Friday, September 20, 2013
Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: To Torture a Horse
Beating a horse into submission does not work. And even if it did it scars the soul of the man that stoops that low. This old post is about a bit that I saw a few years ago. Mill Swamp Indian Horse Views: To Torture a Horse: Last night I was in a huge antique mall looking for the kind of tools to use in the Gwaltney Frontier Farm. I saw an old snaffle bit labe...
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Sunday morning we made a run into town for a couple of bags of feed, and I ran into a couple who has a mare they want me to train, and I found out a little more about the horse, She is mare about five years old who was rescued from an abusive situation, they said she has marks on her sides and flanks where she was beaten with a two by four..who knows what else she has suffered? A two by four...I really cannot comprehend why anyone could be sick and twisted enough to do such a thing. We see it every day in our lives, unreasoning violence against the weak, the small, those who cannot help themselves.
I wish that I could fix it.
Can't. I wonder how many people over the ages have gone nuts over stuff like this.
This lady has been told that she ought to simply put the horse down.
Simple solution. Just kill it. Folks there are very very few horse issues which cannot be dealt with.
My beloved Snow on Her was apparently given up on by one trainer, She and I went ten or eleven hard miles together yesterday.
I have often repeated the idea, one horse saved does not change the world, but it changes the whole world for that horse.
I am on a mission now, I can do no less than my level best for this little mare, not because she is a particular breed, nor because she has some unusual destiny, but because she is a horse. That is reason enough to save her, to give her a reason to trust. I know that she must be scared to death, incredibly defensive, probably dangerous. You don't get trust by not giving it.
I just bet, that although she is probably a much more extreme case than Snow was, that she needs the very same thing, to be loved and gentled, then slowly, and gently trained, giving her time to understand that we do not want to hurt her, that it is ok to relax and trust, to be a partner.
Not many people ever got rich saving one horse at a time, fixing their people problems, but every horse saved, and loved enriched the lives of those who love them immeasurably.
The old trainer in Seabiscuit still has my favorite movie line anywhen.."We don't throw a whole life away because it gets a little banged up, Maybe he can't race, but he can pull a cart, and if nothing else he is pretty to look at."
Gentle natural horsemanship. Why ever take any other avenue? Equus Caballus has long been a willing and able partner to man, and man has often repaid him poorly.
-Lloyd
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