Thursday, July 24, 2008

This one is for you, Liisa :)

This one is totally off topic compared to my usual ranting and raving.

Pet peeves.

I struggle to understand how some horse people can be so utterly...ridiculous.

Have you ever seen the "Black Beauty" or "Black Stallion" movies?

They use every imaginable prop known to mankind. Horses do not fall in love with their human owners. They perceive us as the equine equivalent to "alpha mare, or stallion". Simple as that. No matter how much you want to believe that your horse trusts you or loves you or wants to be your friend, its simply...ridiculous. We, as horse owners, put our horses in the position of needing us to feed them, provide shelter, and meet their every need. Horses, out in the wild, do not need shoeing, 2 feet of shavings, pretty sparkly pink halters, or shaved bridle paths. Nor do they feel thankful that we provide them with these things. Their brain, is the size of a walnut.

I am completely sick of ridiculous people who insist that horses have the human capacity to love, to see humour, and to speak as though they are humans. They have simple needs. Food, water, shelter from the weather, and direction.

Sometimes, we need them. Humans have diverse needs. We want to feel loved, needed, respected, and important. If you want to believe that your horse has those feelings for you, please, feel free. Its true on some levels. Your horse does not LOVE you. He needs you to meet his basic needs and he has learned that in order to not feel discomfort he needs to do a couple of things. He needs to not buck your stupid ass off even if you deserve it. He needs food, so he lets you catch him from the pasture to bring him into the barn and FEED him. He needs to not feel your spurs prodding him from one side, so he moves over. He dislikes the feeling of pressure altogether, so he figures out if he yields to the pressure, you will just leave him the hell alone. He also enjoys when you scratch his itchy spots, so he rewards you with his pricked ears, heart shaped lip, and willingness to stay tied to a silly little lead or chain he could break in one second flat if he felt threatened on any level.

Stop watching those ridiculous movies and realize that if he is whinnying for you, he is hungry, if he follows you, its because he feels he has no other choice, and if he doesn't buck your sorry ass off, its because at some point in his life, he has accepted that you will likely just keep climbing back on until he is too exhausted to bother.

Gawd. I cant even make my point clear enough. My horse does not load onto the trailer because he loves going to horse shows and sweating his rear off because of his undying love for me. He has no other choice because I don't offer him one.

Next time you start to fantasize about drying your tears off on your horses neck while he placidly comforts you due to his love for you, realize that the stinky animal is simply putting up with your blubbering because he is in his happy place and has got a stall full of yummy hay he can tune you out with in front of him.

I do love horses. But reality is reality.

If you want to argue this point, please, I always enjoy a good argument and my comment box is wide open.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Kaija.. LOL.. You ROCK!!! I love you!

Siisa