8th June, 2016 Bully For You

The one thing I can almost guarantee that I will hear about every day around horses is bullying. Humans bullying humans, especially horse owning humans bullying other horse owning humans. What is it about owning a horse that makes people thing that it is acceptable to bully someone else? Is it because they have felt the power of being able to bully a horse? I wish an anthropologist would conduct a research project on this.

So last night I hear about someone who had been worried sick by a nasty comment about their pony, based on just one momentary picture of him standing still. I had to run through all the pictures I had of him when he was in with me for training to be able to reassure her that no, this wasn't his natural or only way of standing, it was just a moment in time.

I also heard about a young woman being absolutely slated on a well known forum, told that her pony was lame, and the effect was so bad that it affected her confidence when riding. Another was once controlled by someone that she used to ride out with. Horse ownership seem to give people the power to bully others well beyond childhood when you might expect it. It's mean, nasty, and says a lot more about the person doing the bullying than the person being bullied.