Ban horses from being horsey

  I recently saw something unpleasant at the equestrian club; a stallion was in his stable and suddenly began hitting his leg on the ground. You know, the movement that horses do with their legs when they get impatient or something. His owner, a pony club girl less than 10 years old, who was chatting with her friend in front of another stable, went close and began to hit the head of her horse, shouting as well. Then she went back to her friend. But the stallion began to do the same. And again, she returned, beat him more forcefully and shouted louder. The lady who owns the place could see her but could not bother, but I freaked out.

Later in the day, in an advanced lesson, another girl, apparently of the same age, began to pull the reins as strongly as she could. She was doing that because her pony did not make it over a jump. So, instead of reflecting on her technique, she was beating the horse with her whip, pulling the reins with all her strength. The poor pony was in pain, moving his neck at different directions, but the more he was doing that, the more abuse he was receiving. Thankfully, at this time the instructors intervened.

And then we wonder how a person ends up as an abuser. We see all these disturbing pictures, we hear all these unbelievable news and we wonder what people who abuse horses are thinking. If you grow up learning that beating your horse as hard as you can is normal -as nobody bothers to tell you that it’s wrong- then in your adulthood you will probably commit more unacceptable things, such as starvation, extraordinary beating and everything horrendous that appears on the news.

I’m not a parent myself, hence I can’t judge, but don’t you think that something must be done for kids to be respectful of their animals, before they turn into beasts themselves?