Run Find Your Hackles and Get Ready to Put Them Upp

For too long I have been holding back in order to try to find a subtle, diplomatic way to impart this very important lesson.

I give up--can't figure out a way to do it.

I despise cliches. They do not pass through my lips or even my mind. When it comes to horsemanship they are the sum total teachings of the established horse world, all filtered down to simple rules that can be followed by the simplest of minds.

They tend to have one thing in common.

These cliches help direct a steady cash flow to the agribusiness industries that depend on the ignorance and inompetence of horse owners. Not all of these agribusiness interests are bad. Many, like veterinarians are essential and filled with dedicated professionals.

But veterinarians have much more important things to do than doing physical exams or tests on perfectly healthy horses who are guilty of being poorly trained or,even worse, simply exhibiting normal, horse behavior.

I constantly read of people with poorly behaved horses being advised to "first have him checked out by the vet to see if there is a physical cause to his problem."

Yes, on the rarest occasion there is a physical problem. Those cases are dwarfed by learned behavioral problems and the consequences of living in stables and eating sugar. Check the horses training and lifestyle first. Train the horse. Allow it to live as naturally as possible.

Then you can check with the vet if the problem persist.

But what does it hurt just to check with the vet first--you know--just to be sure?

What it hurts is that is skyrockets the cost of owning horses. That means more horses go to slaughter. That means fewer kids ever get a chance to have the life altering experience of owning a horse.

I could not be happier with my veterinarians. I strongly suspect that they are very happy with our horses.

They know that they are never going to be called out and asked to give a horse a pill to make it stop biting people