Western Pleasure: My Pet Peeve of the Western Industry

I have been involved with horses my entire life. And for my entire life I have always yearned to learn more- to constantly read, watch, and evaluate the different types of horses, disciplines, and people that make up that equine industry. As I have learned about the different worlds that combine under the horse industry, I have seen many amazing partnerships between horses and humans and I have seen many acts of violence, abuse, and domination between horses and humans.

Sadly, there are many show circuits that focus on ribbons, beauty, and dollar signs instead of partnership, understanding, and humble beginnings. One such discipline that has consistently bothered me in the equine industry is Western Pleasure. Although I have been a western rider my entire life, I am not biased towards one style of equitation over another. In addition, I am 100% aware that EVERY discipline has wonderful people and terrible people. I am not classifying the entire discipline of Western Pleasure as cruel, but the methods that are used to train the majority of the horses.

I have attended many Western Pleasure shows and have been less than impressed with the styles of training used by most of professionals in the discipline. Recently, I attended a Quarter Horse Futurity in Raleigh, NC. (I always go to the complex to do my homework and watch as many different horse shows as I can throughout the year.) For this show, I was particularly interested in watching the reining classes, which is a close cousin to cutting (my ultimate equine obsession). After watching some amazing reining runs in the morning, I decided to go to the indoor arena and watch some of the western pleasure competitors warm up their horses. If anyone reading this has been to a horse show, you know that the majority of abuse will take place in the warm up arena, not the show pen. Riders and trainers treat their horses as they see fit in the warm up arena.

As I watched rider after after come into the arena, I was so upset by their constant "jerking motion" on the horses mouths that I began to record the "Training Class" right after the warm up sessions. Below I have embedded the video into this post.

As you can see, the majority (not all) of the riders are consistently jerking on their horses mouths to get them to put their heads lower and lower to the ground. (Rider at 1:07 bothered me the most for obvious reasons.) Although I do not oppose a low head set (generally, Western disciplines focus on lower headsets rather than pole collection and contact), I was very upset to see how aggressively many of the riders "asked" their horses to bring their heads down.

I am a huge advocate of Natural Horsemanship and I know for a fact that jerking on horse is never the right way to teach them to be soft. And needless to say, it is the opposite of good horsemanship and ethical behavior towards an animal. Jerking on a horse's face/mouth gives them no chance to place their heads lower without being forced to do so, instead of using steady pressure and release, many of the riders in this video can be seen jerking time after time without ever letting the horse find a release.

I hope that many trainers in the Western Pleasure industry use more humane methods to teach their horses the correct headset, but all of my experiences tell me otherwise.

My Idol: Stacey Westfall

Hands down, without a doubt Stacey Westfall is one of the most accomplished reining trainers, if not horse trainers, in the history the equine world. Ever since I first saw her ground-breaking, unbeatable 2006 Freestyle Reining run, I have been inspired to be 1/10 of how awesome she is. She was also the first woman to ever compete in and win Road to the Horse.

In my opinion, the caliber of Westfall's talents as a trainer and rider have yet to be met.

Below is the video of her 2006 run on AQHA mare, Roxy.

How will the Government Shutdown Impact the Horse Industry?

Since Congress has failed to pass any of the annual appropriation bills that fund government agencies and projects for the 2014 fiscal year (October 1, 2013 to September 30, 2014), "non-essential" government operations have not been allocated any funds for 2014. As expected, the Federal Government shutdown at midnight on October 1st, 2013, causing many public service and recreation programs to close. For the horse industry, the shutdown impacts vital components to keeping the industry safe and effective for all horses and participants. 

• Without proper funding, the U.S Department of Agriculture's (USDA) response to disease outbreaks is significantly delayed (if not stopped all together), potentially putting the lives of thousands of horses and humans in danger. 
• The USDA is also responsible for the enforcement of the Horse Protection Act and for the regulation of equine slaughter transportation programs. The shutdown greatly effects its ability to ensure the ethical treatment and safe transportation of thousands of horses to foreign markets in Mexico and Canada. 
• In addition, procedures for the import and export of horses, are severely limited and ill-equipped to deal with the transportation of horses that must be quarantined for public health and safety reasons. 
• Lastly, many equestrians depend on federal parks and programs for equine recreation, and without finds, government employees are not present at the parks to keep them open to the public. 

All of the factors of the government shutdown can, and will, have profound effects on the horse industry. If  funds are not allocated and agreed upon quickly, the equine industry could become less effective at preventing and curing foreign diseases, lose millions of dollars in recreational events, and leave federal parks empty.

If one industry can be this negatively effected, imagine what the effects could be on the entire U.S. economy.

For more information: http://www.horsecouncil.org/government-shutdown-could-impact-horse-industry