The injured horse is the most traumatic event (or rather ongoing drama) possible to imagine. Whether it is a first time hairy or a multi-million pound grand prix horse the unfolding story is always the same, always expensive and almost always requires psychiatric help. how you get there is a many headed hydra but the results are the same –
1. Know that all horses are stupid – it is just that some are more stupid than others: it is perhaps no wonder that the Funded reaches the point where box rest is the norm (though as we shall see that is really circular). The extreme danger and risk of putting a horse in a field should never be underestimated ( and certainly not commented on by the Funder). Fields have –
- MUD – guaranteed to tear off shoes and give mud rash
- WILD LIFE – guaranteed to take off and appear unexpectedly and terrify the sensitive horse into galloping in panic until he loses a shoe or his life
- PASSERS BY – worse that wild life as they might try and say help, and bound to be ion the look out for horsenappers.
- PAPER BAGS – clearly out to attack
- PASSING CARS (see bags); and worst of all
- GRASS – which guarantees laminitis.
Even the act of getting to a field is fraught with danger as terrors lurk in the hedgerow and each gust of wind a hostile and frightening adventure.
Hence a stupid horse ( ie all of them) will always assume the worst ( like their owner), panic and injure themselves at the first opportunity if allowed to go into a filed. WHICH IS BAD.
2. Know that all unlevelness is terminal
Once a horse has been in a field and moved, the assumption is that he is injured. And once injured, terminally so. AND THAT IS REALLY BAD. In particular –
- Any sign of unlevelness is catastrophic and career ending, notwithstanding rocky ground, thorns, stiffness from competition, natural gait etc etc. And the funded sees lameness everywhere
- Once unlevelness is seen a vet is called (with X-ray). This inevitably leads to further paranoia as no X-ray in history has ever been 100% clean
- This leads to box rest, which should be fine except that (see above) all horses are stupid so that as soon as they get put into a safe box they want t o get out into a field ( where they will inevitably be injured ) In trying to get to the field from the box indeed they will often achieve injury in any event.
All of which means that whether in a box or in a field a horse will always be or at least be seen to be injured and probably terminally ill. RESULT MISERY (for everyone).
The misery of an ill horse cannot truly be described. It is a black cloud away from normal unhappiness and is all pervasive and Dementor-like in its ability to suck the joy from life of the funded and the Funder (and all else).
Thus the “sport” designed to give pleasure actually delivers ongoing misery. WHICH IS BAD.
This of course describes the amateur funded. A more pragmatic approach pervades the professional arena where it appears to the uninitiated external lay observer to be more a case of a production line, with desperate need for success leading to regular rejection of non-perfect and over faced specimens counterbalanced by a constant stream of well-sponsored acquisition which to the amateur funded would be inconceivable. It is actually unclear who is the unhappiest; the permanently miserable amateur (see above) or the constantly desperate pro with the strain of having to win and rarely doing so, thus being consigned to penurious mediocrity. This leads to much bitterness and bad behaviour, as seen elsewhere, and makes dressage the sport it is.
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