For those who truly wish to do what is best, there needs to be some kind of measuring system to decide just what will best support the well-being of the horse, and the following statement is an attempt to formulate an over-riding principle for the creation of such a system.

"Horses should be kept in such a way that they are able to express those behaviours that are a natural part of their physical and psychological character."

The logical outcomes of accepting such a proposition are reasonably obvious; the willingness to espouse such logic is another matter altogether and will, no doubt, remain a matter of personal inclinations or opinions. I, for one, would not wish "thought police" on anyone, but the era of political correctness is upon us and "he who is lost will be he who has stalled" (4.)

This is probably a good point at which to leave the rarefied atmosphere of ethical debate, and move on into some other, more practical, areas that are of concern.

Earlier, in article 10, some mention was made of practices in the racing industry. It is a strange fact that many people who are interested and drawn to horses will not have anything to do with racing. Most often the reasons given for this are those to do with the way in which race horses are kept and trained, most particularly the fact that they are put into work at such an early age. There is ample evidence to suggest that no horse should be ridden until it reaches three years of age, and that to do so can cause physical damage to the musculo-skeletal system resulting in a very short career ending in a trip to the meat-works.

In equestrian events, we expect a horse to come into its full potential at around nine to twelve years of age, and such great horses as Charisma have beaten the rest of the world at the age of sixteen!

We know that early weaning is stressful and traumatic, and that isolation causes stereotypical behaviour and further stress. So why are these practices continued? Trainers need owners in order to make a living, and a hard and stressful living it is! And finally, the whole racing industry needs punters to attend races and place their bets.

In most consumer industries the belief is that the customer is right and must be given what they want, and if changing these practices would result in more people going to the track and having an interest in racing why does the industry not look at changing? We hear often enough that racing is having a hard time but there has not been a major change in years which is, to say the least, a little hard to understand. Not only does racing have a hard time attracting punters and owners, it also has an increasingly hard time finding stable staff. Having been involved in the process of training young people to work in the industry, it is very clear that many who have the potential to be very good at working with horses are put off by the way in which those horses are treated. As society's attitude towards the ethics of animal use change, racing is going to be forced to reassess its methods or go into extinction as a dinosaur of the past.

What is the problem with starting horses out as three-year-olds? Initially, there would be horses bred who would have to be kept on by breeders an extra year or so but, by staggering the change over four or five seasons, only twenty percent need to be held on to per year - perhaps those that come from families known to mature later. Since governments make such a huge amount from the racing industry, we might even look to them to help breeders out during the transition with tax breaks and so on - after all it would be protecting the golden goose.

If ,by waiting the extra time, owners are presented with an investment which is likely to be more durable, and not to break down after a couple of seasons racing, wouldn’t it become a more attractive proposition? Breeders in New Zealand, and no doubt elsewhere, have been finding it difficult in many cases to cover their costs when selling yearlings, and part of the reason is surely that at such a young age it is extremely difficult to judge exactly what kind of horse the buyer will end up with when it matures. And if more horse-lovers are brought into racing as a spectacle in which the power and beauty of galloping horses can be witnessed in the firm knowledge that the horses involved are being treated as living entities rather than as mere commodities, would not the whole industry benefit? The industry will have to change; growing awareness of animal welfare will force it, is slowly forcing it, so why not make changes willingly and thereby support the jobs and income that are derived, rather than have to be dragged screaming and kicking into the twenty-first century?

It is, as is usual, the few who abuse horses who spoil it for everyone, and there certainly are stable staff whose response to the frustration of a horse not doing what they want is to wade in with kicks and sticks, and for them my only suggestion is "get some anger management counselling, and if that doesn’t cure you, then get another job!"

Over the past five years, horse breeding in New Zealand has become less financially sustainable - after all, why should a buyer be expected to pay a good price for a purpose-bred sport horse when they can easily pick up the rejects from thoroughbred racing virtually for free? The high profile international success of N.Z event riders on N.Z thoroughbred sport horses led towards what seemed to be a bright future for horse exports, so much so that the Department of Trade got involved in order to support the industry. Now we have reached the point where such a large percentage of the horses foreign buyers are offered fail veterinary inspection for soundness, and there are so many to choose from, that the prices realised have tumbled.

The general public see the rare T.V item documenting yearling sales where fabulous money is paid for progeny from a very select few studs, and believe that all is well. What they don't see or hear about are the high numbers of yearlings which fail to make even the price needed to pay the service fee of the stallion used. If the N.Z government were really interested in supporting the horse-breeding industry as a whole, surely something should be done about this.

It wasn't that long ago that a research grant of several hundred thousand dollars was given to a N.Z university for the study of causes of leg problems and breakdown of racehorses. Having received the money, a spokesman then declared that they were pretty sure they knew what the causes were already - as, of course, do many in the horse world. Ordering a number of copies of equine specialist Dr James Rooney book 'The Lame Horse - Causes, Symptoms & Treatment would have saved a lot of time and money! Most research funding for studies of the horse comes from the racing industries of the various countries, which might be seen as a good thing - racing repaying its debt to the horse. But is that really the whole story? There is nothing quite so pernicious as 'vested interest' and, since all other industries (and governments come to that) tend to massage fact to suit the present status quo, why should the racing industry be any different?

I challenge the racing industry to take on board the overwhelming scientific information regarding the potential damage done to horses by such practices as working them at too early an age - and to change! Perhaps then the problems of finding staff (so bad in N.Z that many staff are imported from overseas), attracting the public to the races, and maintaining some reasonable residual value for horses retiring from racing, will decrease and, with them, the problems of financial viability faced by non-racing breeders.

The racing industry is easy to pick on, but there are plenty of other areas that could use some cleaning up. Kentucky walking horses are subjected to abuse by various methods, such as the application of abrasives and false boots in order to secure the exaggerated gait, and it seems only fair to say that if someone can't be satisfied with a horse for what it is, then they should stick to machines instead. To a lesser extent, but along the same path, what about the sport of harness racing where, again, all kinds of paraphernalia are required in order to make horses trot or pace at a speed which is quite unnatural and at which they would normally be cantering? Are horses not sufficiently beautiful moving in natural gaits that they have to be subjected to working in hobbles and overchecks in order to conform to some arbitrary standard of movement? Would the trainers of harness horses be prepared to fit a harness to their children in order to make them swing their arm on the same side as the leg moving forward? No, that would be entirely too silly wouldn’t it? We love our children for who and what they are, don’t we? But it's all right to do it to horses because we wish them to move as we dictate rather than as nature intended.

Then, of course, there is that super-macho spectacle, the Rodeo. A pastime where the brutish can really show their mettle. But, in a world where human beings seem to find the greatest of difficulty in merely being kind to each other, I suppose nothing should come as much of a surprise.

Some religions have a happy knack of declaring animals to be on this planet solely for our use, so that must make it OK to treat them as we see fit. And, by that measure, the imprisonment and forced immobilisation of mares in stalls for the collection of Pregnant Mare Urine is fine also, and it makes money, and can be used to manufacture human pharmaceuticals too. So all is well there! And if people find it entertaining to watch horses or mules forced, by electric prods, up steep ramps onto high-dive platforms from which they will be made to 'dive' into tanks of water, then we certainly must not stand in the way of their having their fun! It really is all a matter of degree, each act of cruelty or abuse becoming an understatement of the next and succeeding ultimately in desensitising society, to the detriment of us all.

Having, no doubt, upset a few people with the preceding paragraphs, good manners probably dictate that an apology should be offered. Well sorry, but I'm not going to give one. I shall just have to content myself with knowing that in this world there are people whom it is truly a privilege and a duty to upset, and declare my right to say what I believe to be true. What each individual is prepared to do is a matter for their conscience, if they have one, but they should not be too surprised if others lobby for legislation that makes the abuse of another species illegal.

For those who wish to spend either their leisure or working hours with these most noble and glorious of creatures, and to be free to do so without being subjected to the condemnation of the media, it must be acknowledged that it is human nature to judge things by the worst rather than by the best and that, as equestrians, they have a duty to themselves to attempt to control the excesses of the few in order to protect the rights of the majority.

All types of cross country, jumping or race courses can be designed to protect the safety of the horse while allowing for a true test of skill and athleticism; indeed, that is what the best designers do, but there will always be accidents in which injury occurs to either horse or rider. Such is the nature of sport. For those who would do away with equestrian sport altogether, there is the question of what would then happen to all those horses that would become surplus to requirements. Would it be better that they were all consigned to an early death in order to feed domestic pets or the people who find the eating of horsemeat acceptable?

The fate of humans and the horse are inextricably linked, for better or worse. Our treatment of the horse allows us to express a sense of dignity and compassion and, as such, the relationship can become one of real and enduring beauty, spiritual in its intensity and glorious in its achievement. And, who knows, by understanding and learning to communicate with members of another species, we may come to better understand ourselves and the environment in which both species must survive.

"The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been witheld from them but by the hand of tyranny...a full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day, or a week, or even a month old. But suppose the case were otherwise, What would it avail? The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But can they suffer? Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being? The time will come when humanity will extend its mantle over anything that breathes..."

Jeremy Bentham