My horses love to run.
They like to roll and eat green grass.
They are social animals and feel comfortable in the company of other horses. They are creatures of the plains, evolved to live wild and free.
Because of their social nature humans have been able to domesticate them. They serve us well. The rise of human civilization was horse powered until the development of the internal combustion engine.
Still, in many parts of the world, horses do much of the work. Many people keep horses because they like them.
I have two mares, and two mule foals from them. I have four acres of irrigated pasture, on the Gila River, with trees for shade around it, a corral, a shed where they can get out of the sun and rain, and a running stream through it for water. My horses have a good place to live.
I like to watch the foals running and frolicking in the field. They all like to run, and it is beautiful to see. I take them riding in the wilderness along the trails. It is really beautiful. They like to get out and see the country. They like to run, and when we get to places where the ground is sandy, soft, not rocky, I let them.
We run like the wind! It’s exciting and fun! We’ve had some really great rides through beautiful country.
I like to feed my horses things they like to eat. They like oats, apples, cookies, pancakes, granola bars, oatmeal, bread, and peanut butter sandwiches with jam. They will lick oatmeal off my fingers, so gently and carefully.
I really like to watch them run and play in the field. They are so fast, their tails and manes flying in the wind. I would like to see a whole herd, running in the wide, open spaces. It must sound like thunder!
I am taking a riding class at New Mexico State University to learn how to take better care of my horses, and how to ride better. I have gotten to know some of the horses.
Last week, when I was walking along the corral where they are kept, on my way to the class, one was reaching his head out through the fence trying to get a bite of something green. I was eating an orange, and as I came up to him he looked up at me and asked with his eyes and nose if he could have a bite. I stopped and told him that he wouldn’t like this orange, as horses didn’t eat oranges. He persisted in his asking, so I offered him the peel. He ate it like it was the best thing in the world.
That’s when I realized that he was starving for some fresh green grass. I thought about that as I walked on to class. I saw the condition that these horses were kept in, steel corrals, dusty, windy, full of dry manure blowing in their eyes and noses, loud noises from the constant traffic of trucks on the interstate right next to them, and they only get dry hay to eat, twice a day.
In class we watched a video about a special man who works with horses in a non-violent and respectful way, taming them, and teaching others how to do it in clinics around the country.
One thing he said stuck in my mind. He said that humans treat horses as slaves, and that it is not right for the horse, or the human.
After that, when I walked down the long corridor passing all the pens full of horses to get the horse I was to ride that day, I saw that this place was like a horse prison, and that I was going to get one prisoner out only to make him do what I wanted him to do, carry me around in another area in the prison for an hour, then back to his jail cell.
These horses are slaves to us. They never get to do what they like to do. They never get to eat a bite of green grass, or run in a big field, and roll in some clean dirt and green grass. They have very sensitive ears and the constant noise of the interstate traffic must be a torture to them.
And me, I paid tuition money to keep these horses this way, so I can take riding lessons on them.
I can’t do it any more.
My conscience won’t allow me to participate in the enslavement of these beautiful creatures. I am writing this column to inform you, my classmates and the instructor in “Western Equitation” that I am not going to participate in this class any longer.
I also am writing this column for the horses because their English isn’t so good, and I like them.
I would like them to get a chance to live and do the things horses like to do, not spend their whole lives as slaves to humans in uncomfortable circumstances. Horses work hard for us! We should treat them well, not enslave them in miserable conditions.
Further, I think that NMSU is doing a disservice to all horses by teaching humans that this is an acceptable way to keep horses. NMSU has plenty of open fields with green pasture on campus.
I think the horses should at least have the nights and weekends off, to eat, roll, run, and sleep in green pastures. They’d like that.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see?
Rusty Dobkins is a guest columnist and be contacted at truopinion@nmsu.edu.
23 comments
As for Rusty, I am confused by how your response is much more articulate than your article but I do have to say that as a wildlife science major I do agree with the last bit in your article but I do not see its relevance to this article, the only thing I can say to that is that if everyone turned their horses out onto rangeland to have room to frolic and roam our rangelands would disappear and you would see a real desert. However ideal it would be to give that to every animal we depend on for our livelihood it just isn't possible.
thinks the horses kept at NMSU have a good life, to spend two hours in the corrals
with them, when the wind is blowing. I don't think you will be able to stand
breathing the dust and manure and your eyes will be all full of it, just like the
horses eyes, noses, and lungs, are! Also, just go sit in the corral with the
horses, and try to relax. You'll notice the semi-trucks just keep roaring past, day
and nite, making it impossible to sleep deeply or relax . It is well known that
exposure to such noise causes high blood pressure in humans, and it is reasonable to
expect that it is detrimental to horses, with their very sensitive hearing, as well.
Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. Horses are creatures of the grasslands, the
plains, and as such they have evolved to run. They need room to run, lots of room,
to really run, not just a hundred foot square corral. It's their
nature to run. They enjoy it, and they are beautiful to watch running! Is it right
to keep them where they never get to run, wild and free? I grew up on beautiful old
farm, where we turned our horses out to pasture. I loved to watch them go running
out into it, with great gusto and joy! They'd run and buck, and kick, and roll in
the green grass. On my farm, here on the Gila, I turn my horses out into the
pasture, and they love it. They run with their heads held high, their tails up, and
manes flashing in the wind. It's good for them to run. They need it. I think we can
do better at NMSU. Animal confinement is animal torture!
My wife is from Switzerland. The first time she saw the way those cows are kept at
the dairy farms along the the highway between Las Cruces and El Paso, she was
horrified. She called them "Cow Concentration Camps". In Switzerland, the cows
graze the meadows, up in the mountains in the summer, and are brought down to the
valleys in the winter. They are beautiful, healthy, cows, and the milk, butter, and
cheese is far superior in taste, to what we have in this country. The "Factory
Farms" we have created in this country are horrific, unsanitary, inhumane, and
environmentally polluting. The food from them is nasty, contaminated with
pesticides, herbicides, and pathogenic bacteria. Is it any wonder that Americans are
so unhealthy? Our Agriculture Colleges , including NMSU, have to bear some
responsibility for promoting, doing research for, and teaching "Industrial
Agriculture" and "Factory Farming". As a biologist, I see the relationship humans
have developed with factory farmed animals as one of "parasitism". Humans parasitize
each other, and the other creatures, too. We, the human species are "hogging" all
the resources on this planet, and killing any other species that compete with us.
We run cattle on the land, which takes the plant energy away from the other animals
that need it, like the deer, antelope, squirrels, birds, and other creatures in the
food web. We kill the coyotes and wolves, mountain lions, and bears, and prairie
dogs, with guns and poisons. And, we are making deserts out of grasslands and
forests. Just look around you. When the first settlers came to New Mexico, they
reported, in their journals, that the grass was as tall as a man's head, riding on
a horse, between Deming and Silver City. Now, there are signs warning motorists to
beware of dust storms on that stretch of highway! I have ridden the wild places of
the Gila Wilderness, seen what it looks like, where cattle
don't graze, and people don't drive. It is wild and beautiful! Grass is tall,
wildlife abounds, wolves howl, forest fires burn, and the country regenerates,
naturally. I think the challenge for us, as humans, is to learn how to work with
nature, to bring forth beauty and bounty, in our farms, gardens, and lives. Our
schools should help with this, by teaching "Organic Farming and Gardening", and
"Natural Horsemanship". The problem comes when people will do anything to make a
buck, no matter how ugly, cruel, destructive, poisonous, or horrific it is.
Rather than reply to the response posts I would like to comment on how this particular opinion piece affected me. I grew up in Tucson and have spent some time around horses. We named our pets but naming livestock was discouraged. In all honesty I never considered whether or not our domesticated animals were happy. It was my present partner who one day suggested to me that riding was cruel. It was also suggested to me that fish might not necessarily enjoy finding a hook disguised under bait. I listened good naturedly before conveniently dismissing.
But reading the thoughtful guest opinion voiced in the Round Up made me stop and think. Unlike the popular idea voiced by so many in their disapproval, horses do not enjoy a symbiotic relationship with humans. True, we feed them, pay for vet care and provide shelter but that is in order to exploit them. I know this offends many sensibilities but to use your own arguments, the fact (or “reality”) that the horses are well cared for is irrelevant. How can you claim these horses,” love teaching in the Western Equitation and Therapuetic riding classes; if they didn't, they wouldn't be a part of the program. It takes a very special horse to be able to endure those classes”. The fact is, the horses allow riders because they have been broken.
Perhaps you are aware that the earliest clues of domesticated horses are found in Kazakhstan, from about 5000 B.C.? For those readers who might possibly have high brow tastes and therefore unfamiliar, this is the country satired by Sacha Baron Cohen in the film, Borat. Hmm. I’ll let you think about that one.
Horses are prey animals, with bodies that allow speed (not bred for this purpose). They are herd animals who naturally seek out groups for safety.
The amount of response suggests to me that the Round Up and/or NMSU ought to consider further attention to this subject. Besides an opportunity for investigative journaling, the campus could bring in guest speakers or host a debate. In any case, because this is an institution of higher learning, rather than attacking the messenger we could all use the opinion of one student as an opportunity for the enlargement of our personal mindsets.
I hope your major is based on writing childrens books, because that is what this article should be in.
PS- as for your Orange-Grass linkage, horses like different things, I own a gelding that will eat grapefruit peel right out of your hand, even though he too is on pasture, gets alfalfa, grain, supplements and fresh water every day.
Where in the world did you learn to write????? Seriously! Your article is embarrassing and childish!!! How on earth did you get into college with such poor writing skills? Or are you one of the many school children I see running around who some how snuck down to the equestrian center? Your view point is one thing; the way you express it is another. The entire style this column was written in is so elementary, I can't believe the Round Up agreed to publish it. Shame on you Round Up for publishing such an embarrassing piece of work!