#bridleless

@horsesarecreatures Maybe you can help if you like 😅

I don't understand the first one. What use does the cross over straps have? Balanced pressure?

Could you tell me what'd work and what to avoid?

Got to do some Certified Badass™ shit this weekend (including tearing it up with one of my favs, @mounted-archer ).

Introducing my horses 2/8

Milo!

I’ve had Milo the longest out of all of my current horses. I adopted him from the SPCA as a 2 year old and since then, have done just about everything with him! He is now 10 years old.

Milo is assumed to be a Thoroughbred cross but his pedigree is unknown since he was a rescue case. He’s 16.2hh and is a bit of a miracle as he was so emaciated at 2 years of age, he was thought to be a yearling and vets didn’t think he’d catch up in growth in the way he has.

𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.

In the current climate of the horse world, it’s harder to find the type of trainer and support system that will sway you away from many modern trends we are now finding to be detrimental to horses.

You are simply more likely to end up in a training barn type situation where you are constantly around stressed horses and having that stress normalized. Or riding horses who are show signs of discomfort and being told it’s normal behaviour.

When you’re subjected to this as a first intro to horses, it becomes very very hard to move away from it as you gain experience because it’s been drilled into you as the norm.

This is why we really can’t beat ourselves up too much for the mistakes we make and the lapses in kindness we have towards horses.

𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧.

Someone who lacks experience with horses is unlikely to argue with a self-proclaimed professional and someone who is perceived as an expert, even if what they’re told to do makes them uncomfortable.

Then, with enough repetition, it no longer makes them uncomfortable and they start to blindly and unquestioningly take on the information they were taught and apply it in real time.

My first trainer flipped over and killed a horse from restraining it too tightly in side reins. This happened near the start of my riding career with said person and more than 4 years after this, I have a crystal clear memory of her tying my horse’s head to his girth and leaving him hyperflexed like that in his stall because he was “too heavy for my hands”.

This is just one example of normalized violence I saw occur in front of me as a mere child. That isn’t even factoring in the lapses in management, like too little turnout, that resulted in behavioural problems I was told were normal horse behaviours.

What you learn in the beginning is often carried with you for years to come and it can be very hard to break free from these initial learnings, especially when it means uprooting everything as you’ve known it.

But, for many of us, it is imperative that we let go of the early lessons in cruelty we are taught, if we want to become better horse people.

You can’t hold yourself completely responsible for mistakes you made due to inadequate assistance from trainers.

You cannot hold yourself completely responsible for violence you enact on horses because you’re told for years it’s the only way to handle them and have them learn how to be safe around horses.

You cannot hold yourself completely responsible for care practices you adapt after being told they’re normal and the “right way to do things” but then later finding out horses suffer in isolation or when there’s a lack of space to self exercise.

You followed instructions given to you by people masquerading as someone who knows an awful lot.

You were taken advantage of by an industry that has little to hold professionals responsible and ensure that the information they give out is accurate and coming from a place of expertise.

Beginners can’t be expected to navigate past all of the traps in horsemanship and all of the normalized cruelty in the horse world and see the red flags clearly. It is so pervasive and ingrained in this industry that the sheer number of people condoning it makes it feel like it must be correct.

So, don’t beat yourself up for the mistakes you make. Honour them. Hold yourself accountable and work to do better. But be mindful of the impact of early conditioning and how it forms who you are as an equestrian and builds habits for how you handle your horses.

We are the product of the environment that built us as horse people. If that environment is toxic, our behaviour will be too. It can be really hard to heal that toxicity but it’s necessary for growth.

He's so good in neckrope, he even does flawless walk to canter