Perspective | Animal advocacy
Myths That Harm Horses
I was a horse girl and I spent most of my childhood, in the UK, at the stables down the road.
This might sound idyllic, but the stables down the road (literally, I could walk there) was run by a group of women who, to be blunt, represented the very worst of the English “hunt” community. The two sisters who owned the place were, of course, the worst. Smoking in the barn, never wearing helmets, riding while intoxicated. Buying half-trained auction ponies, making students pay to finish them, then selling on as a profit. Beating horses.
And their worst sin, making children beat horses.
I either rode at the stable down the road or I didn’t ride. It was what we could afford. I needed to ride. So I spent years in this toxic environment, and this was where I first learned some of the most harmful myths about horse training. Others I picked up later, but…
…Here are the kind of things that people say that cause real harm to horses (and equines in general).
“They Have Thick Skin, So You Can’t Hurt Them.”
I did my level best to refuse to beat horses (for this, they told my parents I was too soft and would never be a good rider).
