What could possibly be wrong with this picture? You know, aside from the obviously horse-proof fencing in the background…
A reader sent in the above picture (as well as a few others that don’t exactly paint a picture of exemplary ownership, but I thought we’d concentrate on this). And while I’ve heard of some trainers leaving gear on so a horse can get used to it, a saddle with dangling stirrups and many, many, ways for an accident prone animal to hurt itself may not be the best way to go. I didn’t lump the bridle in with the saddle because at least they removed the reins.
Did I mention that the horse is 18 months old?
16 Comments
Total awesomeness …
Well, the fencing looks like it *could* be the dark green “Horseguard” wide tape, and possibly a corner post behind the tree.. or they may have just ran a lunge line around some trees! It takes all kinds…
I’ve left English saddles on horses for up to 60 minutes before, but with the stirrups run UP…and the horse either in a box stall or picketed. If you have 30 head of horse to get ready at once, then it’s pretty much impossible to do without leaving saddles on.
The worst consequence I’ve ever seen was when somebody did that and took ‘leave the girth loose’ a little too seriously. The (tied) horse stepped sideways and the saddle slipped all the way around under its belly. The end result was the horse standing there shivering and bouncing from side to side with a desperate FIX THIS NOW look on his face.
I can see more of a problem, though, with western saddles, given the stirrups can’t be run up and could easily be caught on something. And loose in a pen with another horse also makes it more potentially dangerous. NOt to mention…that doesn’t look like a cheap saddle and the horse has MORE than enough space to roll on it.
Leaving a bridle on without the reins is still done by some people to ‘mouth’ a horse, but generally in a stall the animal is familiar with. I have no problem with this kind of mouthing providing the bridle and bit are not left on all day. 60-90 minutes, MAYBE two hours, and preferably using either a mouthing bit or a bit with rollers, ideally copper.
(I DO, of course, have a problem with riding 18 month olds).
So… pony saddle when it’s not being ridden but it’s being ridden when it’s not saddled? DAFUQ?
Nevermind the stupidity of riding an 18m old baby… *facepalm*
I’d like to think that this pic was taken in a very temporary situation, like maybe they were ponying that baby on a trail and the saddle was…and the strap fencing was… uhh..and the bridle… awww hell no. It’s just stupid wrong, isn’t it. Poor lil mite. I hope he’s smart enough to make up for his owner’s deficit.
I don’t think the picture shows enough of the fencing to determine how safe it is.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with putting a very lightweight saddle on a young horse, with the girth on very loosely just to get them used to it, but sitting on them? I consider that animal abuse.
Riding an 18 month old… yep… that bugs me.
Leaving the bridle on while eating hay, that bugs me too.
But honestly I don’t have too much issue with the saddle on or the fencing, which seems like temporary, as if they went camping and does appear to have a lower strap. I’d have to know how long it was used and see more of it before I could judge.
The western saddle could get just as stuck as an english one. English stirrups run up can slide back down in a heart beat and are more plyable and swing around much more when they do end up down. Provided the horse isn’t left like this without supervision as a 18 month old, then I don’t see too much of a problem.
No explanaton, no criticism. Or at least minimal criticism.
*explanation
I can has speelllllings!
At least that “fencing” looks slightly better than the “paddock” I passed by a couple months ago on a trail ride made of a single strand of barely-visible waist-high electric wire. The “paddock” is gone now, so I can only assume it was a temporary situation, but for the love of god, it was a big horse, he could have practically stepped over the darn thing.
The paddock is rubber straps securly on the trees because its rocky and posts cant be dug into the ground. there is also electric fencing on the inside.
But they’re still saddling/riding an 18 month old horse.
While I don’t really have a problem with saddling a young horse (I’d use a lighter saddle though), I also take a lot of issue with even sitting on one at 18 months, let alone riding!
If this was a race horse it would already be in training for a race. Hope everyone that is against riding a young horse also boycotts anything to do with racing.
I think this is a good solution for people who know nothing about horses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy2TnslmmMU&feature=context-gfa
A+
Totally stealing this video
Ew. Why would you want to ride a horse that has haunches level with your waistband?