Sunday, 23 November 2008
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June 2008 • VOLUME 34 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
In the wake of the Eight Belles tragedy, there are several movements in action. From the Jockey Club to Monty Roberts, people are seriously looking for change, questioning our right to push these athletes further than what they can give us. In many people’s minds - the question in their hearts - would Eight Belles have broken down if she had been left to herself, if she hadn’t been urged on by the jockey - whip in hand demanding more than was good for her to give? The crowd demands that jockeys use their whips - a sign that they are using their all to win, that they are not holding back, that they are not fixing the race. The horse having raced and given his all nears the finish line, his breath is laboured, his heart hammering, and down the back stretch they come, and when he just feels he cannot give any more the whip comes down pounding on his hide. Demanding even more. More than his mighty heart and his immature tendons are perhaps able to give. From racing to riding to jumping, the whip is frequently applied when we determine we need more effort from the horse. The horse is never given the discretion to decide for himself whether it is safe or not to go over the jump, if he feels in balance, if he feels he is out of stride, if he feels a slight mis-step or perhaps a twinge in his knee. Any refusal is met with a hard knock with the whip, demanding action, demanding that no matter how in his own body he may have doubts, it is better to escape the whip and go over the jump, no matter the outcome. At many levels it makes so much sense not to use the whip, though. As an instructor myself, I rarely allowed any of my students, no matter what level they were riding at, to use a whip while riding. It makes no sense to punish the horse for the rider's problems. Why should the horse have the whip applied to his body because he will not move forward when inadvertently, almost always, it is the rider that is somehow blocking the horse? One might argue that there is a very different use for the whip, other than to go. The whip can be used for the lightest of touches on the horse's body, allowing us to softly touch here and there, so incredibly useful with an animal that is so much larger than we are. It creates a longer hand, in effect. An incredible tool for communication. “Another instance when the whip quits its position of rest is when the rider has to apply its action on the horse's body, and this can be wherever it is needed, not only on the hocks, not only on the shoulders, not only on the front legs, not only on the croup, but also on the rump, behind the saddle: everywhere! In the baroque time, riders would cut a twig from a tree (usually a hazel tree) and hold it vertically, upright, in their right hand (the left hand holding the reins). Then they would apply this very “natural” aid - most often by soft contacts - wherever it was necessary, in order to position the horse's body properly.’ December 2007 Racinet and the Whip
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An Equestrian Legacy