I am not surprised when I come across people with no “horse sense.” Horses are no longer a part of people’s lives on a day to day basis. In fact, people have to purposefully seek out horses to come in contact with them. So, it makes sense to me that the general population doesn’t have a clue.What never ceases to amaze me is when people invest/purchase something they know absolutely nothing about, do not know how to “drive” and do not know basic proper care.
That is the same as me buying a jet ski. I’ve been on one once. It was fun. I think I did okay. I had help. I do not know what makes it go, do not know what I need to have in order to move one around, do not know if it takes diesel or regular fuel, do not know if I need a permit to drive it, do not know if it ever needs tuning or what sort of tuning it might need.
So, if I bought a jet ski this summer, I’d have a lot to learn and would probably make a fool of myself several times before figuring it all out.
Fortunately for the jet ski, it was never “born,” it does not feel pain, it does not have good days and bad days. It does not try to communicate with me. In fact, it doesn’t try to do anything.Another wonder of the world is how a person can get through life having no basic animal sense.
To me, basic animal sense includes knowing that an animal needs to eat, needs water, needs, at least, basic protection from the elements. I’m also going to say that basic animal sense includes knowing that IT’S AN ANIMAL, not a person.
Unlike people, animals do not reason on an intellectual level, they do not plot against us or make plans of any kind. Given these facts, I do not understand how someone can “hate” an animal; seeing as how animals cannot hate us.They can fear us, try to dominate us or be indifferent to our presence. But I don’t think they can hate. Hate requires cognition.
There are definitely animals out there that I do not appreciate. I do not appreciate goats. I don’t hate goats. They can only be who they are. And, for whom they are, I do not appreciate them. I don’t wish ill-will on them, I just don’t appreciate them.
Sure, they may be cute, but they can be someone else's cute.
Without further ado, here are some photos of the amazing positions people get themselves into that can get them hurt, where they will ultimately blame the animal. No common sense, no animal sense.This is how you get your nose bit off.
This is how your kid gets trampled.
This is how you teach your horse to be in charge of you and have something else happen.
And last but not least: this is so seriously not necessary, why do I feel like I'm the only one who knows?
Hasn’t just about everyone seen the movie or read the book “Black Beauty?” Who in the heck wants to be the guy that starves the horse and then beats him when he’s tired? I would think no one, but somehow there are people out there whom have fallen into this role.
I went to a horse auction a couple of months ago. We just stopped in to say hello to people. It was very cold out (-15 degrees Fahrenheit air temperature). So, we didn’t stay long. There were not many horses there, which made sense. No one wants to load up horses in that weather.
In one of the stalls was a skinny horse standing on three legs. His fourth foot he chose not to stand on. My common sense tells me there must be something wrong there, it must hurt. Because I would not stand on one foot for no reason, I can assume an animal wouldn’t either. The horse’s foot was wrapped in duct tape. It was an interesting wrap job. From this observation, I cannot say what was wrong with the foot/leg. I can’t assume anything other than the horse had a problem.
To me, this is obviously not a professional or horse savvy person that dropped off this horse. The wrap job was pathetic, the horse was thin. The horse could have become thin from not being able to lean over to eat (it was a front foot that was wrapped), but it would have had to have been that way for about a month or two. Which is very possible.
This is what happens when people purchase/invest in animals they know nothing about! What annoys me even more is the idea that the rest of us want to/are able to pick up the slack. That horse needs care. Even the kill-buyers do not want that horse! That horse is at high-risk for falling down in a trailer AND the horse is thin.
Besides the inability to care for the horses, I am forever sick of hearing “He’s a jerk, he just wants to buck,” “It won’t go like I want it to,” “It doesn’t like me/my dad/my mom,” “It’s mean and needs a lesson,” “It’s stupid,” “It’s crazy.”
I want to tell the people that say these things, ‘no, you are a jerk because you are mean and stupid, I don’t like you/your dad/your mom and you are crazy for owning a horse.’
The horse can only be a horse. If you have problems with your horse (or other animals) you have yourself to blame. You have yourself to “fix.”
If the level of tuning that you need surpasses that of what you are capable of, then perhaps you need a new animal. But it’s still your fault. And that’s okay because we all can’t be good at everything.
Ending on a good/happy note. Earlier this year I went to watch my friend's husband roundpen a horse. The horse’s name is Charm and she just turned three this year.
Roundpenning can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. In this case, roundpenning is teaching the horse the very first basics of conditioned response, pressure and release. Used in such a way that gets the horse ready to learn to respect human space, read human body language, stand still, lead, be handled, be saddled, bridled and gotten on. He does such a wonderful job of this! He was also narrating last night which was very nice to hear.
He said, “The horse does not like to make mistakes.”
If people could only capture that one idea…oh the possibilities.
I went to a horse auction a couple of months ago. We just stopped in to say hello to people. It was very cold out (-15 degrees Fahrenheit air temperature). So, we didn’t stay long. There were not many horses there, which made sense. No one wants to load up horses in that weather.In one of the stalls was a skinny horse standing on three legs. His fourth foot he chose not to stand on. My common sense tells me there must be something wrong there, it must hurt. Because I would not stand on one foot for no reason, I can assume an animal wouldn’t either. The horse’s foot was wrapped in duct tape. It was an interesting wrap job. From this observation, I cannot say what was wrong with the foot/leg. I can’t assume anything other than the horse had a problem.
To me, this is obviously not a professional or horse savvy person that dropped off this horse. The wrap job was pathetic, the horse was thin. The horse could have become thin from not being able to lean over to eat (it was a front foot that was wrapped), but it would have had to have been that way for about a month or two. Which is very possible.
This is what happens when people purchase/invest in animals they know nothing about! What annoys me even more is the idea that the rest of us want to/are able to pick up the slack. That horse needs care. Even the kill-buyers do not want that horse! That horse is at high-risk for falling down in a trailer AND the horse is thin.
Besides the inability to care for the horses, I am forever sick of hearing “He’s a jerk, he just wants to buck,” “It won’t go like I want it to,” “It doesn’t like me/my dad/my mom,” “It’s mean and needs a lesson,” “It’s stupid,” “It’s crazy.”
I want to tell the people that say these things, ‘no, you are a jerk because you are mean and stupid, I don’t like you/your dad/your mom and you are crazy for owning a horse.’
The horse can only be a horse. If you have problems with your horse (or other animals) you have yourself to blame. You have yourself to “fix.”
If the level of tuning that you need surpasses that of what you are capable of, then perhaps you need a new animal. But it’s still your fault. And that’s okay because we all can’t be good at everything.
Ending on a good/happy note. Earlier this year I went to watch my friend's husband roundpen a horse. The horse’s name is Charm and she just turned three this year.
Roundpenning can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. In this case, roundpenning is teaching the horse the very first basics of conditioned response, pressure and release. Used in such a way that gets the horse ready to learn to respect human space, read human body language, stand still, lead, be handled, be saddled, bridled and gotten on. He does such a wonderful job of this! He was also narrating last night which was very nice to hear.
He said, “The horse does not like to make mistakes.”
If people could only capture that one idea…oh the possibilities.
