Principle One: Good Health
Written by Hiddenhorse on 22/09/2009 – 4:09 pm -PRINCIPLE NUMBER ONE: ALL OUR MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE MUST ALWAYS CREATE GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN THE HERD.
This is principle number one for a reason. It is of no advantage to anyone in any model of horsemanship to have a horse that is in less than perfect health.
- In the Utility Model where horses are defined solely by their purpose a horse that is sick or in general poor health may be unable to fulfill it’s function and so would literally be use-less. Treatment would be given as long as it was financially practical to do so. If it wasn’t the horse would be designated, uneconomical to treat or ‘no longer fit for purpose’ and so would be either assigned another function or otherwise ‘disposed of’.
- In the Anthropomorphic Model the sympathetic owner would not accept ill health in their horse any more than they would in themselves. Typically they would see the problem in terms of human disease and would immediately confine the horse to it’s ‘inner-sanctum’ or sleeping chamber and isolate the animal from contact with other horses, in case the disease proved contagious. They would then consult an animal doctor. Because the situation is emotionally driven, there would be the potential to spend an unlimited of money on treatment but this would be in order to reward the owner, not the horse.
- In the Ethological Model – the natural horse behavior model, a horse that was sick would seek out the comfort and security of it’s herd it would place itself at the center of it’s herd so that it’s companions and family members could be it’s eyes, ears and nose temporarily, and alert it to the presence of predators. It’s recovery would be a swift and stress-free as possible. This is cooperative herd behavior.
- In the Natural Horse Keeping Model, we work, as always, in a way that is based on the ethogram of the horse. We see that the natural behavior of the horse is be with other horses, so our horse is never removed from the herd, never isolated from other horses. In the rare event that the horse is suffering from a disease that would threaten the integrity of the herd we might isolate it from others but this would be an absolute last resort. We would avoid the unnecessary use of chemical treatments – especially the gratuitous use of antibiotics*. Personally I believe that the horse knows a great deal more than I do about what is wrong with it so rather than treating the horse using invasive human techniques I will try to set up the natural environment in a way that facilitates healing as fast as possible, for example, in a way that minimizes stress.*Don’t misunderstand this, there are times when veterinary medicine can be a wonderful thing and antibiotics can be the blessing they truly are. The wisdom here is in knowing the difference.
If we create an environment that is founded on the good health and well-being of the horse, we need to create something that acknowledges the horse as a prey animal, a herd animal, a flight/movement animal and a browsing animal, therefore we create a herd environment, with unlimited movement potential, we will not use shoes or unnecessary clothing in the form of rugs. We will allow the horses to choose where they shelter and allow them to control their own body temperature. We will create diets that replicate the nutritionally poor environment that horses thrive in. The Romans believed in the concept of a healthy mind in a healthy body, therefore we need to develop mentally stimulating environments where horses can play and investigate, we need to use training methods that stimulate the interest and enthusiasm of the horse and do not use mechanical devices and the threat of punishment to train the animal. All of these factors and more fulfil our first principle of natural horse keeping.
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