Is whipping an animal wrong?

Think about your answer before reading further –

* Yes * It depends * No

How do human brains work?

What makes one thing right and one thing not right, or something really wrong?

How can people with different biases and different bents see things so differently?

What is needed for something to be SO BAD that everyone (is that even possible?) can see that it is bad? I don’t think I want to see that if horses are the recipient

Maybe you can understand the differences in opinion a little if the person NOT seeing the concern doesn’t have educated knowledge. The weird thing about horse abuse is it is often those with less knowledge who call the offense.

Take horse racing as an example (can of worms!) Many of the people protesting whip use are people who don’t own horses, but think whipping any animal is wrong (and they would be right with that thought!)

Funny thing – a lot of people justifying whipping racehorses also don’t understand learning theory. They claim that in the excitement of the race the horse doesn’t feel the pain! My question to them then, if that is the case, WHY DOES IT WORK?

Thinking of a horses survival - If it hurts, the horse tries to go faster to get away from the pain,

Referencing learning theory - if he does go faster, the whipping should then stop (it doesn't)

So if it works to make them go faster – it MUST hurt.

If it doesn’t hurt it doesn’t work – if it doesn’t work then what is the point in doing it?

Actually, backtrack to the earlier question-

Ask anyone if whipping an animal is wrong, using those words.

Is whipping an animal wrong?

Most answers will be yes it is wrong.

Then ask people who own and ride horses if using a whip when riding to encourage the horse to go forward is wrong? Probably 80% (guessing here) of riders will say no it is not wrong.

Most will have done it.

My wording there could have been less contentious? (I don’t think so!)

Why is using a whip to make a horse go forward seen differently to whipping a horse?

The horse still gets whipped/ hit with a whip

Dichotomy? Cognitive dissonance?

Ask people who ride and own horses if whipping horses to FORCE them to do something horses don’t want to do is wrong? More people here would say yes it IS wrong. Yet using the whip to ‘ask’ the horse to go forward isn’t wrong? (changing the emphasis again but you can see where I am heading!)

If the horse WANTED to go forward he would do so without the whip.

A big problem in seeing the problem, is how widespread the acceptance of hitting horses with whips actually is.

It is advocated in books on riding, taught in pony clubs and riding schools, taught by professional instructors. When all our learning sources teach this, it somehow prevents our brain from registering the issue –

we are whipping horses for our human benefit.

I digressed –

this was going to be an article about the furore over a video-taped incident of someone hitting a horse with a riding helmet, when the majority of riders carry and use whips daily, and very few bat an eyelid.

I think that will be part 2

Written by Vicki Conroy for PPGA Equine subcommittee