Here is a photo of T’s mouth – week 1 about five days since the face kick:
Although the two middle ones are now set back, they are staying in so far. Hopefully, the dental work at the end of healing can “adjust” them so he has upper and lower meeting again and can tear grass on his own.
I’m always sardonically amused by horse people, usually naive, beginners or those who have been sucked into certain Snake Oil “Natural” horse-man-ship vortexes, who believe horses never use physical means to correct, punish, or assert themselves.
Horses are just big dogs (without thinking that dog bites are the number one animal attack reported in hospitals);
Horses don’t use force against each other (apparently they have committee meetings and vote as a democracy);
My horse would never hurt me (yes, your horse can and will most likely hurt you and not think a thing about doing it);
I can set boundaries with my horse using my intent and energy. There will never be a need to strike my horse ever (hm well with T yes, I agree, but not with Z as is clearly evident in the above photo);
Whips are cruel (used by cruel people, they are indeed cruel. Used judiciously they can save my life);
I can just sit with my horse and form a relationship. This will protect me from any harm (so untrue but these people are deaf, blind and dumb so why bother trying to educate them? The horse one day will eliminate this type of stupidity);
Horses are noble animals that don’t stoop to violence to ensure leadership in the herd (Go watch a minimum of 10 horses in a group – add a new horse – then sit back and watch).
Are there people out there that use too much violence against their horse? Are there people who abuse their horse? Surely, yes and I am against those people as much as I am against these Fluffy Bunny Horse types.
Either extreme and you are angling towards disaster.
I am glad to read your assault upon the purveyors of BS. There is far too much of that around.
Over here we also hear too much of:
- “Bits are cruel”;
- “It’s unnatural to use a conventional treed saddle”.
Most often this rubbish come from people with a commercial interest in selling snake oil alternatives.
There is also a conspiracy to cover up evidence to the contrary – for example, reports by chiropractors and other professionals that treeless saddles are responsible for a growing number of horses with damaged backs. (Including backs rubbed raw, not just a bit of soreness!)
Working with a stallion, even a laid back example, is a continual matter of debating boundaries. Handling mine requires a whole lot of reminding him what is right and where he needs to stop. He will keep pushing to find the limit. After a while he may ease off the pressure and simply get on and work, however one has to reach that point. Mares can be somewhat similar depending on the time in the month, geldings in my experience can be easier if they have been brought up well.
Curious that some people view horses as “like large dogs”. I’ve thought before that life could be dangerous were my cats or dogs the size of, say, ponies. The cats might take one’s head or arm off when pissed, the dogs would simply knock one down through boistrousness. Then as one lay crippled there would be an unpleasant licking from a huge tongue!
I am going to switch T to a bitless bridle, but not because I think bits are cruel. Again, like whips, in the wrong hands (literally) they are cruel, and there are worse bits then others.
Treeless saddles I don’t have as much experience, but the one person I know who bought one ended up with a sore-back horse. Coincidence? Hm…
Cats are as big as ponies – they are tigers and lions and they will lick you on the face while they are sucking marrow from your bones! LOL!
[...] Because the horses duked it out, they can no longer be stabled together. This means building in a separation fence so each can have access to a pasture and a shelter. This was about $150 in lumber and cement mix to put in a line of fence. I’ll actually have to buy more lumber but right now I’m tapped out. [...]
[...] The type of damage a horse can do with a kick to the face [...]
[...] steal his feed when she was about a year old. At 14 hands she kicked my gelding (16.2, herd leader) in the mouth! And she has kicked my husband in the [...]