the Sage By Nature blog

Or perhaps I should ask, do a horse’s feelings matter?

Shortly after the publication of my rope halter article over at Horse City, I made the painful error of viewing the storm in the forum. I expected some of the reaction(s), but I was admittedly unprepared for a couple of responses that I saw come in -out of naiveness, I suppose – and these are what bothered me.

Opinions come and go, and everyone is entitled to their own, but cruelty gets to me.

These responses had to do with horses being tied, and there was an input from someone telling about their “trainer” who had no qualms about smacking the rear end of a horse with a shovel when it pulled back while tied – all in the name of training. Someone else uses a broom. I think this stemmed from the fact that in the article I mention how Sage pulled back while I was doing groundwork, feeling exhuberant, and then her face was caught in the knots of the rope halter, punished for feeling good enough to buck and be a bit frisky on the end of a line. Apparently, that is not acceptable if you have a well-trained horse. Well, anyone who knows Sage knows that for a horse that has had about 3 months of professional training her whole life, she is pretty darned “well-behaved”. And if I choose not to punish her for bucking on the end of a line when she feels good, so be it.

I would rather give my horse, and her spirit, a little free rein when it comes to emotional expression. If she is not endangering herself or me or anyone around her, I see no problem with giving this other spirit on the earth a little free will and respect.

Last night I started a beautiful book called “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy – and Why They Matter”. In it, Mark Bekoff says, “Animals are our consummate companions who help us each and every day. Without close and reciprocal relationships with other animal beings, we’re alienated from the rich, diverse, and magnificent world in which we live. That’s why we seek out animals for emotional support. Our old Paleolithic brains pull us back to what’s natural but missing in our fast-moving world: close interrelationships with other beings that helps us figure out who we are in the grand scheme of things. Animals comfort us and put us in touch with what really matters – other sentient beings. A sentient animal is one for whom feelings matter…”

And smacking a horse with a shovel is not respecting those sentient beings.

Bekoff also says in his gem of a book that “the value of animals to humans cannot be overstated. and it’s their emotions that draw us to them. And yet, while we need animals, many animals would surely do much better without us.”

Amen to that.