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What is the vegan stance on horseback riding?[br]Is riding horses cruel?

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Well, get ready to get controversial!

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Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome[br]to another vegan nugget. Today’s topic is

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something that I’ve been asked to cover[br]by may of you out there, especially recently,

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so I’ve been doing my research. I want to[br]first give thanks to Fair Horsemanship for

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all of her assistance and I’ll tell you[br]how to get connected with her later in the

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video.

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I’m first going to address the question[br]of whether or not riding horses is vegan and

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then I’ll move onto whether it’s cruel.[br]As I said in my video about wool, veganism,

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in general, is about opposing the use of animals[br]for our own personal gains in any form whatsoever.

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If we look at horseback riding, it’s evident[br]that horses do not need to be ridden. Horseback

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riding solely benefits the rider and so it[br]is a form of using animals for our entertainment,

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which is explicitly not vegan.

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Now this is not a popular stance and there[br]are several arguments as to how riding benefits

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the horse. One of these is that domesticated[br]horses need exercise. The most simple response

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to this is that domesticated dogs also need[br]exercise, yet owners are able to provide this

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without having to mount them. A second argument[br]is that riding provides a horse with an enriched

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environment. Again, this can be as easily[br]be achieved without someone atop them by walking

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the horse from the ground. A third argument[br]is one that comes in many forms but always

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starts with “By my horse loves…” and[br]ends with: being ridden, going to shows, wearing

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a bridle, having a bit, running the barrels,[br]or what have you. And perhaps there is some

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horse out there who actually likes to be ridden.[br]But let’s take a look at what riding does

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to a horse's body physically. What I’m going[br]to cover is just a cursory look into the impact

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of horseback riding on horses. I have links[br]to additional resources in the blog post for

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this video, which is linked in the video description[br]and I urge you to reference those studies

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if you want to delve deeper into his topic.[br]Let’s start with skeletal structure. There

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is a saying that a horse is ready to ride[br]when their “knees close.” This refers

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to waiting until the growth plates just above[br]their knees convert from cartilage to bone.

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Dr. Den Bennet in her article Timing And Rate[br]Of Skeletal Maturation In Horses, states that

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“what people often don’t realize is that[br]there is a “growth plate” on either end

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of every bone behind the skull, and in the[br]case of some bones (like the pelvis or vertebrae,

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which have many ‘corners’) there are multiple[br]growth plates.” She goes on to detail the

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exact schedule of growth plate conversion[br]to bone in horses. While many people start

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riding their horses around the age of 2, Dr.[br]Bennet’s schedule shows that the last plates

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to fuse are in the vertebral column- and this[br]does not occur until the horse is at least

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five and a half years old, with taller horses[br]and males taking even longer. According to

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the text Practical Anatomy and Propaedeutic[br]of the Horse, the length of time for complete

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growth of the epiphyseal plates, or cartilage,[br]is not until they are (on average) between

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6 and 9 years old!

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The basic takeaway of all of that is that[br]it's incredibly easy to damage a horse's back

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and displace his or her vertebral growth plates,[br]causing pain and lasting injury.

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Aside from the issue of growth plate fusion,[br]riding a horse at any age causes skeletal

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damage as well as muscle and tissue. Expert[br]horseman, Alexander Nevzorov states “A horse’s

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back is not a seat, not a place for a human[br]butt, not a piece of “meat”, not some

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sort of “terra fir- ma”. It is a very[br]complex and tender anatomical structure with

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extraordinary functions. Besides the obvious[br]biomechanical function, the back has another

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very important function. The spinal cord’s[br]work is to guarantee that the responses from

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the entire nervous system can communicate[br]the senses of taste, smell, vision, hearing,

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and vestibular function to the brain, not[br]to get lost in too much detail. On this especially

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vulnerable, sensitive organ, onto the medulla[br]spinalis, the brain of the back, sits a rider.”

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In a 2007 study out of the 295 horses who[br]were considered physically sound upon initial

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examination, 91.5% were diagnosed with some[br]kind of alteration on the spinal processes

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after X-ray. Almost always the spinal processes[br]of the caudal saddle position were affected.

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In horseback riding, the spinal damage caused[br]by weight alone is compounded by the use of

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saddles, harnesses, bits, and whips. Saddles[br]restrict blood flow to the arterial capillary

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bed causing tissue damage, as well as general[br]wear and chafing. But nothing is quite as

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cruel as the use of bits and whips- which[br]I’m only going to give a cursory nod to

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in this video.

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Bits cause pain and damage to a horse’s[br]complex cranial nerves as well as their teeth,

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tongue and palate. Facial nerves are extremely[br]close to the skin and thus extremely sensitive.

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It is essential to understand that there is[br]absolutely no way to use a bit without a horse

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feeling pain.

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And since I’m running short on time here,[br]I’ll just say this about using a whip: it’s

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a whip!

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Now all of this is just barely scraping the[br]surface of the horse issue. I haven’t even

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addressed the practice of breaking horses,[br]horse racing, the rodeo and other topics and

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I'll cover those in future videos. For great[br]information on horse-friendly activities from

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the ground and with positive reinforcement,[br]please head over to Fair Horsemanship’s

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channel as well as check out her website.[br]She's a great resource on this topic.

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Give the video a thumbs up if you likes it[br]and please share it around with your friends

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and family. And if you’re new to the channel,[br]I’d love to have you subscribe- here at

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BSV I address all aspect of veganism and aways[br]in 5 minutes or less. Now go live vegan and

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I’ll see you soon!