Primum non nocere - Do No Harm

by Stormy May

If riders took the Hippocratic oath required of physicians, the horse world

as we know it today would immediately cease to exist. Primum non nocere -

do no harm.

The best fitting saddle can only achieve one thing, it can evenly distribute

the pressure of the rider and saddle on the horse's back. Horse magazines,

veterinary journals and texts are filled with articles detailing how to

rehabilitate horses from back injuries but the best they can offer in

regards to preventing the injuries is to suggest proper saddle fit and

proper conditioning of the back muscles. The bigger problem is the amount

pressure itself, no matter how well it is distributed, or how well the

muscles are conditioned.

There is nothing benevolent about a bit. Even the best fitted, "mildest" bit has only one function, to cause pain. This might seem to be a shocking statement at first glance but that's only because we're used to operating under a collective illusion. Society tells us that we're doing the best for our horses. We give them the best hay, supplements, foot care, veterinary care, we spend thousands of dollars on the best fitted saddles, perfectly designed bits, spurs of just the right length, and even whips with cute little hands on them, to give the horse a gentle "love pat" when it's time to get going.

It's like having an ergonomically correct electric chair or spiked high

heels with a tiny toe cushion. It looks absolutely absurd when we see the

larger picture.

When we are causing pain to another being for our own pleasure, we can never

have the sort of relationship that we're fantasizing about. We have horses

who go where we say, when we say, at the gait we specify. We consider them

"safe" and "bombproof", or perhaps they "need an advanced rider" or "are a

little resistant". We think our horses love it when we spend hours on their

backs, jumping obstacles, running around barrels, venturing out to the wide

open spaces.

All our training has done is turned the horses into puppets, when we pull

the right rein, the head turns right, when we squeeze the barrel, the hind

leg steps over. Is there any room to consider the horse's well-being in

this scenario? "Of course," we tell ourselves, "if the horse is injured or

sick I will get him the best care, I would never push him past his limits, I

love him!" 

Now let's take a look at this from the larger perspective, if you knew

without a doubt that you were causing compromised circulation, leading to

pain, numbness, and the destruction of muscle tissue in the horse's back,

would you continue to do it? If you knew that the use of bits and all

traditional horse training methods (including the popular "natural

horsemanship") is based on negative reinforcement, and positive punishment,

would you be so sure that your horse enjoys doing what he's told?

What is your ultimate goal? Is it to win at a horse show, to "have fun" by

going out on a trail ride with friends? There is no doubt a thrill

associated with achieving these goals. History has shown us the best way to

achieve these goals, it's called training. Training for these goals creates

a victim, that victim is the horse.

If a "horse lover" is able to uncover what is at the root of her love for

the horse, she might be surprised. She might discover that all the ribbons,

the accolades, and the hours spent doing "fun" activities that compromise

the well-being of the horse were not what originally drew her to horses. It

is perhaps the most basic human desire that we want to experience love. Do

you want to experience yourself as a kind and loving person, respectful of

all life, a person who has true partnership with another being? Training

will not get you these.

To break through this illusion that we are doing the best for our horses, we

must be willing to reevaluate everything that we currently take for granted.

We must be willing to see things as they are and to call abuse, abuse and

torture, torture rather than cloaking it in euphemisms such as schooling and

correction.

In future articles we will take a closer look at areas that we must re-evaluate 

if we humans are going to evolve in consciousness. We

have the potential to evolve from beings who need to control every element

of their external environment in order to feel safe, to ones who feel the

connection between things and who can feel safety even in the midst of

turmoil because they see a larger perspective.

The first step is Primum non nocere - do no harm.