hmmm. Hope you did enjoy the Grand National..

Girlracer - I have never given a horse away for free, but we have accepted them for free ;)

The freebies get treated exactly the same as the horses that cost £1000's :)
 
Jennyharvey said:
I doubt he does enjoy being ridden. He does it because he has been trained too. Im not going into why i ride, ive explained before and am not gonna again.

I think that horses do what we say to have an easy life. A horse that misbehaves a lot is gonna have a harder life than one that does what he is asked. And yes, if you take a horse for a canter and he seems to enjoy it, thats because he likes running. Its in his nature. It doesnt say anything about him enjoying being ridden. I dont really think most horses mind being ridden, as one who does mind, will normally tell you. But i think to say a horse ENJOYS having a human on his back and having to do lots of movements, getting tired out, having a metal thing in his mouth and basically being told what to do and how to do it. I doubt that very much.

Yes this is my opinion, most people dont agree with me, which is fine. I think people tell themselves that horses like being ridden, just so that we can carry on doing it without feeling guilty about it.
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If your horse doesn't enjoy his job then you'd be best off improving your riding or finding another horse!
Have you ever watched a horse at the top of his game - one of the superstars. Desert Orchid springs to mind, as does Over to You and Supreme Rock. These horses weren't trying to have an easy life - they were giving it there all. Even the best rider couldn't coax that sort of performance out of a horse who didn't want to do it.

ETA - yes I did enjoy the Grand National. It was sad that 2 horses died but they were well cared for and wouldn't have known much about it. When you think about recent reports of the increase in horses being neglected or abandoned it puts it into perspective.
 
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'Rightly or wrongly', I watched the GN and enjoyed it. Yes, I saw the falls happen and believe me my stomach turned, especially seeing Dooneys Gate who I knew as soon as I'd saw it first time that his neck was broken. Thanks heavens for such a prompt equine team. Seeing horses in pain or distress on a yard and waiting for the vet to drive in is excruciating. Clare Balding was also remarkably moved and genuine about the two passings I thought.

I've had friends argue about this over fb. One of them said "They're taking advantage of the horse's natural fight or flight response - that's cruel." They have obviously never seen a perfectly happy dressage horse lathered in sweat before his GP because of adrenalin, or competed themselves and had sweaty palms, a dry mouth and a burst of adrenalin. The fight or flight response is a part of many sports, human, equestrian or otherwise.

None of the fences seemed any worse than XC to me, and definitely better than lots hunting. The going on both sides of the fence are well known, well maintained and a controlled risk.

What does to me appear to be the problem is allowing so many runners. Also of these runners, many do not have the experience to compete. Can you imagine the increase in fatalities if relative novices were put on a CCI*** XC course and went at it at a gallop? It's one thing for one horse and rider to have a fall at a fence... it's quite another when they wipe out another 3 combinations in the mix. Making the field smaller should lower the risk (even statistially controlling for fewer horses). But that won't happen as it's all worth too much money!
 
sorry not read all posts so if repeat other posts apologiesse Ok every year this debate happens - so lets ban GN but then where do you stop - Gatcombe this year beautiful spring along dying, Badminton last year my daughter and I experienced the sad sight of a horse being PTS. There have been fatalties in SJ, Hunting, Drag hunting, out hacking even out im the field so do we ban all equine sports. I believe that some of the horses were showing such poor form they should not have ran but as long as man as tamed the horse there have been fatalities and will always be even when hacking down a road . lets face it even the wild horses living the "idealic wild free life " (tongue in cheek there BTW) on Bodmin, dartmoor, welsh mountains have starved to death this winter - That to me is more of a cause to fight for as is transportation of horses in Europe than banning GN - but im prepared for the onslaught lol :)
 
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