WEBVTT 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.019 What is the vegan stance on horseback riding? Is riding horses cruel? 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:07.060 Well, get ready to get controversial! 00:00:10.140 --> 00:00:14.420 Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Today’s topic is 00:00:14.429 --> 00:00:17.939 something that I’ve been asked to cover by may of you out there, especially recently, 00:00:17.939 --> 00:00:22.289 so I’ve been doing my research. I want to first give thanks to Fair Horsemanship for 00:00:22.289 --> 00:00:25.380 all of her assistance and I’ll tell you how to get connected with her later in the 00:00:25.380 --> 00:00:25.800 video. 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:29.800 I’m first going to address the question of whether or not riding horses is vegan and 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:34.160 then I’ll move onto whether it’s cruel. As I said in my video about wool, veganism, 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:39.610 in general, is about opposing the use of animals for our own personal gains in any form whatsoever. 00:00:39.610 --> 00:00:43.760 If we look at horseback riding, it’s evident that horses do not need to be ridden. Horseback 00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:48.530 riding solely benefits the rider and so it is a form of using animals for our entertainment, 00:00:48.530 --> 00:00:50.400 which is explicitly not vegan. 00:00:50.400 --> 00:00:55.370 Now this is not a popular stance and there are several arguments as to how riding benefits 00:00:55.370 --> 00:01:00.010 the horse. One of these is that domesticated horses need exercise. The most simple response 00:01:00.010 --> 00:01:04.420 to this is that domesticated dogs also need exercise, yet owners are able to provide this 00:01:04.420 --> 00:01:09.280 without having to mount them. A second argument is that riding provides a horse with an enriched 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.399 environment. Again, this can be as easily be achieved without someone atop them by walking 00:01:13.399 --> 00:01:17.619 the horse from the ground. A third argument is one that comes in many forms but always 00:01:17.619 --> 00:01:22.389 starts with “By my horse loves…” and ends with: being ridden, going to shows, wearing 00:01:22.389 --> 00:01:26.859 a bridle, having a bit, running the barrels, or what have you. And perhaps there is some 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:31.459 horse out there who actually likes to be ridden. But let’s take a look at what riding does 00:01:31.459 --> 00:01:35.969 to a horse's body physically. What I’m going to cover is just a cursory look into the impact 00:01:35.969 --> 00:01:40.049 of horseback riding on horses. I have links to additional resources in the blog post for 00:01:40.049 --> 00:01:44.159 this video, which is linked in the video description and I urge you to reference those studies 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:47.609 if you want to delve deeper into his topic. Let’s start with skeletal structure. There 00:01:47.609 --> 00:01:51.850 is a saying that a horse is ready to ride when their “knees close.” This refers 00:01:51.850 --> 00:01:55.899 to waiting until the growth plates just above their knees convert from cartilage to bone. 00:01:55.899 --> 00:02:00.490 Dr. Den Bennet in her article Timing And Rate Of Skeletal Maturation In Horses, states that 00:02:00.490 --> 00:02:03.920 “what people often don’t realize is that there is a “growth plate” on either end 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:08.580 of every bone behind the skull, and in the case of some bones (like the pelvis or vertebrae, 00:02:08.580 --> 00:02:12.190 which have many ‘corners’) there are multiple growth plates.” She goes on to detail the 00:02:12.190 --> 00:02:16.170 exact schedule of growth plate conversion to bone in horses. While many people start 00:02:16.170 --> 00:02:20.480 riding their horses around the age of 2, Dr. Bennet’s schedule shows that the last plates 00:02:20.480 --> 00:02:24.180 to fuse are in the vertebral column- and this does not occur until the horse is at least 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:28.450 five and a half years old, with taller horses and males taking even longer. According to 00:02:28.450 --> 00:02:32.100 the text Practical Anatomy and Propaedeutic of the Horse, the length of time for complete 00:02:32.100 --> 00:02:36.770 growth of the epiphyseal plates, or cartilage, is not until they are (on average) between 00:02:36.770 --> 00:02:38.250 6 and 9 years old! 00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:42.420 The basic takeaway of all of that is that it's incredibly easy to damage a horse's back 00:02:42.420 --> 00:02:46.850 and displace his or her vertebral growth plates, causing pain and lasting injury. 00:02:46.850 --> 00:02:51.280 Aside from the issue of growth plate fusion, riding a horse at any age causes skeletal 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:56.350 damage as well as muscle and tissue. Expert horseman, Alexander Nevzorov states “A horse’s 00:02:56.350 --> 00:03:00.150 back is not a seat, not a place for a human butt, not a piece of “meat”, not some 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:04.460 sort of “terra fir- ma”. It is a very complex and tender anatomical structure with 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:08.780 extraordinary functions. Besides the obvious biomechanical function, the back has another 00:03:08.780 --> 00:03:12.810 very important function. The spinal cord’s work is to guarantee that the responses from 00:03:12.810 --> 00:03:17.240 the entire nervous system can communicate the senses of taste, smell, vision, hearing, 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:21.570 and vestibular function to the brain, not to get lost in too much detail. On this especially 00:03:21.570 --> 00:03:27.140 vulnerable, sensitive organ, onto the medulla spinalis, the brain of the back, sits a rider.” 00:03:27.140 --> 00:03:32.770 In a 2007 study out of the 295 horses who were considered physically sound upon initial 00:03:32.770 --> 00:03:38.290 examination, 91.5% were diagnosed with some kind of alteration on the spinal processes 00:03:38.290 --> 00:03:43.160 after X-ray. Almost always the spinal processes of the caudal saddle position were affected. 00:03:43.160 --> 00:03:48.110 In horseback riding, the spinal damage caused by weight alone is compounded by the use of 00:03:48.110 --> 00:03:52.790 saddles, harnesses, bits, and whips. Saddles restrict blood flow to the arterial capillary 00:03:52.790 --> 00:03:57.090 bed causing tissue damage, as well as general wear and chafing. But nothing is quite as 00:03:57.090 --> 00:04:01.310 cruel as the use of bits and whips- which I’m only going to give a cursory nod to 00:04:01.310 --> 00:04:02.200 in this video. 00:04:02.200 --> 00:04:06.600 Bits cause pain and damage to a horse’s complex cranial nerves as well as their teeth, 00:04:06.600 --> 00:04:11.670 tongue and palate. Facial nerves are extremely close to the skin and thus extremely sensitive. 00:04:11.670 --> 00:04:16.500 It is essential to understand that there is absolutely no way to use a bit without a horse 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:17.370 feeling pain. 00:04:17.370 --> 00:04:22.010 And since I’m running short on time here, I’ll just say this about using a whip: it’s 00:04:22.010 --> 00:04:22.820 a whip! 00:04:22.820 --> 00:04:27.360 Now all of this is just barely scraping the surface of the horse issue. I haven’t even 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:32.530 addressed the practice of breaking horses, horse racing, the rodeo and other topics and 00:04:32.530 --> 00:04:37.670 I'll cover those in future videos. For great information on horse-friendly activities from 00:04:37.670 --> 00:04:41.300 the ground and with positive reinforcement, please head over to Fair Horsemanship’s 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:45.470 channel as well as check out her website. She's a great resource on this topic. 00:04:45.470 --> 00:04:48.850 Give the video a thumbs up if you likes it and please share it around with your friends 00:04:48.850 --> 00:04:52.610 and family. And if you’re new to the channel, I’d love to have you subscribe- here at 00:04:52.610 --> 00:04:58.100 BSV I address all aspect of veganism and aways in 5 minutes or less. Now go live vegan and 00:04:58.100 --> 00:04:58.870 I’ll see you soon!