Clueless about horses but this is bothering me...

[jholzgrafe]

Hi everyone, I need help - I have zero experience around horses but a friend of mine who does ride and also has a horrible temper told me something that I thought was awful - but maybe I just don't understand horses? This woman is bipolar and easily angered and she rides a horse that she rents from two owners. She was telling me about how angry she was (and she was visibly angry just telling me about it hours later) with this horse because "she sat on her cross ties" - hopefully you can decipher that if I got it wrong - so she took her whip and whacked her across the face twice, like I imagine someone slapping and then back handing somone on each cheek. She motioned with her arm while telling me this and it didn't look like a tap, it looked like she whipped the horse in the face. Is that wrong? I was horrified to hear this, I can't STAND any type of cruelty to animals. We have a mutual friend who has dogs and her husband doesn't like this woman because she was rough with their dogs while "disciplining" them for jumping on her. She loves animals but I think she lets her temper get in the way of good decisions with them sometimes...maybe i'm just too soft though? The horse is trained and "should know better" accoridng to her, and she "wasn't going to tolerate it." Am I overreacting?

[Sarah Beeson]

I can understadn punishing a horse but there is absolutely NO reason to hit ANY animal in the face with your bare hand or anything for that matter.
That woman needs to be confronted and so do the owners about the treatment to their horse.
That is so wrong.
I admit I have swatted a horse for trying to bite but it was in no way cruel like that women did to that mare.There is no reason for that.Even if the horse is misbehaving

[Terri Whitman]

This horse probably was sitting back on the cross-ties because it was terrified of the woman. If the woman has a short temper like you say she's probably done this to this horse before. When a horse is in the cross ties it can't escape what it preceives as a danger and from you've said about this woman this woman was a danger to this horse. Most horses, if used to being tied up, will accept being tied up with cross ties. If they are young they may fuss some but soon they gete the idea they need to stand still.

But at NO time should a horse (or any other animal) be hit in the face with a whip. The woman could have damaged the horse's eyes - remember that a whip does bend and could do damage to other areas. If the horse is hit hard enough it can cut the skin and everywhere the whip lands would have left a bruise and possibly welts because the skin over the face doesn't have a lot of muscle underneath to absorb such a blow.

I'm not going to adress the biting problem others have stated as that is a different topic than being addressed here but there are other ways to stop a horse from biting without hitting it with your hand.

The whole thing with a horse is you've got to present yourself as the 'alpha' animal. Remember, they are a pray animal and are a herd animal. You either will become part of their herd or you will become the hunter and a horse will react to you by how you present yourself to them.

I do hope you have called the law about this because what this woman did is against the law in most states. Animal abuse shouldn't be tolerated by anyone. We humans are the caretakers of all animals and we must treat them right. If I had seen this woman doing this to that horse, I would have grabbed the whip from her and thrown her out of the barn with a swift kick to her rearend before calling the cops.

[katie pestell]

no i not very nice to hit a horse around the head they can become scared of the whip and act badly which may cuse her to hit it even more

[Ariella]

thats really horrible! no horse should be hit.. ive tapped horses on the nose,so its like a warning, if they try to bite, or something, but that is just wrong. so, you are definitely not overreacting!

[Jenna O'Connor]

No, you are not overreacting. If you are to ride a horse, you must have patience and a good temper. I am a rider myself, so I should know. You should NEVER whip a horse in his face. There are no excuses. You should tell the people who she rents the horse from about it. I'm sure they don't want their horse treated that way. They might not let her ride the horse until she gets a better temper. Whacking a horse in the face is not "discipline."

[Belles]

I never hit a horse with anything period.. I'll give a pinch, a poke or sometimes a kick in the butt (I'm short so no power) but I don't use devices to hit.. that's kind of unfair, don't you think? You can send the same message with a good ol' pinch to the nose or the neck - a good rein and well placed heel. I never use spurs either.. I've never owned a horse that needed them.. there are other and better ways to get a horse to move out.

[Joan Spinner]

Spurs and crops are NOT a punishment but a communication tool. There is nothing wrong with them used correctly. Look at all the top English riders in the world and you will see the vast majority carry a bat or crop and wear spurs at some point IF NEEDED. Fair isn't how you ride. Safe is how you ride. The idea is to train your horse to do what you want it to learn. Hopefully it wants to learn what you are teaching. Therein lies the partnership. A crop or spurs can tell a horse to yield to a side, bring a back foot ore forward, or any number of other things we ask for.
To the issue of hitting horses in the face DO NOT. A poke in the nose for biting is one thing but that is it. Pain to the head is BAD.

By the way, pinching a nose isn't good either. It teaches them to be afraid of your hands. It can eventually lead to the horse being hard to handle. You should stop that.