On Whips and Spurs

There are many who believe that using a whip and spurs on a refusing horse will "fix" the problem and "teach him who's boss." This sounds pretty archaic to me. With all the latest information about how to work with horses "naturally", and all the positive reports of results using "natural" methods, I'm disheartened at the numbers of people who still think along these lines of force.

First of all, let's briefly discuss the use of whips, crops and spurs. These are known as "artificial aids." If we break that description down, we have the word "artificial" and we have the word "aid." According to my Funk and Wagnall's dictionary, the definition of "artificial" is: "produced by human art" The definition of "aid" is listed as: "assistance; help". Now, let's put the two together to form a definition in our own words.

Crops, spurs, whips are "artificial aids"; That is, tools made by humans to help a horse ... to better understand our cues. Bits and reins might also come under the heading of "artificial aids". Read the definition of "aid" again ... to assist; to help. I don't see the words "force" or "intimidate" as part of that definition. However, how many times have you, as observer, or maybe even as a rider, used your spurs or your crop to MAKE your horse do something? Can you remember what you felt like as you were using them in this manner? Frustration, anger, helplessness, out of control? All these words and emotions should have no place in the world of horses. Why should we, humans, take our frustrations and anger out on the horse who is generously giving of its back and energies to the human? Horses are not inanimate, motorized objects whereas we just have to turn the key on and the animal moves for us! They are animals with their own minds, own language, own social rules, own hearts. They nuture their own young, protect their own territories, protect each other and forgive each other's trespasses. They perform for humans under the most unforgiving of circumstances ... they walk/trot/canter around and around and around while inexperienced hands tug and yank and bang on their mouths sometimes while a human stands in the middle of the circle with whip in hand to snap if the horse isn't moving fast enough, slow enough, this or that enough; Maybe even with rider having a crop in hand to smack its rump for not moving 'correctly'. They certainly don't HAVE to do this. They outweigh humans by hundreds of pounds; they can kill a human with one, quick, well directed kick; they can simply buck hard to send a little human body flying ... in short, horses "allow" humans to tug, pull, kick, ride, lead them around and more.

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