Western pleasure, or western pain?

Well, to be honest, it does happen everywhere, geographically speaking - but not all horses are subjected to it - does that make sense?

I don't show beyond local shows which would be considered schooling shows to others, but I do own an incredibly well trained WP AQHA gelding. I bought him from his forth or fifth owner (I don't have his papers right in front of me) at the age of 17.

His tail is completely dead from too many injections (really one is too many). He is roach backed and I am guessing it's from being made to travel in that odd, ambling manner that many WP riders think is attractive. I think it make them look lame.... He also cribs and stall weaves and suffers from separation anxiety (though not while under saddle, just in the barn or in the pasture) - He also has no idea about herd dynamics as I am guessing he was weaned at 3 months and put right into training - no time to be a horse!

Even in my little local shows, I see WP riders warming up with side reins and spurs - asking these horses to perform these totally unnatural gaits. It's so sad.

When the former owner sees me ride my horse, she rolls her eyes at me and gets angry with me for letting him "get away" with things. Hey, wait a minute! I thought I bought a "Retired" show horse. Why do I have to make him do all that funky stuff? He's still an incredible pleasure to ride and when I put in a real effort, we actually win (though this is all his doing, my being on his back is what holds back our placing - lol - Someone who really cared would win hands down on this guy.

I guess I am getting off on a tangent here. Just thought I'd chime in with my experience - which is not much as far as the real WP world is concerned!

I've never shown in western pleasure or been around anyone who does, so I haven't seen this. Actually I really wasn't aware of these specific things but it doesn't surprise me. I never took an interest in WP because the movements looked weird and uncomfortable. I have heard a little about the stuff they do to gaited horses. I own a TWH but I don't show him, not that I would do any of that stuff if I did show. I've been to just one WP show, and I did notice that quite a few of the horses moved around the ring with their ears pinned back like they were uncomfortable. This wasn't a high level show, so I don't know if anyone went to measures as extreme as the ones mentioned here but the horses still looked grumpy or very dull. Hearing about stuff like this makes me not want to show at all (which I don't right now). I started thinking about showing on a college equestrian team, but I have to wonder if they would turn to abusive measure there too. I used to run speed events thinking that there would be less of the sort of things mentioned here but there still is. I guess there's abusive measures used in every discipline.

There are abuses in all professions, from the wannabes to the world champs. It usually comes from trying to make an ok horse into a wc, or a horse that has no business in that field being forced into it. Not sure that i have ever seen # 2 or 3 with my own eyes. A good wp horse has "it" from birth, you can see a horse that is bred to wp loping around its mother in frame, not tearing off across the pasture. Draft horses are bred to pull, cow horses are bred to chase cows, TB are bred to run. The problem is when some uncaring person does not know how to nuture the nature that is there, so they use abusive gimmicks.

I think knowledgeable people in every venue could come up with a list of abused in there version of the sport. I ride almost exclusively stock horses, and I can think of: jumping/rapping legs with poles, arabians and american saddlebreds/burning the inside of upper lip with lighter so that the horse will "show" to the lighter next time he sees it, hitting horses with plastic bags to get them "up" for show, TWH and ASB/ surgically setting tails and soring legs, dressage/rollkur. With dogs I have heard of ripping the hair out of their ears, and sticking match sticks up their rectum, and of course, don't forget how greyhounds are treated if they are not profitable.

When humans compete, they will do inhuman things to themselves and the animals. It is very sad, but, I am glad you bring it up, because all that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. Those of us who do NOT think anything is OK for a as long as you dont' get caught have to police the others.