Last Sunday, at the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, a woman was recorded hitting a mare with a wiffle bat to compel the horse to enter a trailer. The video’s now on the web, and it’s prompted this debate: was the trainer’s technique animal abuse, or a reasonable method of persuasion?
A news clip on the incident:
I don’t own horses, but I believe that I could craft an argument either way: that the conduct was excessive. or that the wiffle bat was not much different from other, conventional and acceptable methods of persuading horses. I simply don’t know which would be the sounder argument. One could craft many alternative and even contradictory positions, but many alternative and even contradictory positions would not be equally reasonable.
Easiest answer for now: at the very least, the trainer was foolish to use a wiffle bat, and should have relied only on conventional tools of her trade. (This answer doesn’t settle the question of abuse, but the controversy is surely more pronounced because she used an odd implement.)
What do you think?
100% abuse since whiffle bats aren’t for horses
It’s not as bad for the animal as it looks, but it’s unprofessional and lazy. It hits the nail on the head to say like the commenter did that plastic “bats aren’t for horses.”
This kind of practice is rare (that’s why there are few pictures like this even though most cellphones can take pictures). But it is stupid too. A dedicated and responsible trainer would never use a bat like that (even a plastic one).
Strange, sick, and disturbing. Somebody ought to beat the Owners with a wiffle bat and see how they like it…
Loading some horses is hard. But there are more ways to do it than a whiffle bat.
l
My brothers and I all rode growing up, and I never saw something like this. It’s really true that horses can be difficult, and that this in an unprofessional way to handle it.
No one boarding horses would want them treated in this way, because it’s odd but also because you’d wonder what might happen next.
That’s how you can tell it’s a dumb/bad/strange idea – no one would advertise her business with a video of a groom or trainer using a plastic bat. If they wouldn’t be proud to advertise this conduct, they shouldn’t be doing it either.