DelinquentDiego wrote:Marin wrote:not enough people understand that anything with horseback riding can be abuse if not done or used correctly. anything.
lead ropes. abuse if you make it. you can strangle a horse with it. bad example, im sorry.
spurs. abuse if you make it. you can scar them, jab them, hurt them, terrify them.
but you can also use them correctly.
you can lead a horse with the lead rope. dont strangle them, lead them properly.
you can use the spurs to tell the horse more clearly what youre asking for, to enhance cues, to give a reminder. you don't have to impale them. you dont have to cause them discomfort or pain, and you don't need to.
literally, anything can be abuse if not used correctly. bits *unless ridiculously huge, sharp, terrible in general, spurs, crops, whips. they can be used appropriately. they can be used inappropriately. it depends on how you use them, and just because you use them, doesn't mean youre automatically abusive.
Sure, anything can be abuse. I don't think anybody in history ever denied that.
But in my opinion, you're far more likely to inflict pain with metal than, say, rope. You're also more likely to cause discomfort with a whip. I'm pretty certain discomfort, if not outright pain, is what makes these tools work the way they do. Horses are not magical beings and spurs don't work via telepathy. If you can't accept that, then maybe you shouldn't be using them if the reality of how they function upsets you to the point of defensiveness.
Opinions are like buttholes. Everybody has one, and yours is not necessarily more valid than anybody else's. Some people don't like aversives or the idea of horsback riding at all. That's OK. Personally, as long as you aren't beating your horse, I couldn't care less what you do with it.
I was just trying to find an example. Sure, small spur nubs can be used as a dangerous weapon much more easily than a lead rope can, but you can still make everything dangerous and everything abuse. Bits, spurs, whips, things like that ARE the most common things that are misused, yes, but there are also anti-bit advocates that truly believe putting your horse in a bit in
any instance is abusive. No matter the bit. And yes, any bit can be abusive if you yank on the mouth, jerk it around, cause bleeding and/or fatal damage.
But what I was also saying is that there
are people who use it appropriately, and that just because some equestrians use it completely inappropriately doesn't mean it should put that image of harmful horsemanship on every other rider. You get what I mean? I was just randomly saying that because I was frustrated of this common misconception.
I'm saying anything, anything at all can be misused. Anything can be abuse if not used properly.
When used correctly, it can be a great tool for a lot of horses and riders.
This isn't directly applying to you, or anyone on this forum, I was just saying that so many people are anti-bit when they completely use someone's misuse of a bit, or a ridiculous gag, or anything like that, and turn that into "oh, that's what you'd expect from all people who ride in bits." It really makes people turn against people who are doing it humanely. I really don't know how else to say that, I'm at a loss for words for some reason.
Take Marilyn Little, right? She constantly has her horse's mouths bloodied. And yes, she does use terrifying bits and contraptions on a lot of her horse's mouths. She's really, really well known. She puts a terrible rep on bit users, even ones who use simple bits with quiet hands. I HIGHLY recommend you go check out Shelby Dennis's recent video on Marilyn Little and the mouth blood shenanigans, I think she explains it much better than I ever could.
You can literally do anything on horseback incorrectly, resulting in the horse being injured. I'm really struggling to correlate these two subjects in words, I apologize.
Okay, I'm done trying to explain that. I really can't speak today. But in relation to another point you made:
Spurs don't require discomfort to do their job. When used humanely, they're a firmer way to give direction, clearing up confusion of cues between the horse and rider. A good re-directional tool that will come across with less confusion as it is more direct.
Obviously I 100% do not support spurs with blades on them, ridiculously sharp or long spurs, or anything of the sorts. I believe that if they are small nubs that aren't constantly being jabbed with all the rider's leg strength into their sides, and just a small squeeze, they are a decent way of delivering cues to a non-confident horse.
