Bitless Bridle Activists
I wonder if anyone else has come upon something along these lines, and whether or not you have some thoughts and comments you'd like to share. Please keep it civil, though.
When I mean an "Activist" I'm really referring to people---we've all seen them---who don't just strongly believe in a particular view, but they're leaping down peoples' throats, accusing anyone who doesn't confer with their opinion of, in this case, bits, of being a horrible, abusive person.
I myself have ridden with both methods, and frankly, I was under the impression that they were different styles and techniques for different types of riding or different horses. I've seen horses go well in both, and I've seen the good and bad of both sides as well. I would say that anything put in the hands of the wrong person can be harmful. There are people out there who abuse their horses, there are people who abuse other people, there are people who abuse dogs and cats, etc. There are bad people everywhere, and I usually just associate whether or not someone is a "terrible person" from the way they behave, act, ride, and treat the animals, not on what tack they use. I've always wanted to learn things, and I would enjoy discussing the pros and cons of bits vs. bitless anytime.
I'm sure others have seen posts on Pinterest or other platforms like that where someone has compiled photos of people using bits and nosebands in an abusive or incredibly improper way and captioning them with something like, "the cruel reality behind the equestrian sport". A lot of times they go on to add that anyone who rides with a bit is a terrible, abusive person who should be stopped and never be allowed to touch a horse again. When I first saw one of these posts, it kind of hit a nerve. My horse is like my own son, and I would never, under any circumstances, hurt him on purpose or for a good competition win, and just about everyone else I know in the equestrian world is pretty much the same. We dote on our horses and spend all our time and money on them; we talk about them too much, we have them as our screensavers, and sometimes we miss social events for them. For some, there's nothing they wouldn't do to make their horse happy. My first reaction was shock and worry; if I was abusing my boy, then I'd never be able to live with myself. I started doing some frantic googling and looked back through my horse's medical records just to make sure his teeth and mouth were okay the last time he had his teeth floated. I read articles, came upon more graphic images, and eventually sent a text to my trainer asking if these rumors had any truth to them. I did some research for a few days, drew my conclusions, and "closed the case". P (my horse) was fine; his teeth were all good, he had nothing wrong with his airway, and his tongue wasn't about to fall off. I wasn't exactly impressed, especially after I realized that part of the reason they used such awful images was for the shock factor.
I decided to just let it go, dismissing it as something like a conspiracy theory. Certainly, methods like Rolkur are horrific, and there's a reason why the FEI banned them. One particular afternoon, I was in a terrible mood as one of the horses at the barn I work at had very suddenly fallen ill and, after a long and agonizing night in which all of the instructors, barn managers, and vets discussed what their options were, it was decided that she had to be put down. Her pasture mate was devastated and screamed into the next afternoon, refusing to eat or drink. The vets had sedated her and hooked her up to an IV. Another barn manager and I stayed out at the barn for the next two days, sleeping a few hours on the office sofa, then switching to a shift of watching the devastated mare and trying to coax her to accept a treat or a drink of water. I was completely worn down from that entire ordeal, and while I waited for my ride to come and take me home, I scrolled through Pinterest as a distraction. It was a very bad time to do that, probably, but I was suddenly bombarded with graphic images telling me that I was a terrible horse owner who should have her horses taken away. I snapped and wrote a comment on one of them, asking, in a polite tone, I might add, for them to stop using these images to represent everyone in the horse world.
It wasn't long before I received a reply and, to quote directly, it said, "I'd just like to let you know that ALL bits cause pain, this includes snaffles, gag bits, twisted snaffles, and PELHAMS which pretty much all dressage riders use. So unless u ride bit less, then u abuse ur horse. So please educate yourself because I'm done educating people like you"
I wrote back, still trying to be polite, and explained that I'd done research and my horse was perfectly healthy. I told her that I would be fine with discussing the subject respectfully, and I'd be happy to trade sources with her. I also pointed out that, while I was a dressage rider, every horse and rider is different.
"plz educate ur self before u post comments like that. And don't comment back saying I'm stupid and know nothing about horses because from the looks of ur comment I look like a genius honey!"
Well, I hadn't done any name-calling, but I was emotionally drained. I finally had a chance to grieve the loss of a horse with whom I was close, and I decided that reading through and talking to people who just wanted to repeatedly yell at me and accuse me of abuse even if they'd never heard of me before was a bad idea. I didn't respond after that, but another user did, in the same manner, asking her if she had any reliable sources so that the user could read about it. I watched silently, and when the original person who'd been so rude to me shot off a ton of badly spelled insults about how the other should be in jail for cruelty to animals or something like that, I sent that person a PM just to make sure they weren't as offended as I had been.
I, personally, would love to learn about Natural Horsemanship and all that jazz, but I'm only going to get defensive if you go straight for the jugular. I'm sure there are civil people out there, but on the internet, these "activists" all immediately start going berserk.
It makes me wonder why they only ever reply with angry rants instead of presenting actual sources to back up their claims.
Submitted January 07, 2019 at 02:53PM by TheConfusedConductor
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Horses/comments/admrb2/bitless_bridle_activists/?utm_source=ifttt
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