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One post wonder? What is exactly the point? No horse beating, just a "show" with horses acting badly for a show. I think they were acting badly because all the owners or controllers were carrying a whip that they were scared of. Were the horses supposed to be rearing up? Were they just supposed to be walking around being led? Where is the real abuse???

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These are Arab horses shown at one of the biggest equestrian shows anywhere, Aachen in Germany. Horses that are shown are often very well fed with not enough exercise to let off steam; moreover, these horses may be very young (they look it) and therefore, they get easily excited, and handlers only have a lead rope to hold them. In this case, the rope is attached to a chain that is attached on one side of the halter, then goes through a ring on the other side and attaches to the lead; if a horse pulls, tension on the chain and the area under the jaw increases; when the horse relaxes, pressure disappears. But when the horse jumps ( as young ones may do) the pressure may of course be severe and the horse may get more tense. It really is a skill to prepare young animals for the show ring, especially Arabs since a stupid convention requires that the horse has to be "stood up" for inspection by judges with its head raised high in the air, its position almost horizontal, meaning the horse's perspective of what it can see is unnatural, potentially raising more problems. The whips carried by handlers are not for punishment but serve as an extension of the handler's arm, to give signals. Add to all that that once one horse gets a fright, all others will want to get away too, horses are herd animals. So it is easy to get some video that looks as if horses are yanked about and looking as if they are threatened with whips whereas what we really see is young horses getting upset. Even so, it may be that some handlers are too rough, and really should not be allowed to show young horses, or any horses, for that matter. I think the Arab horse world does not do itself any favours with the public by maintaining the silly "stand up", or that in a very high tension atmosphere as at a big show, young horses are shown - why not go for less 'exciting' environments? Furthermore, some Arabs are only ever show animals and never really ridden; so as long as they will stand up briefly, temperament is not essential as for a riding horse. With ever more people seeing videos like the above, and quite a few people who love horses also questionining some practices (many show horses are grossly overweight, for instance) every horse person and show organizer should think of the PR implications. Yes, young horses will be horses (especially colts) and older horses are still horses - but a lot can be done to make everything more horse friendly, not the least of which is rethinking some silly conventions. For instance, in American saddle horses, should you really sit that far back on the weakest part of the horses spine? Should you really train horses to high stepping gaits by attaching weights to their feet, or letting their feet grow unnaturally long, instead of breeding for it?