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Thelwell: A cartoon for every occasion! |
I learned a long time ago that I am not responsible for
everything. I am not responsible for how a horse arrived at the situation he is
in, with the physical problems, behaviours and training that are already
established, and nor can I be responsible for how he is treated and trained
after I have left. The techniques I use and the advice I give can only work if
they are replicated, and replicated well, after I have gone. To help people
carry on with the work I provide a detailed report and notes, and often leave
my panels, free of charge, in situations where they are useful.
What has interested me lately is how much responsibility I
carry during a training session: one things is for sure, the horse has no responsibility whatsoever; all we can do is ask
him to try.
There are different aspects of responsibility: health and
safety, the training of the horse, and the coaching of the owner. Each one is
dynamic rather than static. Teaching a new or remedial horse how to load,
setting it up to travel well, is a great example of this. During the session I
am responsible, along with the owner for keeping surrounding people as well as
the horse as safe as possible whilst making reasonable progress. However, my responsibility is but a sliver in
the overall responsibility held by the owner for ensuring that the horse loads
and travels well in the future. Habituation, through good training and
repetition, can make a massive difference to the horse’s willingness to load
and their ability to travel calmly, and I can help with all of that, but it is
the owner that has to commit to carrying on with the training and practice Not only do they need to be able to load the
horse safely by the end of the training, but they need to ensure that the
transport vehicle, the way it is laid out and the way it is then driven,
ensures the welfare, comfort, and safety of the horse. I can’t make a horse
like a lousy horsebox or endure a terrible journey, although good training can
certainly help him to tolerate these things (when maybe he shouldn’t!).
In two recent cases, I have had concerns about the safety of
the ramp, and in one case the positioning of a tack locker. If I can see these
problems there is no doubt that the horse feels them.
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| I have expressed my concerns to the conversion company that have designed this beautiful looking lorry which boasts leather seats, gorgeous paintwork, and some 'safety features' such as a wide door at the back and a collapsible bar. You can only release the horse by going in to him and once he is over that partition, what's to stop him bursting out of the back door? |
I still feel we have an awfully long way to go with the
design of horseboxes and trailers, and I
am amazed at how many glossy lorries there are priced at £20,000 and above
which still have breast bars partitions and tack lockers upon which the horses
can flounder (especially when safer alternatives are available). They pose
a grave risk to the horses and the humans that attempt to rescue them. These
lorries may be described as safe because the bars are collapsible (generally
from the inside only) but that is a classic case of closing the stable door
after the horse has bolted; we need to know and understand why horses feel so
unhappy that they breach the bars in the first place. In the meantime people
are still being seduced by the paint.
