In reading blogs and looking at pictures on the web I sometimes see a picture of someone standing on a horse. Usually the horse is upright, but not always. I've actually seen photos of an"expert trainer/clinician" standing on his horse while the horse is on its side. I don't understand the interest or "need" in doing this. To some degree, I imagine it's to show the amount of trust you have with your horse, but surely there are less...I don't know...cruel ways of exhibiting that trust? Yes, to some degree, I consider it cruel. Horses were not meant to be stood on. You are putting all of your weight on that one spot. If the horse is standing on all fours that isn't quite as bad as if the horse was lying on its side and you are standing on its flank or something. Do these people not care about the pain or uncomfortable-ness they might be causing that horse? Do they only care about looking cool? Because what it seems like to me. People are always concerned about the amount of weight a rider is putting on a horse's back, which is at least a little bit distributed while seated in the saddle...why not care equally as much about the amount of weight in general and how the rider is putting it on the horse and where. Horses were not meant to be stood upon...period. It's one of the reasons I don't like trick riders or vaulting or whatever other activity requires a human to walk all over a horse's back and jump up and down repeatedly. They say it's cruel to ask a horse to carry a rider in excess of so many pounds, but think nothing of cheering along as 4 people do acrobatics on its back. I just don't get it.
Last week I had a super day of searching for the Salt River Wild Horses. The best day EVER. I had hoped to share videos on my blog, but they take too long to upload so I will just post the link to the videos on my SmugMug page. From there you can also view some of the pictures I've taken...there's quite a few. I haven't had time to put many photos from last Wednesday, but I do have one gallery up and will be adding more as time allows. We've been super busy at work because we are down 2 people, 3 on Wednesdays. Grumble grumble. I did get to see one of my young stallions that used to run with a small bachelor herd. I hadn't seen him in awhile and was worried about him. He looks to be doing quite well, especially since there's more than one mare in the group. He doesn't have the cute, young horse look to him much anymore, but he is growing into a very handsome animal.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the videos. There is sound to them, but mostly it's chatter from my scanner, some birds and maybe my breathing as I gasp in wonderment.
Wild Horse Videos (if the preceeding words are the same color as the text and you don't see the link, it's there. Just click "wild horse videos")
I didn't realize that the horses hung out in recreational areas where there are people. I've only seen them on the side of the highway in the hills. What's the scanner for? I agree with your sentiments about standing and doing acrobatics on horses. My horses express discomfort just when the saddle gets pulled to one side when I mount. I think standing on them is a way for people to show off their training skills or to show off how well trained the horse is. I have a picture of me sitting on one of my horses as she lay on the ground, but I didn't put my full weight on her. In my case, I just couldn't resist wrapping my arms around her because she looked so cute laying there.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. That's the best place to see them is in the recreation areas. Probably 90% of the ones I've seen have been in those places. Some of them don't care how many people are around while others quickly leave if people are there.
ReplyDeleteThe picture you describe does sound incredibly cute and sometimes stuff like that IS hard to resist. I'm mostly talking about the people who stand on their horses to show how well trained the animal is or "because they can" and the people who do stunts on them.
Oh, and the scanner is for listening to police and fire. :) It's just something I enjoy having in my car and listening to what's going on around me.
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