We live in a time of change. Modern technology has made everything easier and quicker; it has chained people’s lives. What often took a year, now takes a fraction of the time. Speed plays a definite role in our lives but can have some unfortunate consequences where horses are concerned.
At horse auctions, 3-year-old animals have been shamefully offered for sale as top dressage horses or eventers. Horses who were only just broken to saddle were already believed to have the attributes to go far in a specific discipline. An experienced horse-handler, who knows the long, patient process needed to educate a young horse from basic training to specializing in the various disciplines, cannot countenance this. But how many horse-lovers nowadays have sufficient expertise to put this process into practice? In recent years, much of the riding fraternity has relocated from the countryside to the town. A new generation of riding enthusiasts is growing up, but they have not grown up with horses. They either view their free time with the horse as simply having contact with nature, or as a form of sport. Nowadays, too many riders are more interested in boasting about their recent purchase than in learning about stable management and the details of training the horse.
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