15th December, 2008 Everywhere I go.....

I have heard some sickening things over the last week or so. It seems to me that there are very few limits to the things that people will do to their horses to make them do something or stop them doing something else. I didn't know for example that horses are kept moving on horse-walkers by an electric shock. A client tells me that in his previous home her horse learned how to kink his tail in such a way that he could avoid it - who on earth would think that was okay in the first place? I also heard that there is still someone in this area who uses the W rope when training horses - if the horse moves forward when they don't want it to, they pull up one of it's legs with a rope so that it has only got three available. I am told that I wouldn't want to see how they load the horses at a local racing yard and that twitching is the norm when horses are being clipped in an event yard. If a horse is trained well, none of these things would be necessary in the first place and it seems to be all about power, capitulation and saving time rather than partnership and co-operation.

"Everywhere I go I hear what's going on and the more I hear, the less I know." Oysterband.

These days I have to concentrate in the horses I can help and not get too depressed about those that I can't and when I do get disheartened, I think of another of their songs which may be about relationships but is also about having choices - just knowing you have a choice makes it easier to stay:

We could leave right now,
we could just walk away,
it wouldn't cost a thing,
hardly anyone would see,
the wind would hide our tracks,
the clouds would fill our shoes,
don't be afraid,
don't be afraid.

We could leave right now,
any step could be the first,
any word could be the last,
any door would do,
we can forget our names,
forget each other's faces,
don't be afraid don't be afraid.

Put down the music and talk,
your rumours and regrets,
fading silhouettes,
all you need to do is walk away...

We could leave right now,
maybe it's getting light out there,
papers in the alley,
just a little rain,
we can forget our names,
forget each other's faces,
don't be afraid,
don't be afraid.

A third song of theirs is about Irish conflict and the need to 'Pick up the fiddle and put down the gun' which is a brilliant analogy for putting down the whip. Once you know that hitting is never an option, being around horses is no longer confrontational.