15. Liberty
All credit to @littlepistolannie on instagram. This one is encouraging liberty. I know a lot of people, including me, dislike liberty but I thought I'd post the other side of things.
"Liberty" as I define it isn't about WHAT you do - whether you ride, learn tricks, dance, jump, or just enjoy each others company - it's about HOW. It's about how you see horses - as servants or equals. It's about how you hear horse - with preconceived human-serving notions or with not only hearing but listening ears. It's about how you treat horses - with methods that work off of adversities (pressure and release), pain, and force or with freedom, understanding, and mutual friendship. It's how much you value the horses' free will and right to their own bodies - allowing them to truly make their own choices or coercing them until they obey. Taking off a bridle is not "liberty" - but when you practice "liberty" there is no need for a bridle in the first place as the horse WANTS to participate, play, and love just as much as you. This is not a style of training - it is a way of seeing the world and respecting the natural rights on all beings, not just human beings. Horses are not here to serve you - just that idea alone forces one to rethink so many "traditional" horse "training" methods. "Liberty" isn't a method or a way of riding or "tricks" or a "discipline" like English/Western - liberty is approaching a horse and saying "I want to be your friend, not your master." For yo know, it was never your right to "make/force" the horse to do anything through gadgets, metal, and/or physical restraints - it was never your right to take on the role of "master" in the first place.
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Relateable Equestrian Rants
Short StoryThis is a small collections of rants I have made up or have found about being an equestrian. If they are not my words, I will give credit to the author. Most of them will be my own(:
