Welfare issues with polo?

[teapot]

Can't edit but what I meant to say is that I think it's hard to get photos of polo ponies with ears forward mid ride off/fast play just like it's hard to get photos of racehorses mid race with their ears forward too. It doesn't 100% mean they're unhappy 100% of the time...

 

[amandap]

Can't edit but what I meant to say is that I think it's hard to get photos of polo ponies with ears forward mid ride off/fast play just like it's hard to get photos of racehorses mid race with their ears forward too. It doesn't 100% mean they're unhappy 100% of the time...

Agree or in any discipline. Relying on ears forward as the indicator of 'happyness' is not realistic imo. Horses ears (in my understanding) are possibly used to express emotion but they are mainly used to focus on something, so reflect where that focus is. Ears pinned back is obviously a sign of discontent but other ear positions are not reliable indicators of a horses state without taking other signals such as body tension and most importantly context into account.

ps. The context has to be take into account for pinned ears as well, ,a horse could be communicating to a horse nearby for eg.

 

[khalswitz]

Agree or in any discipline. Relying on ears forward as the indicator of 'happyness' is not realistic imo. Horses ears (in my understanding) are possibly used to express emotion but they are mainly used to focus on something, so reflect where that focus is. Ears pinned back is obviously a sign of discontent but other ear positions are not reliable indicators of a horses state without taking other signals such as body tension and most importantly context into account.

ps. The context has to be take into account for pinned ears as well, ,a horse could be communicating to a horse nearby for eg.

This. My boy never has his ears forward when schooling - he's paying attention to ME so the ears are on ME. Flat back ears are different, but ears turned back is a focus thing, and I actually like to see it.