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