“We are happy that not only NHE sees the problem now, but I am afraid that this video will be discussed as not a global problem but just a case of this sportsman. However, this Sportsman is just a part of the system which is based on cruelty- visible or hidden.
I am a founder of Horse Revolution- first non profitable organization which struggles with cruelty of Equine sport for years.
I was the first photographer in the world who started to take photos not of the jumping and “dancing” horses but of the mouths and pain in the eyes and publish it openly with faces and names of sportsmen. Now we have thousands of such photos in our magazine and on our website. People send them from all the parts of the world.
We have great results in Russia. There, normal people stopped visiting equine competitions. Now we become well known internationally. Our films, magazines, photos and books work against stupid cruelty of equine sport.”
Lydia Nevzorov
Head of Horse Revolution, Editor in chief NHE Equine Anthology
It breaks my heart when I see pics of some of these horses with their mouth sopen in obvious pain and distress. You see people yanking them to a stop and some people even think it is “cool”. I see distressing comments from people who seem to enjoy seeing the pain and urging a whip or spurs or such. How can people be so cruel?? I do not understand this at all. I always speak up about the dropped nosebands. And in both dressage and horseracing, one can see the horses ridden on such a tight rein. You can see the bit cutting the mouth and the horse in pain.
Yes, you are absolutely right. Horse Revolution is something we must fight for. For me watching this video, as well as all the so called sports events, is like watching a rape. They say they love horses but they constantly rape their bodies and rape their souls.
Thank you Lydia.
You are correct. For years our horse show industries are so consumed with drug issues that training issues take a back seat. 40 years ago while competing at horse shows in California, I complained to the horse show officials about a horse in pain in the warm up ring due to draw reins, tight nose band sharp, spurs and the trainer hitting the horse on the head. I was told that there was no proof this was damaging to the horse. I was determined to help stop this kind of treatment in my own horse industry and went to school studying wild horse ecology and human-animal consciousness to focus my equine practice on applied behavior ecology of horses.
After many years of teaching, writing and developing stress management products, sadly it has not helped. (www.mystichorse.com) Our industry has become all about the money and not about the horse. People like you who can communicate what is happening are critical to changing our industry. We need more people in “press” to communicate what is happening as well as we need to educate judges, trainers and riders and our regulatory organizations. I will spread the word. Thank you.
congratulations, Lydia. I have looked at your website in the past, and have a link to it on mine.