Totilas- is this a bit mean?

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Koda

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I was watching WEG recently and heard the commentator say that Totilas is worth x amount of millions and as a result is always kept indoors and does not go out to the field ever. Am I the only one who finds this very depressing? I feel really bad for the horse, I suppose cos I feel like he's not allowed BE a horse.

Anyone else think this is a bit mean to the poor guy? maybe it's just me...
 
I do feel sorry for them too. I really hate that the people at the top of their game in the equestrian world, and who started off loving horses as much as the rest of us, are now prepared to keep horses like this purely so they don't lose out financially. :(
 
Hmmmm - do racehorses ever go out tho ? I bet Totilas is in pretty serious training, and just crashes when he's finished. Maybe the insurance is written so that he has to be inside a triple locked, gun guarded stable ?
 
Little sad i think that he doesn't ever even get an hour out. Poor little man.....but i don't expect it's unusal with these top class horses.
 
hmmm I can see where you are coming from but they do have a good quality of life

like most top dressage horses I expect he's hand grazed and ridden and couple of times a day and gets to go round the canter track ect... I doubt he is schooled day in day out

xxx
 
Yeah, I'd say it's not unusual for animals at such a high level of competing, but I still think "sucks for them" that they are not even let out in a small paddock, maybe under supervision, for a half hour skip around or something... I'd say it would do their mental state a lot of good.
 
Yup, can well believe it. I trained at a dressage yeard in Germany and none of the horses from age 3 upwards to Grand Prix were turned out. Just went from the stable to the indoor school/competition and back again :(

We had a livery there that was lethal to ride and was going absolutely off his head, so myself and another girl managed to persuade the YO to leccy tape a small grass area off for him for a couple of hours a day - what a difference it made to his mindset! But it just made me feel worse for the other horses who looked at him wistfully on the way past to the indoor school.

You can argue that these animals know no differen, but the instinct to be a horse and take off across a field must still be there. Very sad.
 
And really that is one of the reasons I cannot be bothered with the whole dressage thing.Every horse should have "be a horse" time in a field,it is their equine right.A lot of racers ,esp chasers ,have time out,and of course their exercise does include a decent lung opening gallop,these dressage horses do not even get that release.
I had a lovely show cob mare once at livery for showing,as she was a fence barger she stayed in,or on the horse walker..or schooling/hacking out;result? One frustrated mare who learned to chuck her head up and down in the stable as boredom relief .
 
it is the norm for a significant amount of the top level dressage horses I'm afraid. Wouldn't be my choice at all and I also find the thought rather sad.
As much as it makes me cringe, I love it when our girls have a hoon around the field! They seem to find it great fun - a good buck and fart followed by a nice roll seems to help them let themselves down and chill out. I would be so sad if they didn't have the freedom to do that.
 
sorry time for a reality check , horses of that standing competing at that level are part of an expensive industry , not a pet or some persons part time folly
chris
 
I hate to see any horse kept stabled for 24 hours a day. Even with excercise which will be training most probably so not a relaxed time for the horse. They also never have time to do what they do best and that's being a horse. How can any animal be truly happy when it's not allowed to display it's natural behaviour? I can't imagine anyone being happy keeping a dog in a cage for 24 hours a day, only to be taken for a couple of walks in that time. IMO it's extremely unfair.

But that's money for you!
 
mollichop said:
Yup, can well believe it. I trained at a dressage yeard in Germany and none of the horses from age 3 upwards to Grand Prix were turned out. Just went from the stable to the indoor school/competition and back again :(

We had a livery there that was lethal to ride and was going absolutely off his head, so myself and another girl managed to persuade the YO to leccy tape a small grass area off for him for a couple of hours a day - what a difference it made to his mindset! But it just made me feel worse for the other horses who looked at him wistfully on the way past to the indoor school.

You can argue that these animals know no differen, but the instinct to be a horse and take off across a field must still be there. Very sad.
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Three to Grand Prix age? A flat racer would only (!) have a couple of yearsof that regimen. Poor buggers.
 
Ferrador: Thanks for the 'reality check' but don't really need one.
I can perfectly understand the financial reasons for keeping a horse like Totilas indoors and wrapped in cotton wool (figuratively speaking of course :)). However, I think it is unfortunate for the animal to be kept in such artificial circumstances, that's all.
I can understand the reality, and be disappointed in it at the same time...
 
ferrador said:
sorry time for a reality check , horses of that standing competing at that level are part of an expensive industry , not a pet or some persons part time folly
chris
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Exactly!! So the horses full needs, which includes expressing natural behaviour are not being fully met, because man needs to make money out of it! How incredibly selfish and sad!
 
they are not treated like pets , they are a commercial commmodity, unfortunate i know but thats the way it is at that level , things change for them when they retire
chris
 
ferrador said:
they are not treated like pets , they are a commercial commmodity, unfortunate i know but thats the way it is at that level , things change for them when they retire
chris
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As I said, incredibly selfish and sad. But that is man for you!

ETA It's not about being a 'pet' it's about treating a horse as a horse! Allowing it to be a 'horse'
 
ferrador said:
they are not treated like pets , they are a commercial commmodity, unfortunate i know but thats the way it is at that level , things change for them when they retire
chris
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Allowing an animal to express some of its natural behaviour is not treating it like a pet - it is remembering the fact that it is a horse, not a bike or a car, and treating it with the respect that it deserves.

You cannot take a horse from a stable, work it and return it to the stable and consider it to have any sort of life - wether it be at the top of its game or a 'part time folly'!!!

It does happen but it doesn't mean I have to think it is good horsemanship to do so.
 
It's not uncommon at all for top class competition horses / racehorses etc to have little or no turnout.

My ex-racehorse who is now 9 years old, acts more like a colt in the field, bless him. I put toys in the field which he likes to pick up and canter around with. Unfortunately I have to give him individual turnout (next to everyone else but separated by leccy fence) as he didn't understand how to socialise with the others, and every day he use to come in covered in cuts, and kick marks.
 
Whenever money is involved, the animal becomes a commodity and not a living creature. Happens in all forms of 'sport' that involves animals. :(

The horse becomes the F1 car...and you wouldn't expect Lewis Hamilton to park his racing car in the garage next to the lawn mower and strimmer??? Very very sad but that's greedy humans for you.
 
Reminds me of reading about Pat Smythe's Olympic horses being turned out for a Cotswold winter. They got so hairy and scruffy that one day, when they escaped, the people who caught them didn't think they could *possibly* be the famous Pat Smythe's horses, and so didn't call her.
Mind you, that was when there was still a winter break in showjumping.
 
I used to work at a dressage yard, and the horses there (who were worth a pretty penny!) got to go out in the stallion paddocks for 20-30 minutes a day. To be fair though, before they switched trainers and that regime started, they would go out in the big fields for half the day.
 
I know this happens on a lot of yards but not all. I have a friend who competes at Grand Prix and her horses all get turned out. They have individual paddocks with post and rail and electric fencing and are booted up. They go out for at least a couple of hours everyday.

One of her horses she bought as a 6yr old from Holland and it had never been outside before. It lived in a stable all day and the indoor school was down a covered shoot from the stables. It had literally never been outside and never seen or eaten grass! When she bought him home he was seriously agoraphobia. She had to make him a 12ft by 12ft paddock and she had to stay with him the entire time he was out. She also had to hand feed him grass because he had never even seen another horse eat grass! Really sad really that horses exist like that.

I know Carl Hester's horses get turned out for at least part of the year and they all hack out at least once a week so it is everyone.
 
I think there becomes a point when a horse is too precious. I love my boy to bits (albeit he isnt an Olympic horse) but it would break my heart not to be able to see him playing in the field

ETA I remember Carl Hester getting a new horse (I think it was Dolendo - not 100% sure though) it had never been in a field in its whole life before he got it. He said in an interview it was the strangest thing to put a horse in a field and see it stand there bewildered and not knowing it could eat... :(
 
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I feel sorry for alot for competition/ racing horses.
They arent allowed to be horses and are kept locked up to keep them safe.

I know its not actually cruelty and they want to protect their investment but the horse should be allowed some "horse" time.
Surely if the horse is content in himself then he will perform to his best?

A lot of horses get used to it but if allowed a choice then im sure they would like a run around and roll around in a field and to munch some grass
 
Gals was interviewed during WEG on Eurosport (I imagine this is the YouTube link on the other thread) and talked about Totila's regime. Apparently he loves routine, he is always ridden by Gals in the morning, he gets taken for grass in hand, goes in the horsewalker and then more grass. Gals said they tried repeatedly to turn him out, but he would go nuts everytime and come back injured - can't say I blame him for leaving the horse in, especially seeing as he doesn't exactly spend 24/7 in a box!
 
I think as long as he's hand grazed for long enough (nice patient grooms I hope) every day then it's not so bad a life. He is probably treated like a king. Don't get me wrong, I think all horses should have oodles of turnout, however much they're worth (and the idea of treating a horse as "a commercial commodity" sickens me), and they should have company too, BUT I accept that it doesn't suit them all.
 
blucanoo1990 said:
I feel sorry for alot for competition/ racing horses.
They arent allowed to be horses and are kept locked up to keep them safe.

I know its not actually cruelty and they want to protect their investment but the horse should be allowed some "horse" time.
Surely if the horse is content in himself then he will perform to his best?

A lot of horses get used to it but if allowed a choice then im sure they would like a run around and roll around in a field and to munch some grass
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Well in the new animal welfare laws it IS ACTUAL cruelty to prevent an animal having the conditions that ALLOWS it to express itself naturally. That is why in this country pig stalls were banned,and why battery hens will be banned in the near future. A horse needs the release of a good buck fart and squeal,those never turned out are never free to express themselves.As for "liking routine"..that`s called being "institutionised".

If we approve this lifestyle for equines..then how can you then disapprove of circuses?? Same difference...pen/work/pen.:mad:
 
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