Why do people immediately suspect former abuse when a horse balks at an unfamiliar task, or acts up?

Question

I know there are a lot of worthless b******s out there who DO mistreat horses...but I read a lot of posts in many forums about bad behavior, and the common thread is "I think he must have been abused" when it's just as possible (and in many cases, more likely) that the horse has been spoiled or allowed to get away with being a bit piggish.

While of course you can't judge an individual horse's situation from comments here on a board, l'm just wondering, from your experience...do you think there more stupid or ignorant permissive people spoiling horses or true cruel b******s abusing them?

My vote, from what I see around, is more on the over permissive side. I think your average misbehaving horse has been either under handled, or mishandled through ignorance or stupidity, not deliberate cruelty. What do you think?

Answer 1

Because people and especially horse people LOVE to be drama llamas and assume the worse and play the hero.

How many young teenage riders have you run into who scream "abuuuuuuuuuuuse!" at any and everything?

There's a smug badge of honour some (and I said SOME not all, so chill people) people love to wear when they 'rescue' an animal, they care less about the critter and more about their personal ego shrine.

I think there are more permissive, cutesy wutesy, drama llamas f#$%ing up horses trying to buy into some pseudo mystical little girl horse scenario than evil, ignorant b@#$!%^@, though there's a hearty serving of those around as well.

Answer 2

I agree with you. People just don't want to admit it's their own fault their horse isn't perfect. and if they think their horse was abused, they can explain away bad behavior without having to toughen up and correct a problem. They let their horse be the boss because they don't want to hurt it. Obviously, there are cases of abuse, but these are far less likely than under handledness or mishandledness. And if your horse was abused in the past, you will often know this. Horses aren't like people- they can't hide abuse.

Answer 3

because people find it easier to blame others for something that could be their fault or their problem to fix. by saying it was formerly abused they give themselves an escape route if the retraining proves more than they can handle..

Answer 4

I agree that not every horse that balks has been abused. I have known many horses that have been indulged (one lady I used to know, thought it was s**y when her horse would spook on the trail and would then complain when he spooked elsewhere.) While there are many awful people out there that do abuse their horses, I think it is not the only cause of a horse acting up. Over indulgence, bad training, mixed up signals, anyone of these can cause a horse to misbehave.

Answer 5

*snorts*  

This has been my pet peeve for my entire life.

No your horse hasn't been abused, you taught it to act like a idiot!! :)

Its even more my pet peeve because the boarders 2 pens down from my guys are the poster children for this.  

At least it provides entertainment for the mules as they are relaxing.

Answer 6

For most people it is easier to blame someone else rather than look in the mirror at who is usually to blame.

Answer 7

Ditto...

Outstanding posts about the inexperienced handling or spoiling the horses and BEING AFRAID TO DISCIPLINE!!  Anyone with any common sense knows the difference between beating the horse or abusing it into submission...and discipline.  Unfortunately...there are some out there, that cannot see the line between abuse and discipline.

really can't add to what's already here...

Answer 8

most people just don't dicipline their horse, letting it walk all over them. I don't think they need to be punished, except in extreme cases because that can lead to abuse. Much of the time when a horse says NO the rider lets it do what it wants, and the horse learns it can get away with whatever junk it pleases.

Answer 9

I agree with you that for whatever reason people jump to the "abuse" even with dogs and cats as well.  Yes it does happened, and as you said in most cases it's a spoiled or il trained animal that needs work and manners:)

Answer 10

I think it's ignorance. What I see is far more lesson programs and poorly guided kids owning horses, not knowing how to train horses properly, and then abusing the horses with all of their temper tantrums and use of more and more devices to try to control the horses they are ruining because they are not instructed correctly to begin with.

Years ago, most of the kids riding were trained by their parents who also rode, or family trainers.  Today, kids whose parents don't ride and never did throw money at the jumping mills to entertain their children on horses that someone passed off on to the naive parents who just keep throwing more money at the wrong people.

Anyway, the world has changed and I don't think you can separate the over permissiveness from the abuse of horses that results.It's not deliberate abuse so much as plain ignorance.

Answer 11

I agree with your opinion whole-heartedly!  I have been rather annoyed by the current trends in some of these horse discussions.  I think it is a teenaged fad to say "my horse was abused" to either get sympathy or feel like the hero.  

People like to lump neglect in with abuse all too often.  Many many horses are fed well, but neglected when it comes to training and working on manners and riding skills.  But this doesn't give people the right to label it "abuse" or to excuse bad behavior.  There is a huge difference between a horse's natural fear and obstinacy for new things and a horse's extreme phobia as a result of inflicted pain or abuse.  A good horse owner will be able to read the horse and try things to see if its obstacles can be overcome and the horse can move on.  

Another teenaged trend is to say "I rescued my horse" or "he's a rescue".  Just because a horse was purchased at a sale barn or bought from an owner with 40+ horses doesn't constitute rescuing him.  A true rescue is when a horse is in an extreme condition (starvation, fire, pain, etc.) and a person takes him in and changes the horse's life.

Let's just be honest about things and leave the exaggerations to the kids!  Good post, cnsdubie!

Answer 12

Ditto.  People let horses get away with things way too much.  It drives me crazy.  And I think that's how most people get hurt...because the horse doesn't respect them.  Having a disrespectful horse is just as dangerous as having an unpredictable one.

People have a mindset that it's mean to discipline your horse so they don't ever get after them.  They act like horses are made of glass and have to be babied.  But then again, it's the same with with dogs and children.

I love my horses and think they are very cute, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna get after them when they are bad.

My personal favorites are the posts that describe "cute" things horses do and if you read through them, most of them are just bad habits and rudeness that I would never imagine letting my horse get away with.

Answer 13

I'm inclined to agree with you - I think perceived abuse is a convenient excuse for a badly behaved animal and one that will have people nodding sadly and thinking you are some sort of saint for rescuing it. It also gives them an excuse for pussyfooting around it, I think half the time they can manage to convince themselves.

Mine have never been abused - they are just bratty sometimes but I can deal with that as I'm bratty sometimes too.

Answer 14

I guess the real question is what is abuse? What constitutes abuse for one person might be a firm hand with another.  My friend thinks that me "smacking" my horse (no, not in the face) if he pulls his hoof away while cleaning is mean. "You are hurting him!"  He is 900 lbs, trust me I am not hurting him.  She also hates it when I get on them and yell at them if they will not stand still.  I don't put up with c**p, they are too big and it's too dangerous.  In general think people like the pity they get saying their horses are abused or find it to be the easy route out of making them do something.  Poor thing was abused!  Be nice to him!  No - smart horse just fooled you you idiot.  

Also, earlier in an answer I stated that my horse wouldn't trailer when we got him due to a "bad experience", this was deduced from situation but also confirmed by neighbors.   He now trailers just fine.....except when heading to vet, yes they are smarter than we give them credit for!

Answer 15

I made a very similar post some time ago.  I agree 100%.  Too many people are in a hurry to throw out the "abuse" card rather than admit their horse is a spoiled brat and needs more training.  

Sure there abused horses out there but if you read the posts on here you might be led to believe that 75 to 80% of horses are abused.  I suspect there are far fewer cases of abuse than people think.  Also I don't think outright active abuse should be confused with neglect which, while no less serious, is more passive and doesn't cause the kind of mental trauma that abuse does.

Here is a perfect example.  My Siberian Husky had a litter of 6 puppies.  From the very first day one puppy would startle, cower and yip and cry at any loud noise.  All the other puppies were social, playful and confident.  I kept that puppy for 5 months after I sold all the other pups waiting for the perfect family for him, and resigned to keeping him if that family didn't appear.  Finally a young couple with no children came and wanted to buy him.  When I introduced them to the puppy he came right up to the man and licked him in face and was happy to be with them.  I explained about the puppy's aversion to loud noises and that he had been that way from birth and assured them he was NEVER abused.  When I called them to check on the dog a few months later, they said that he was still shy and hadn't improved much where loud noises were concerned and if I hadn't explained his history they would have assumed he was badly abused.  They loved him though and kept him.

Answer 16

You took the words out of my mouth!  

I hear too many.

MY HORSE KICKS (OR BITES) ME!  WHAT DO I DO?

and then when you tell them...

OH! OH! OH! I COULD NEVER HIT MY HORSE!

Geesh people!  Anyone who lets an animal that weighs over half a ton be disrespectful has no business with the animal.  Such an animal is DANGEROUS.  It doesn't really matter why they are disrespectful.  What matters is that if not taken care of someone can and probably will get hurt sooner or later.  And in my book a person's life is worth more than a horse's.

As far as a horse balking and it being from abuse.  I have seen far more horses balk because the rider or trainer was being permissive and allowing the horse to act up than I have ever seen from a horse that has been abused.  I can spot an abused horse within a few minutes of just watching.  I do not even have to ride.  There are obvious signs IF you know what to look for.  Under saddle the most frequent response is to blow up at unpredictable times.  Few if any grow out of this completely (though some get much better about it over the years).  But balking is not typically one of the signs of abuse.

And A A.  You are completely incorrect on two counts.  First your assumption of 99% of the time a horse acts up is because of pain.  That may be true for a well trained horse that has not been spoiled.  But 90% of the time a horse acts up is because someone is asking it to do something it does not want to.  Whether it is leaving its buddies, or crossing a 6 inch deep mud puddle.  No pain is involoved, it just doesn't want to do it.

The second problem with your assumption is that you are implying that all pain is abuse.  The horse may have inadvertently caused itself pain.  Thus it is not abuse for a horse to be hurt if it steps on a rock wrong and bruises its frog.  That is something that just happens.  Also it is not abuse to hit a horse that has bitten you or kicked you and thus put your life in danger.

Answer 17

Great question, I have wondered this myself.

I think it is a tough call.  We all know there are the worthless b******s out there who are cruel & stupid & abuse horses, but after being on here I also think there are more ignorant, inexperienced or totally clueless people out there who once read a book or saw a horse & wanted one.  They have no clue what to look for, no riding experience, no common sense & do not look for help when finding a horse.  They over buy or should just not have a horse because they didn't bother to seek advice or professional assistance to learn ANYTHING!!! other than "I read a book".  I think these people are basically afraid of their horses because they don't know what they are doing, so the horse catches on fast & bad habits are born due to the "no no baby no do that to mommy" attitudes.  Then these people sell these horses because it's  "just not what I thought it would be like" & the next person gets all the bad habits & spoiled personalities allowed by previous owners.  Hopefully the new owner is a person who can & will work these issues out & not some stupid cruel b*****d who thinks that a good beating is all that is needed.  MANY if not ALL problems can be traced back to cruelty &/or stupidity or ignornace &/or inexperience.

There are sooooo many questions on here that I wonder, where has all the common sense gone? & if these people have kids are they as much trouble as these people's horses are?

I don't know if we have always just been lucky or what, but we never had horses with major problems, even when I was a kid.  Of course you had the occassional biter or bad attitude, but you dealt with it & did not allow it to continue.  Plain & simple.

**EDIT**

John, that was staed PERFECTLY!!!

Jeff VERY well said.

Answer 18

if a horse is "acting up" it will 99.9% of the time mean they are in some kind of pain which hence the abuse part.

Answer 19

In a nutshell.

It is human nature to justify a persons behavior.

This makes it equally easy to transpose emotion on to animals where in reality it does not exist, therefore justifying the animals behavior.

It is my opinion that the the average amature owner indulges their animals to the extent that the result is a spoiled beast that is disrespectful and poorly handled/trained. Then the behavior is justified and excused.

Basically a circle jerk based on ignorance and inexperience, rather than "cruelty" per se.

Answer 20

Oh, I so agree with you!

My horses don't get treats for s******g up!

Answer 21

the problems that i have found with working with horses and people (i prefer animals) is each have individual thinking and in the case of humans is they have been "programed" to always think the worst.from the many horses i have had each and every one has individual personalities,some shy and reserved,some forward and boisterous and everything in between.some learn right away and some it takes repetitive teaching to get them to learn.the problem that we have today is horses are not needed to perform a task to put food on the table and they are by the most part a pleasure animal.we dont rely on them for transportation or going to the store with the wagon to get groceries or feed so humans pamper and spoil their new "pets"which makes for an overbearing horse that will walk all over you,on the other side there are those who abuse their horses by trying to train their horses with negitive consiquences or by stalling their horse so it is not allowed to do what it was meant to be,a horse !all of my horses are lightly handled untill they are ready for training which in my experiance makes for a respectfull and willing horse. most people are their own worst enemy around horses either by ignorance or by the inacceptance to learn new ways of training or by trying to treat all horses like pets.in my opinion most of the problems that i see on this forum are caused by their owners lack of looking at themselves as the problem.

Answer 22

I have seen some pretty awful things done to horses in the name of "keeping them in-line"...  Just this past Thursday I was at a horse auction in North Carolina. There was a girl in the stall with a horse she had up for sale. She was trying to get  him to take the bit and he wouldn't so she immediately started Slapping him in the face with the leather reins she had in her hand I was horrfied but she didn't seem to thing anything was wrong with it. I have seen some farriers do even worse ( whacking a horse as hard as they can with a rasp) and what some people would consider abuse some would think normal training methods. I think alot of times it could be a little of both.