Thursday, March 29, 2012

How do we see horses?

Today was the first OurHorses community call.  We were able to bring together quite a few of the people leading the way to changing humanity's view of horses and their place in our lives.  One of the topics brought up was how to deal with people who see horses as livestock, commodities that exist for our own purposes and nothing beyond that.

We would love to open up a discussion here in the comments section for anyone who has ideas of how to get across the feeling that horses are their own autonomous beings.  It seems that if a person is not starting from that feeling, there would be no understanding of needing to change our current practices with horses.

Any ideas?

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4 comments:

  1. i usually start by mentioning the whole "horses are mammals just like us, feel and avoid pain as they are not masochists...."
    then on about how horses are controlled by pain(all the science etc) and then questioning the person to ask themselves if they think this is right.
    i like to bring up human slavery as a comparison, especially if you are actually with a horse at the time of the conversation. "look at this horse, if she were a giant human standing here, would it be ok to jump on her back and hurt her with metal, for our pleasure???
    isn't it true that empathy is learned very young from parents? and i see an alot of people around here with no empathy.... so how can we change that?
    usually i try to dialogue with those who are interested, having educational articles like here on this site, and those older ones about the horses' backs are the most helpful tool i have found so far.

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  2. telling folks they shouldn't ride or compete is probably not going to go over very well, they need to 'see' it and feel it. I don't think folks can understand the deepest part of the horse until they see regular demonstrations of say liberty play, bareback and bitless riding, horse therapy for humans, etc, and come to want that kind of relationship themselves. Only in seeking that kind of connection will they find and understand it. baby steps....thats my thoughts anyway.

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  3. I think there is a very real change that occurs with working and/or playing on the ground. the more that it happens the more the relationship changes. If you only sit on a horse you never fully get the bond. the bond that comes from eye contact, the locked on ear, the relaxed head that seeks to be rubbed. Try just trotting alongside a horse. In riding a horse it is often something you do to it, in ground work it is something you do together. ironically this arguement in a business people management context would have 100% audience approval, move to our horses and how many would start to shake heads or fold arms and cross legs..... but why....

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