Ethics of the use of horses

[Avor]

How and where do you place differnt human interaction and uses of horses moraly? What uses do you consider wrong and why? Where do certain uses fit, uses like calvery, plowing, compition/racing, and meat?

[Yip]

I'm not sure exactly where I stand on this. But at the very least, we should try to avoid making them suffer unnecessarily.

[Shim]

Most horses I've asked don't seem to have an opinion one way or another. They just say 'pfpfpfpfpffp'.

In all seriousness, I don't think they seem to mind being ridden much. A very close friend of mine lives on a horse farm about 3 minutes walking distance, so I've had some very close interaction with them .

Btw, Bob is awesome. He's a black pony with a big white stripe on his back. He's old, doesn't see or hear very well, and didn't care when I used him as a pillow while he was laying on the ground.

[Chiscringle]

I think it depends on the horse.  Some don't seem to mind working and it does mean more horses in the world.  My aunt trains dressage horses and recently has had to start making a hard decision about whether to sell a horse she's had since he was a foal since he's thrown her after years of them being together.

I'm not a vegetarian.  I have no problem with eating anything.  Racing is a difficulty only because it occasionally leads to the horse being put down early in its life.  Cavalry?  I think that's only for show now.  I don't know of any army that uses theirs in combat and so its probably the easiest life of any of them.

[Rjgano]

Horses are perfectly fine the way society has accepted their use.


Also, we no longer use them in war, but if we did, I wouldn't believe war use was all that improper, either.

[Old Rabbit]

Like all animals if man has a need for a horse. Their use
will always be justified by those who feel the need. At least
there are some laws against physical  abuse and starvation.

Horses like most social animals have the instinct to please those
they consider above themselves. They will work themselves to
death if we ask. So we have to tell them when to stop.

Personally I feel even though use of the horse enabled man to make
the world what it is today. It's shameful how it's been treated by
men of greed.

Proper care with reasonable compassion is best wither it be for food
or work. After all a horse that is healthy mentally and physically is
worth much more.  No matter what the need is.

[Varg the wanderer]

Old Rabbit has a good point. I own two horses, one of them a former race horse. He loves to work, be it on a lunge line or under saddle. If you start tacking up another horse he cries until you take him out and tack him up too. And it's not just attention he's after. Even if your petting and brushing him, he'd rather be working.

As for the other, he's much the same. Though he has less desire to work he still enjoys it and loves learning new things more than anything else. As a three year old after being green broke for three months (and not ridden much during then) we took him on a trail ride just to see how he would do. He was alone, in a place he had never been before doing something he hadn't done before, yet he acted like he had been riding trails his whole life. He just did it because that's what made us happy, and he trusted us and enjoyed exploring.