12/29/2023
In the competition world there is often the mindset that horses natural features such as ear hair or nose whiskers are untidy and messy.
Despite the growing bodies of evidence showing that these parts of the body serve the purpose of providing sensory input and protection from outside debris, the desire to remove whiskers is still something widely defended, even when show organizations finally make it illegal to trim whiskers, such as in the FEI’s case (however, in most non FEI sanctioned events, it is still legal to clip whiskers).
What’s most interesting is that there is benefit to the horse to leave these natural structures intact.
Meanwhile, there are other things that are done to change the appearance of the horse and/or help enable their performance in competition that are actually detrimental to health that often do not result in marks being withdrawn by the judge and often result in higher marks.
For example, obesity in show horses is fairly common and, often, preferred by judges (such as in the hunter ring).
Obesity is proven to be damaging to horse health, especially when we are asking them to do highly physical tasks, even if just look at the additional impact to the joints. This is without looking at all of the other bodily functions that are impacted negatively by obesity.
Another example would be the high prevalence of unhealthy hooves in show horses.
Hoof dysfunction is unlikely to be marked down even in competition rings where marks are more subjective and based off of appearance, such as in conformation classs.
Horses can be performing at high levels with entirely dysfunctional feet and not see any repercussions in judging because of this. In fact, many horse people can’t tell a dysfunctional hoof from a healthy one due to unhealthy hooves being so common that they appear normal.
A lot of competition rules do not protect the horse, and in fact, may encourage practises that are actually damaging to the horse.
Showing horses is a privilege and it should be one that is only had while keeping the well-being of the horse at the forefront of thought.
If we value human aesthetic preferences above the comfort and health of our horses, it becomes very clear that showing is all about prioritizing the rider over all else.
Given the fact that showing is already inherently selfish (as in, it is for human benefit and not integral to horse health), it is important that we create an atmosphere in which good horsemanship and adequate horse care are rewarded and encouraged, rather than discouraged through arbitrary judging preferences and rules that hold favour to damaging practices for whatever reason.
It really shouldn’t be controversial to say that we do not need to be clipping whiskers, leaving muzzles and ears bare, simply for human aesthetic preference when it can cause our horses discomfort and disable natural sensory capacities.
Our belief that our horses are fine without such protective barriers when many of us full board our horses, only seeing them for an hour or two each day throughout the week (if that) should not take precedence.
It doesn’t excuse an entirely unnecessary procedure solely for our preference when there is evidence that such structures serve a purpose for the horse. Even if they didn’t serve a purpose for the horse, it’s silly to make the natural appearance of the horse undesirable.
It is also very easy to claim that it doesn’t matter to the horse when we spend very little time watching them in their natural environment, or, deprive them of access to a natural environment altogether.
I think it is time that it becomes more commonplace for show organizations to encourage practises that have the welfare and comfort of the horse at the forefront.
Rather than appealing to rider preferences and upholding a structure that is largely about maintaining comfortable human belief systems at the expense of the horse, due to fear of disrupting a status quo that has been enabled for so many years.
Changing with new information and modernizing is a good thing.
Doing something for a long time does not mean it is the best or most correct way.
