct and impartial investigation into Patrik Kittel’s horse’s blue tongue? – or is it a case as Bidda Jones of the Australian RSPCA suggests ‘is the fox in the hen house’?

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Book Review: ‘Lessons in Lightness, the Art of Educating the Horse’

November 10, 2009

Lessons in Lightness, the art of educating the horse by Mark Russell with Andrea W. Steele

'Lessons in Lightness, the art of educating the horse' by Mark Russell & Andrea W. Steele

I have been reading an excellent book by Mark Russell and Andrea Steele,  Lessons in Lightness – the art of educating the horse. Not only reading the book, but experimenting with my clients and their horses (with their permission, of course!). In this way I have been able to assess the ease of understanding and application of the concepts, to observe and experience the outcomes in a variety of horses, and to discuss the outcomes with the owners so as to gauge their feedback on whether they found the method valuable or otherwise.

First – a little background on Mark; Mark Russell trains horses and riders in Tennessee, U.S.A. Having trained Western performance horses and learnt to shoe, Mark was introduced to dressage by way of a fortuitous clinic given by the Portuguese Master, Nuno Oliveira who was touring the United States at the time, a clinic that changed Mark’s approach forever:

the moment I saw Master Oliveira ride, I knew the secret that had eluded me was right before my eyes. I saw not only lightness, balance, and harmony,but a horse that was happy and proud in his work. Oliveira’s humanity spoke to me through the movement of his horse – this was my revelation.

A personal study of ‘the old masters’ ensued, and this is where I find this book a revelation – Mark discusses and demonstrates exercises that integrates Frenchman Baucher’s principles in such a way that it is readily accessible to readers.

In a philosophy reminiscent of the French tradition, the horse is relaxed from the front – releasing first the jaw, then the poll and in turn eliminating tension from his body to allow him to carry himself and give freely to the aids.

The work begins in hand, with lateral poll flexion and the horse is allowed to stretch forward and down toward the ground. It is only when balance is achieved, that more is asked of the horse – including higher gaits. Well-drawn and labelled diagrams of the horse’s anatomy help illuminate the concepts.

Lessons in Lightness lives up to its promise; you are treated to pictures of horses in softness, not tension, clear diagrams and photographs showing Mark and his horses performing exercises in English and Western attire, and to clear, concise lessons aided by thoughtful discussion of the principles behind.

You are guided through teaching lightness; working in hand (including shoulders in, counter shoulders in and half pass), and 3 phases of ridden work, moving through beginning on the circle, building a working frame, to lateral work under saddle (shoulders-in, counter-shoulders-in, half pass, travers, renvers), the canter, then to counter-canter and flying changes.

There are a couple of items of tack used where I would exercise caution – from a learning theory perspective. When lunging, sidereins are attached to the horse’s bit and hence his mouth; although popular in many systems, this can confuse the horse in his responses to rein signals – i.e. ’round’ versus ’slow’ or ’stop’. [Philippe Karl, former ecuyer of the French Cadre Noir is not a fan of side-reins either - he does not like the constriction they place on the horse. Sidereins remain a part of the German system and others, however]. Reins attached to the horse’s bit issue a signal that should result in a response from the horse’s legs, rather than a head-set. Mark uses an overcheck system at the same time (rather like a chambon) which may not be a problem if adjusted appropriately (i.e. if the horse is not unnecessarily shortened in the neck or encouraged to go behind the vertical, or to round further down the neck than the poll – for example at the C3). This piece of equipment applies poll pressure only if the head is raised, so is not de-training responses to the rein and therefore does not appear to violate the principles of  negative reinforcement to the rein – in that the poll pressure is released/removed when the horse lowers his head – and thereby is able to solve the problem of pressure with a consistent answer. (Beware if using such an item that some horses may react adversely, if they have not been taught to lower from poll pressure previously, so it does need careful introduction). Mark uses this lunging system so as to ensure the horse ‘is not put on his shoulders by an excessively low head carriage’.

For the same reasons of potential confusion over rein signals, my second caution is in the use of draw (or running) reins, which Mark only uses for horses that have trouble releasing at the poll – and they are only used in conjunction with his normal snaffle reins. You can find out more about draw reins and the biomechanics involved in Tug of War: classical versus “modern” dressage by Dr Gerd Heuschmann.

That said, I feel that the people attracted to this book will have no trouble avoiding inappropriate use of the fore-mentioned tack. Any issue I have with these pieces of equipment (if you consider them in the light of my discussion) is more than adequately made up for in the message, the lessons and the underlying principles described by this wonderful modern work.

As for my clients and their horses, they have achieved very positive results, achieving a new found relaxation that allows improved submission to the slightest aids. Personally, I have experienced what I can only describe as true ‘riding meditation’, and a horse that will softly travel in any direction with light pressure – as though moving soft butter!

I can only hope that Mark will soon be sharing with us an additional text, and meanwhile I understand DVDs are currently in production.

The value of the book, especially in the light of what one typically sees in the modern dressage arena, is immense – I advise you to personally determine what is ethically appropriate for the horse and let that guide you as to what and how you use training methods and tack; to explore and question what you are told by your instructors, what you have read, what you see at all levels (including at the local barn or shows, and Olympic and World level) – and to be your own judge for your horse’s sake.

I think your horse will thank you for reading (and applying) this book – don’t let it sit on the shelf – thumb through it, underline it and refer to it often.

I whole-heartedly recommend Mark Russell’s ‘Lessons in Lightness, the art of educating the horse’. If I had a star rating system, it would achieve 5 stars!

Disclosure: My paperback copy of ‘Lessons in Lightness – the art of educating the horse’ was kindly provided to me by Hela Russell for review.  My review is given freely, without favour or prejudice.

I am happy to provide this link  where you can find out more about Natural Dressage: Mark Russell’s clinics and training.

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What does lateral thinking have to do with horse cruelty?

October 9, 2009

Horse hell, show jumpingWhen I look at this YouTube video BayPony17’s video – Open Your Eyes – Horse Cruelty I am saddened.

What happened to the reasons people began to ride? Do you remember as a child, the joy of being with your horse, trying to understand him? Do you remember how his skin felt, his unique scent and all his likes and dislikes? Do you remember the first time he truly taught you something? Do you remember when you truly taught him something? When it was as though he could talk?

I was listening to psychologist and parenting expert Nigel Latta’s interview yesterday on Encouraging Lateral Thinking in Children, he said that if children and adults were asked the same thing ‘here is a pot of margarine, if we didn’t have a container, what else could we put it in?’ A child will come up with a range of funny and thought-provoking suggestions such as ‘in a monkey’, or ‘in your underpants’… whereas an adult will say – ‘well, you could use a bowl’.  He noticed that people are sheep, they follow the crowd.

When did we lose this childish sense of looking at the world? Was it was trained out of us? Did we just fall asleep along the way? Perhaps along the line we were told how something should or shouldn’t be done, so we followed along. Perhaps we are in busy lives, too busy hustling and bustling to slow down, ‘be’ and take the time…

Perhaps it is time reawaken the child-spirit – to re-discover the horse.

Here is Klaus Hempfling helping a horse re-discover humans:

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Competition & the 5 Freedoms of Animal Welfare revisited

July 6, 2009

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.

Horse tries to evade pressure of the bit - even with his mouth held shut by a hanoverian noseband, he attempts to escape the pressure.

Chestnut show jumper in draw reins

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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