Bandwagons and Ignorant Arrogance

The horse industry has long lived on gossip, rumors and cliquishness. That's nothing new. The internet, however, allows it all to rise to a new staggering height and all players, regardless of education or credentials, to get a ticket to the party. I'm speaking, specifically, about the folks that seem to spend most of their working days on message boards and blogs spouting off about whatever the latest topic du jour is without taking any time to research facts or form opinions for themselves.

I don't mind controversy, I love well-reasoned discussion and I think that any question, no matter how basic or obscure, deserves a thoughtful and informative response. What I deplore is shrill declarations of wrongness, abuse and evilness based on pure emotion, rumor or the unsubstantiated story of one individual.

Time was, if you wanted to communicate with other horse people, you did so face to face, over the phone, or by written letter. You met people, you networked and you sought knowledge through books, lessons, clinics and mentoring. Now, almost anyone can be a Google Cowboy who is a self-appointed expert on everything and hides behind a computer monitor doling out advice on message boards or blogs. Worse yet, some folks long on time and short on knowledge build a giant bandwagon for themselves and others on some popular blogs. They take no critical view on information presented, but instead react in an entirely emotional manner and then start painting disciplines they have no knowledge of with broad strokes of contempt.

It is my position, that almost any discipline can be trained for with integrity and respect for the horse. By the same token, ignorant and backwards "trainers" can make even the simplest training abusive. No discipline is "pure" and no discipline is categorically abhorrent.

That said, there is certainly room for personal preference in our equestrian activities. Differences make the world go around, even the equestrian world. I prefer a good, solid stock horse with a naturally level topline. Other people prefer a more up-headed horse, a slimmer horse, a horse with more action or even a gaited horse. None of us are wrong and we can all have productive partnerships with our horses, given that we train with integrity and ride horses bred and built to our preferences (no forcing square pegs into round holes).

Next time you see an online witch hunt or someone gathering torches and pitchforks, take a moment and ask yourself what you really know about the situation or discipline. If you have time to post a flaming declaration yourself, you probably have time to spend a little of it on Google looking for a different perspective. Maybe you could even call up an experienced horse person that you know in real life and ask their opinion. At the very least, you'll be able to carry your torch with informed self-righteousness rather than the blind faith of an ignorant follower.