20/01/2026
Yes!!
We have to speak up - how you can be part of the solution
The video I shared earlier today about the horse violently pulling back in a rope halter to the point that it fell on the ground caused a lot of outrage.
And it should. This is NOT acceptable behavior of a “pro” trainer. No surprise owners are more and more worried about giving their horse to a trainer.
What shocked me about it (apart from the obvious malpractice) is that fb rewards these videos and the creator earns money on it.
This just can’t be that people earn money by posting spectacular animal abuse videos.
So, I thought all day about what we can do together about this.
👉 First, we need to understand how the algorithm works:
Every engagement boosts reach. If you like (or even angry face), comment or share a video, this tells the algorithm that people enjoy the video and it will be pushed to more people.
This means - if you engage in any way on such a video, it will be shown to more people.
And this results in the creator earning more money on it. (if s/he monetized the account)
👉 The thing is that people love spectacular videos.
No matter if it is spectacular in a positive or negative way. They will watch, comment, share - and this gives these videos more reach. This is how these videos seem to always go viral.
FB wants people to spend time on the platform so they get to see more ads.
Good horsemanship usually doesn’t look spectacular. It shows quiet, peaceful interaction between horse and human. It's not so engaging to watch. People engage less, watch less minutes of the video, share less (no outrage and drama) - resulting in less reach.
👉 Sadly human nature enjoys drama.
And this is why real good horse centred trainers who make a real effort to show the world how good horsetraining can look like, notice a huge decrease in reach lately.
Our goal should be to see more videos of GREAT horsemanship on FB so more people can learn and see how horses can be educated in a respectful and kind way.
So, what can we do so FB will give less reach to these abusive videos and more reach to truly helpful content?
👉 Do NOT engage with those abusive videos. Not even an angry face.
👉 Do NOT comment on those videos. Anyways, it's useless. It just fuels the algorithm, pushing the video out to more people.
👉 Instead, report the video as animal abuse to FB. I know, FB rarely ever takes such a video down, but the more people complain about a post, the higher the chances are something happens.
Then:
👉 Do engage on videos/posts of creators you enjoy. Don’t just watch/read and then scroll by.
👉 Leave a like and a comment - this goes a long way to give more reach to the post.
👉 Share videos/posts you enjoy and find helpful. This immediately increases reach.
It is so easy to just scroll past good, helpful but unspectacular content. Make an effort, leave a like and a little comment. It goes a long way to boost the right kind of content that will help horses around the world to be treated kinder.
Us, heart centred horse professionals, make a real effort to make a change for horses around the world. And it is very frustrating to see our posts getting almost no more engagement these days. (Except we pay for ads)
For Example:
Just 2 years ago my posts would easily get 500-1000 likes and hundreds of comments. Today, most posts stay below 100 engagements. The algorithm changed and posts aren’t even shown to followers anymore.
The algorithm only boosts what gets engagement these days.
You have the power to push good or harmful content.
You have power over what you see in your newsfeed.
Be part of the solution so the world sees less bad, abusive horsemanship and more good, kind horsemanship.
We just can't let it happen that abusive trainers even earn money off posting such videos!
Will you take action? If yes, like, comment on this post and share it so that more horse centred horse lovers get to know how they can actively influence what gets pushed on FB.
(btw - my account is NOT monetized. Meaning, I don't earn money with video views or post engages)
