03/28/2024
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Another terribly sad headline has come across my newsfeed, the second this month.
I cannot say for sure why hopelessness and tragically, death by su***de, is on the upswing among today’s equine professionals but I can certainly see the pressures in the lifestyle.
We know that our individual happiness must come from inside. That having a sense of self worth, in an increasingly judgmental and public world, is not found from outside forces. Unless you are a professional trainer, that is.
You are only as credible as your last horse, your last headline, your last win.
When you are a pro in this business, your measure of success IS coming from outside. You are appealing to those around you. You know that there is always going to be someone younger, braver or better, waiting to fill your boots. You know that there are always more talented and sounder horses coming up, in your competitors’ barns.
You know that your clients—the people you have spent a crushing amount of time and energy in, those who support your family’s livelihood—are just one disappointment from going somewhere else.
Costs, alone, have skyrocketed in our lifetime. Land, once upon a time, was downright cheap, compared to today. Trucks, needed to haul horses across the continent in competition, have gone from $6500 new, to over $100,000 each. Trailers, ditto. We won’t mention the price of fuel, feed and insurance.
Studies have long shown that on-the-job stress is directly related to forces deemed beyond one's control. That no matter how well one fulfills their responsibilities, one's ultimate success or failure is but one outside decision away.
In addition to the pressures of being a constant winner, of feeding one’s family, of always being ‘on’, of living in constant bodily danger, there is something else.
Today’s horse professionals live under a magnifying glass. There is huge change in the wind when it comes to horsemanship. In how we expect to see horses trained and presented. We want beauty and achievement but right now, we are becoming more cognizant of pain and evidence of harsh training methods in too many of the horses we see in competition.
Many of us are no longer able to stomach what we are seeing.
We, the public, are demanding better of our industry's leaders, whether owners, trainers or ruling bodies. Not only this but there is the shadowy presence of animal welfare groups, which, I would remind us, are very different from animal rights movements. Welfare is about watchdogging the wellbeing of those who cannot speak for, or support, themselves. It is about somehow righting all that is wrong in today’s horse sport.
Those of us who love the thrill of competition should care hugely how our sport is perceived in the world, outside of horses. The very future of all disciplines demands it.
If any of you doubts or argues this point, I invite you to pick up a book or magazine from years past. You will see how much we have changed in the words we now use and in our viewpoints.
While today, we might pride ourselves on leaving barbarism in the past, we have different sins needing atonement. In many disciplines, we have normalized the idea of young horse futurities. Huge monies to be won on absolute babies. I think of the Canadian cutting horse star who, in his last years, confided over dinner that his one regret in a long, illustrious career was ‘mashing on those babies’ to make his name.
Too many of our biggest events are actually sponsored by drug companies, selling the same chemicals we administer to mask normal equine behaviours and signs of pain. Some of our governing bodies are telling us, by way of newly allowed rulings, that these questionable things are okay. That if our sport is going to demand so very much of a horse, that it is actually ethical to medicate them. The Sedivet brouhaha within the NRHA is just one example.
In much of today’s horsemanship, our industry leaders are telling us that winning can come at any price, so long as we crown a winner. FEI Dressage continues to squirm uncomfortably in the hotseat. Closer to home, too many breed associations resolutely defend training and showing practices abhorrent to the larger horse community.
Does a trainer feed his, or her, family? Or, do they risk it all to try to evoke even one small change? Honestly, what would you do?
From the outside looking in, today’s equine professionals seemingly have it all. They have adoration, sponsorship, fame and sometimes, fortune. They ride the very best horses that can be bred for their sport. They have huge opportunity for success, though it is an unending contest to elbow one's place at the table.
They are under our constant scrutiny, especially now that we have social media. Someone is always in the shadows, holding a one-sided commentary, while holding up a phone.
What seems like a rich life may, in fact, be an overwhelming burden.
Today’s pros have to produce results like never before. If they have souls and an innate love of horses—and I know that most of them do, for once upon a time, they were horse-crazy kids who vowed to make things better—they will be living under a great deal of soul searching and self doubt. For every one of them, the bar is constantly being raised, all the while the clock is ticking.
Time and money. Don’t fall behind.
They have become our gods, our gurus. And like all priests or religious leaders, they have devoted every waking minute—and likely, many a sleepless night—to becoming exactly who they are and what they stand for.
After a lifetime of dedicated work, they are but one mistake, one disgruntled client, from having it all come crashing down.
While I may admire our pros' knowledge, work ethic and ability to shine under pressure, I know that I could not—for so many reasons—endeavour to ride among them.
Whether it feels like the curtain call, or a new dawn on horsemanship, I’m just sorry that everything is so hard... and that man or beast, this thing called success has come at such a price.
