…in which I want to classify you as an idiot.
- It’s a two year old.
- It’s a little two year old and you’re a big man.
- It’s not a Harley or a La-z-boy you’re sitting on. Do you think you could at least try to sit straight?
- You’re not supposed to actually sit on the horse’s loin.
- Don’t worry that the horse is crooked and therefore working its muscles unevenly.
If you click on the farm name (doublemfarm) right below the video, it’ll take you to the website where you’ll be happy to know you can find another three dozen videos. Many of them are along the same lines, including some showing the new acceptable attire when you ride, shorts and running shoes. I particular enjoyed the ‘show’ video where the ‘good ole boys’ are all riding in their jeans, t-shirts and baseball caps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tOTlO70WCg
But wait!
This guy is enjoying his ride going really, really, really, slow. And as much as I disagree with the approach of the previous two, how this horse got this way HAD to be a crime.
Hooves 
DAMN! Why did you have to show this? One of my biggest hates is what some of these Aholes put gaited horses through. Unfortunately I have seen worse than these videos. Just pure abuse, plain and simple. There are always the idiots that think they look wonderful doing the big lick, makes me want to cry whenever I see it. As far as riding the 2 year olds, obviously a lot of trainers think that it’s all right. I just bought an almost 3 year old and will start long lining but no saddle work until next summer. She still looks like a baby. Yet there are finished 2 year olds in shows and racing. I prefer a horses legs to last them their whole lives for some reason.
I’m all about sharing. 🙂 Honestly, I came across the video as a result of the previous Clyde fiasco and one thing just led do another.
Yes, there are worse…although the last horse probably was the recipient of ‘worse’, but what the first guy is doing is what the vast majority of average horse owners do. They get on horses too young. They sit crooked and otherwise interfere with the horse. They ride for months and years not realizing the horse is crooked. They overwork a horse with not enough warm up or cool down and so on.
I didn’t comment on the male trainers post because it just makes me sick. But, honestly, I have to say that I just have never encountered many men that work with horses who have any idea how to be kind and gentle. In fact, just one that I can think of when I was in my teens. I’m sure they’re out there, but my mind just cringes whenever I see a guy on a horse. Also, I think any man on a horse that’s too small for him just looks like he’s riding his kid sister’s bike. Ridiculous!
Maybe a couple of our male readers can address your point. Is it that men have a hard time showing feelings/compassion for the animal? Is it that they think obedience/compliance can only be achieved through ‘manhandling’? On the other hand, I find that a lot of women are ‘wishy washy’ with their horses, which creates a whole other set of issues.
I find women are also more likely to buy a big pretty horse they can’t handle, and then be too afraid to really do anything with them. At least the horse is never in any danger of being asked to work too hard, but its still not the best environment for them, and turns some of them into real bears who think they can push people around. I have a friend who has had a lovely, if somewhat neurotic OTTB for almost ten years and still can’t canter him, but others can take him to shows and win blue ribbons on him.
I live in an area with a lot of idiots, but we do have a lot of great horsemen around here. These examples just recently happened.
I was finishing up my ride and back at my trailer when I noticed a very agitated horse being ridden out to the trails. The rider was not fighting, just encouraging the horse, and the horse appeared to be very green. I looked away for a second, and the horse was on the ground and the rider (male) was too. They both got up, and the first thing the rider did was to calm the horse, then check both front feet. I thought the horse either stumbled or tried to roll. The rider made like it was no big deal, got back on and they went down the trail.
Yesterday I was finishing up and two gals were there trying to lunge a horse. They had no clue, and at one point, one of the gals actually got behind the horse and tried to push! The horse was quite calm, just not about to lunge if he didn’t have to.
So I’m sorry Amy if you haven’t seen many men do well with horses, I could give example after example of great riders of either gender that have influenced me, just by observing them riding around.
I know many great male trainers that do not have a heavy hand. But at my husband’s work I have noticed that the younger cowboys tend to be more abrasive in their training techniques whereas the more experienced men are calmer and take more time when a problem arises.
Phooey! I bleat on all the time about best practice management and treating horses consistently and fairly.
I’m also not averse to plonking a kiss on a horse’s nose and Mercedes who well knows who I am on other forums will confirm that I have no difficulty whatsoever expressing
I could well stereotype about women though…… it’s a generalisation so take it in that context but I’ve come across a lot of women who are ineffective and imprecise and take things as some sort of personal affront and it manifests with a confused or bad mannered horse.
Got to say too that some of the more numerous and worst offenders in terms of negligence, abuse and darnright deliberate cruelty are women.
So I’d say that it’s fair to say it’s best not to get into a gender debate when we look at F***wits on horses.
I agree it’s not a gender debate. But it may be a debate based on a too rough approach to horses vs. a “ineffective and imprecise” (great choice of words!) approach to dealing with horses.
And could the “disney-ation” of horses so often portrayed in movies have some influence on this? I know that this is a different topic, but I so often hear women going on and on about some horse movie they have seen.
It is and it isn’t. Men and women are wired differently, men being more practical, women more thoughtful and nurturing – by nature. Listen to male conversations vs women. Women reach out to other women, offer empathy in many cases while men talk about ‘things’, they boast, they compare. Many men think of a horse as they’d think of a skill saw or fast car. They push their ‘things’ as hard as they can. Bigger, faster, taller, longer = BETTER. Come on, you know it’s true! The horse has little meaning without someone to show it off too, like they would a new golf driver.
You know how men are obsessed with their weiners, a lot more than women are concerned. We yearn for the cuddling and pillow talk….most men don’t. It’s just a fact of life. And no, I certainly don’t condone behavior driven by sheer testosterone with a vacant frontal lobe. I’m also old and bitchy enough to rip one a new ownerhole if I see this barbarism in action. Not that it would do any good….but they wouldn’t soon forget they met me!
Here’s the story of a lovely kind caring nurturing woman…
http://www.news9.com/story/21914109/seminole-county-horses-recovering-after-rescued-from-deadly-conditions
Careful if you’ve a weak constitution!
I think there is a possible discussion for the role of gender in horse abuse, stereotypes of masculinity and some men wanting to prove how tough they are by dominating some poor animal. Women are just as capable of abusing animals as men but the rough cowboy brute-force seems to be found more commonly in the male of the species.
However, I agree with hoofhearted that it’s really an asshole problem not a male problem, and I’m sure it would only take a few minutes on youtube to line up some abusive training by women and some great, sensitive riding by men.
Exhibit A: Richard Spooner
Absolutely an asshole problem, no doubt about it. Few men hoard, few women abuse horses. But they certainly do! More women own horses than men so I have to believe that there are fewer women abusers based on numbers alone. I’d love to know the male to female ratio of horse owners. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 25-1.
I don’t think it is a fair comparison, personally. The area most people are talking about- where people are either working with horses in a “work” situation (ie farm or ranch work) or where horses are being abused by people in specific areas of the US- these areas, both geographical and situational are male dominated so, obviously, the statistics are going to be stacked against men. I don’t think men are more inclined to abuse animals at all, than women. I think it is pure coincidence. If you looked at the statistics for dog fighting and abuse in certain areas of the UK there would not be a single instance of female involvement, not because women do not abuse dogs but because dog fighting is a male dominated “sport”.
Most ranch workers are men- that is why they are called cowboys- ergo, most abuse of reining horses and ranch horses is going to be by men, it stands to reason.
If you want an example of a similar form of abuse by a woman you have to look no further than Manky van Grunsven- systematic, ongoing, publicly condoned, highly visible, ABUSE
Kirri, those are good points. I suspect there are probably some breakdowns in gender lines to do with the type of abuse, which are reflective of male/female roles and somewhat of physical characteristics. Ie, more rough cowboy “breaking” of ranch horses is by men because there are more male ranch hands. That said, I don’t think it’s pure coincidence that we see male abusers in some areas because it just happens to be men who are involved in those areas; rather, men are drawn to these sports because of the violent. Your dog fighting example is a good one for this point. Yes, there are more abusers who are men because dog-fighting is male-dominated; but that’s not a coincidence, it’s because men are drawn to the violence and brutality of dog fighting much more than women (speaking in generalities obviously, I’m sure there are female dog-fighting fans out there). I don’t see the lack of female involvement in dog-fighting as meaning that women never abuse dogs, but that women are as not drawn to abusing dogs *in that particular way* as men.
On the other hand, something like rollkur in dressage is more equal-opportunity and is practised by both genders.
We definitely hear of a LOT more female hoarders who are abusing animals, for sure…
We certainly do, there’s a new hoarder story every week. People get pissy about gender comparisons and feel that if they know one (insert gender) who does something differently than most, then the comparison is null and void. Out of my circle of friends, only one woman hunts while the others are completely turned off at the thought, though I know few men who don’t. One of my male friends used to hunt, he now walks around in the woods with a rifle and provides treats for wildlife in his backyard. He’s a big softie but still wants the rest of the males to think he’s a tough guy. Cracks me up.
Blondemare – agreed – you’re never going to be able to make a huge sweeping blanket statement (‘only men are violent to animals’, ‘only women are hoarders’) and have it be 100% true, but there is still value in looking at the majority situation. If say, 75% of hoarders are women, we should be asking why that is, and it’s still helpful to look for female-centric solutions even though 25% of hoarders are men.
It’s a bit like how every single discussion about domestic violence you can find online, someone will come along and say that men get abused by women too, it’s not a totally a women’s issue. Which is of course true, bt that doesn’t mean that domestic violence should be studied and treated as if it’s a 50/50, equal opportunity problem, because that would be completely wrong-headed.
I think I’ve seen these guys on my local Craigslist. Kentucky area, by chance? *Facepalms* We’re not all like this, even people who ride gaited horses, I swear.
*sigh*
That one on the pavement… oh my. Can you say road founder? Poor thing…
As for the others, just… ugh. People suck.
did you see the shackles on the third one!? poor thing 😦
It’s actually painful to watch. I mean what part of that horses gait looks nice? I think with out all the torture he’d be a nice horse, oh and he’s for sale $5000
found this one OMG, is all I can say
What? Racking a horse…as in applying torture methods and devices? Yes indeed it is.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about gaited horses, but other than this horse is thin and is being ridden on the road instead of the berm throughout most of the video, what is so horrible about this video? The guy is sitting quietly while riding bareback and he’s staying out of the horse’s mouth (mostly). Does the horse need that shanked bit? Probably not, but I’ve seen worse yank and crank with the Western Pleasure horses at local shows. I’m not a fan of the high head carriage, but it appears to be natural.
Well, sometimes you need to be the horse to get a real sense of what’s going on when you’re not understanding the biomechanics. Pretend you’re on all fours and someone is sitting on your back, which isn’t designed to carry weight in the first place. Then they put a big honking leveraged bit in your mouth, engaging it fully, completely and 100% of the time by riding on 12″ of rein. What will your response be? Mine would be to put my head up and back, and sticking my throat out in an attempt to try to avoid the engagement of the bit. In turn this is going hollow my back even more and drop my belly (core).
Now, tell me how long you can hold that position, while toting the person around, before you start to get sore and breakdown.
I will say that most of my experience with male “trainers” was in the western world. Seems that they are all cowboys around here and trying to prove their manliness or something. This one jackass (yeah, i’ll say it, I’m not afraid! Dale Key of Cookeville, TN)that I unfortunately took my horse to once because I was having some trouble with his western pleasure headset, immediately put a wire snaffle in his mouth and proceeded to jerk and saw in a tiny round pen. Needless to say, it only took five seconds before I got him out of there and never went back. That was about fifteen years ago and I was just a kid. Probably left a bad taste in my mouth. I learned later that, because of his conformation, he was never going to be “pushing peanuts” as they say. But he has been a great partner for twenty five years.
See! Here’s an owner who had a set even as a kid! EVERYBODY needs to follow this kind of example and tell assholes where to get off at!
This guy needs to put the nice horsey away and go get a dirtbike. It goes fast on the backroads, too, and when it breaks down from hard use and improper maintenance, the only one affected will be him.
I don’t think this is a gender issue – it is an asshole issue.
Dead right Maria!
I absobloodylutely hate this stuff!
IMO it’s absolute intentional abuse to compel a horse to lift it’s feet because of those ridiculous stacked weights and such as bands and heavy shoeing or “padding” that forces discomfort. The horse is forced to virtually sitting back on it’s haunches because of rider position and use of hands and those bits. The horse has no choice but to quickly lift it’s feet off the ground because of discomfort and to sit right back under itself to relieve it’s front end of all that nonsense!
The horse is compelled into a position whereby it’s forcing a pastern axis that is positively detrimental to the horse in that it puts excessive strain on joints and supportive structures.
To me anything forced is ugly! But in this case it’s darnright cruel and abusive.
I call it ponysquashing for rednecks!
Yeah, there’s just as many bitches out there having their Saddlebreds and Arabians sored for English “Pleasure”, which looks very unpleasant when ridden the saddleseat way.
I cannot understand why people are not more interested in horses doing things for people because they want to. I find that horses are usually quite willing and interested in doing things with humans and yet people overwhelming want to force themselves onto these poor beasts. I guess the whole disney crap and romanticism of the horse needs to be discouraged. It seems to me that people want to have this dream and then don’t know how to be and then they get scared and then they get bad advice and then the horse gets abused and/or neglected and then finally disposed of…. sorry for the runon sentence LOL
It certainly would be a crime if any governing body would grow a set and ENFORCE the anti-soring laws. It simply amazes me how I have had to pay a fee and sit and wait for a few hours at even a lower level show for drug tests to get taken and clear on horses that are clean and these assholes just keep on going. And just exactly WHAT are we paying taxes for when you can’t get a department of agriculture officer out for months? Just disgusting. Seems the only thing we can do is keep blogging about it and leave nasty comments on people’s YouTube accounts so other people will know that this is NOT normal or acceptable.
This is an International problem, I can assure you. We can’t get Trading Standards to enforce ANYTHING- when we put all the evidence in front of them they say that they don’t have the man power….
I know nothing at all about Racking or gaited horses, but is there any chance in the last video that the horse is slow just ’cause its lazy?
Absolutely not iRide Ponies, the horse moves like that because he has been forced to through being sored. Even if a horse is not being sored at present it will have permanent damage from the abuse. Look up how a TWH moves naturally, it is nothing like this at all.
Oh dear. I rewatched the video, and compared it to that of several barefoot, natural rackers and I agree, it doesn’t look similar at all.
I hope someone buys that horse and manages to convinces it that its hooves are no longer on fire.
The problem that I see is that whenever I watch videos on horses that have been sored that there are all kinds of comments on how nice the horse is moving. I watch and my heart bleeds for the horse. You watch the TWH in the ring and a lot of times are ridden by men that sit on them like a damned sack of potatoes while these beautiful horses are struggling to move.
I find it interesting that you can instantly tell. Are you just looking at the high-step, or are you seeing lameness that I am not?
It’s just from the way they move. A horse does not move like this naturally. Does not matter if they are a gaited horse or not. Watch a natural moving gaited horse and you will see the difference. A gaited horse will have a different pattern to their movement but, it will not be exaggerated like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln_o67nLWSc iRide Ponies, this is how a TWH moves naturally. Whenever you see the big, exaggerated steps, the horse has been sored.