The Secrets Behind Horse Training

     These days, animal abuse has become an important social topic. When you think of animal abuse you usually think of an animal suffering from malnutrition. But have you ever thought about the kind of abuse animals go through in training? Animals getting abused in training is especially common in the equine industry. These days, horse trainers will do anything to win. Charlie Cole, a multiple world-champion Quarter Horse trainer says, "There definitely are trainers whose philosophy is to win at any costs" (Meyer 2014). These abuses vary by different breeds of horses, and the methods and tack being used, but some examples include: using drugs to enhance performance or reduce the pain inflicted, messing with the nerves and muscles around a horses tail to raise it higher or not be able to move the tail during a performance at all, hitting horses using whips or bats to perform certain tasks, spurring excessively causing gashes in the stomach and draining the blood from horse's heads before a performance (Les Sellnow 2004).  Christine Little states, "I believe there was a time that the horses were forgotten about and it suddenly became a competition to see who the best trainer was, who could create the best ‘robot’ so to speak" (Grice 2016).

     All horse breeds differ in skills and importance, but all trainers are the same. All they want is the winning money and reputation in the horse community. In Jennifer Meyer's article, Horse Training or Abuse she states, "Modern trends in certain events can create training challenges. The specialized nature of today's events requires exceptional horses and when a horse without natural talent for a particular event is pointed in that direction anyway, the risk of abuse rises" (Meyer 2014).

Different events and the abusive training tactics-

• Western Pleasure- Horses carry their heads extremely low and travel in shuffling, almost stumbling gaits. To get the horse to carry their head low some trainers will tie their horses head up for hours, so when they go into the show ring they lower their head to the ground to get the blood back into their brain. Western trainers have also been know to 'deaden tails'. Gary Griffith says, "perpetrators just cut through muscles and nerves so the horse is unable to lift or switch its tail. When that practice was outlawed, the perpetrators simply switched to blocking nerves and muscles with drugs. The result was the same: The horse couldn't make use of his tail in a normal fashion. Some horses had their entire tails slough off because of misuse of this practice" (Sellnow 2004).  

  

  Western Pleasure Horse

• Jumping-  Some trainers of jumping horses use a pole to whack a horse on the front cannon bones as he rises to a jump. This tells the horse he must jump higher to avoid the pain of being struck.
• Arabian Showing- They use substances, like ginger, and insert it into the horse's rectum so that the horse will hold its tail even higher than they normally do.  
• Tennessee Walking Horses- Horse show judges in this event value the exaggerated gait, called the 'big lick.' Although Tennessee Walking horses already have a high-stepping gait, trainers use a process called 'soring'. Chemicals and other irritants-blistering agents like mustard oil, diesel fuel and kerosene- are placed on a horse's ankles and forelegs which cause it to lift its front feet and shift its weight unnaturally to the hind legs in order to relieve the pain. Eventually the horse will be in so much pain that it will refuse to stand up (Gast 2012). More information on this is in, this video.  

  

  Tennessee Walking Horse with the 'big lick' gait.

• Racing- Horses begin training and racing at two years old, while their skeletal systems are still growing and are unprepared to handle the pressures of competition racing on a hard track at high speeds. A study done by PETA  concluded that, "one horse in every 22 races suffered an injury that prevented him or her from finishing a race, while another study estimated that three thoroughbreds die every day in North America because of catastrophic injuries sustained during races." Some jockeys use a device to shock their horses to get them to go faster. The horses also race on drugs and unhealthy bone conditions. Cruel racing clips are shown in, this video.  
• Use of inhumane equipment including: Saw-tooth bits and hock hobbles 

  

  Saw Tooth Bit- cuts a horses tongue.

      Horses, in fact, are very sensitive to physical contact of all kinds, and respond quickly to physical discipline and reward. Horses also have a surprisingly good memory, and studies have proven that horses remember people who treat them well and people who treat them badly. Because of this, horses are almost as vulnerable to trauma as humans are (Horse Training 2016). Owner of two-time American Quarter Horse Super Horse Rugged Lark, Carol Harris states, "This is a living, breathing creature, with feelings. If you treat him well, he'll pay you back in spades in the long run. This doesn't mean you can't ever 'get after' a horse. But it must be done with timing, skill, and moderation. And, afterward, you don't keep threatening--you give the horse a chance to be good" (Meyer 2014).

 

Sources:

A Win at Any Cost

Horse Training or Abuse?

PETA: Abuse of Yearlings and 2-Year-Olds in Training

CNN: Tennessee Walking Horses

The Ugly Truth About Horse Racing

Horse Training - When Is Discipline Abuse?