It is so easy to be fooled by the beauty that is present to the Incredibly beautiful horses. Impeccably groomed. Beautiful perfect braids. The riders in their top hats, and dressed up impeccably.. black boots gleaming in the sunlight with nary a drop of dust on them anywhere…
A quiet look on the riders face.. maybe even a smile…
The horse’s hooves buffed and polished…
Gleaming white bandages that remind one of purity…”
White boards painted freshly gleaming around the dressage arena…
Pure white gloves on the rider’s hands, making us think of ladies and gentlemen taking time for a gracious cup of tea.
Horses bred to move beautifully no matter what.
Tails full and gorgeous, no scruffy, mane and tail for these horses.
And somehow the head down, looks like the most wonderful courtesy or bow, a bow of a liege man to his king, the bow of the maid to her lady, the bow of the ballerina acknowledging her audience.
But the bow we see here has nothing to do with those kind of bows, although somehow in our mind, in our eye they become joined. This bow is not of the courtly night. This is the bow of the being tied down and held subservient to those who are given a right to do whatever they please, with mouths tied shut with chain and leather and steel, so that they cannot voice their pain, their rage.
Don’t be fooled by the beauty on the outside…
That you can not see what’s underneath…
If all it took was to have beautiful clothing to make each one of us a good person.. we would all be dressed in silk and never have to worry again…
Amazing how ugly things can be made to look beautiful.
Rollkur: An Overview – The above has been reprinted with permission of Horses For LIFE Publications.
For those wanting to see the face of the rider, to know who he is…look no further than the top of the tree.
So long as judges reward only for what happens in the ring, for the “ooohs” and “ahhhs” of the crowd, then this abuse will not end…
These hands and gears could tow a truck out of mud…unbelievable force!!
Thank you for showing clearly the details which so many people just don´t see. I think that most of them just don´t want to see it because they are “successful” riding, training and competing this horrible way and don´t want to change.
please show their faces..
So horrible, I want to hurt those people.
Through history the horse has enabled us to rise above our mediocrity. In return, now that they are no longer our provider, we honor them by making them “accessories”, enabling us to be “winners” & the prestigious elite. I pray that God will find it in his heart to disassemble the societal machinery which facilitates this ritual abuse to this most magnificent creature.
SHOW THEIR FACES
Yes Pictures say it all. The truth is in the close-ups. “Horse- please forgive us, we will stop this”.
All I can say is “Oh my God!!” I can almost feel their pain myself. I have always thought that heavy constant pressure on the bit caused discomfort. And then to tie their mouths shut is to me, totally inhumane and unfair. I even refer to these dropped nosebands as “instruments of torture”, and rightfully so. I think their use should be totally banned. I am against abuse of horses in any shape or form. They seek to please us and they trust us to put a bit into their tender mouths. How would we feel with a hunk of metal in our mouth and being yanked around?? We wouldn’t like it one darn bit and neither do they. They deserve gentleness, respect and sensitivity to their feeling and well-being.
I agree, it is insane. The progressive loss of focus happens when the judges give high marks for this type of torture, when you visit almost every livery yard in England and see this type of cruelty being taught and justified, when people are taught that to be at the top you need a really expensive, specifically bred horse, when we are taught as children to ignore our instincts and ‘be nice’, when people who do try to change things are punished for having an opinion, when ‘freedom of speech’ is a theory and not a reality, when a whole group of people get together and allow money to matter more than anything else and when pain and sufferring are seen as necessary components of life, when we keep getting away with taking everything we want from this beautiful planet and nature and destroying it, there is no end to the reasons why we choose insanity over reason. How do we re focus, we become conscious of our impact on those around us, we celebrate people like Gerd Hauchmann and many others who have stepped out of the box and raised awareness, we accept personal responsibility and accountabilty for our own learning and path through life, and we stop, for the love of our horses, hurting them.
Insanity … LW, you have written what I’m thinking
A the end of it all, either motivated by money or taken in a cycle hard for them to control, the FEI bears direct responsibility for overlooking the abuse and torture endured by the horses. They are the one that can make an immediate meaningful difference. They can exclude such riders, ban the practice and scrutinize more effectively the people involved in dressage… from trainers to barns.
Beautiful things come from within – when the horse joyfully gives to us. Not forced to.
The sadness, pain and betrayal in the horses eyes are more eloquent than any words. Glamorous torture-no more,no less than that. Our horses deserve better for their service and faithfulness.
This can’t be what training is about. At what point do these horsemen and horsewomen lose their focus???
The eyes say it all.