If the horse seems like he likes it or doesn’t mind being ridden, then it’s okay. But if your horse hates it then no. If you ride a horse just be sure not to do harsh rides or when the temperature outside is above 100 degrees. Because we wouldn’t do that to our cats and dogs right? Thanks for asking.

LOL, I don’t know what you do. You could hit your horse harder then you say & of course I can’t take your word that’s exactly why I decided to intervene.

@Nicole

I agree completely. People just assume “oh, its called a whip, so clearly the only way it could ever possibly be used is to whip an animal!” No. As a matter of fact, I know NOBODY who does that with a whip. You can’t just not even respond to our reasoning and say “nope its cruel you are being defensive”. If I tapped a horse on the shoulder, would you report me to the police? No. If I tapped a horse on the shoulder with a whip, is that any worse? NO.

I don’t think so, & I’m not trying to argue I just feel what I feel & I’m not trying to prove anyone wrong either but PETA even had said different from you & to be honest that’s their thing so really it’s just you two on here defending the use of a whip. Oh and you are only providing some things that try & make you seem like your not doing nothing when wrong, when there is plenty out there that shows different but I don’t have to show it to you I’m sure you already know about them.

@Nicole

Your entire argument is based on “Because I said so” without providing any evidence, logic or reason to it. Your the kind of person that makes us Vegans seem crazy and ‘unintelligent’ by many people’s standards. Please use logic and reason in what you believe, and actually research what you are against rather than assume or blindly believe.

i think its ok as long as the horses are taken care of right treated as a pet not an object

@Emily

THANK YOU. We are not denying that horses feel pain, have feelings, etc. I love my horse more than my own family. He is my best friend and he loves me as well. He follows me in the pasture, nickers to me, etc. What we are saying is, if we were to press a piece of leather onto your shoulder, would it hurt? NO. It would not hurt a horse either. Yes, you CAN hurt a horse with a whip, and SOME people do. Just as yes, you CAN hurt someone with a pencil, but you use it for writing instead. Things can be used in more ways than one. Its not just black and white. I do know a horse who is terrified of whips because her past owner beat her with it. People have been working with her and she now knows not to fear it and is learning to trust again. The whip itself is not cruel, it is the hands behind it.

On the other hand, yes, some people do hit horses with the whip and these are the people we should be worried about.

I would also like to say that these things shouldn’t be our priorities anyways. We need to be working to stop the roundups of wild horses, whose existences are dwindling, and we need to be stopping the slaughter of horses.

Anyways, like I said, horses are no more prone to pain than you are. The bits I am against, since they can be potentially dangerous and are often misused, not to mention that the horse just plain doesn’t like it no matter how it is used. However I am not focusing on eliminating bits, I am focusing on first stopping horses from getting KILLED.

Lets keep in mind that it is better for people to be keeping horses and showing them, breeding them etc. than sending them to slaughter because they can no longer use them for what they want. BUT THE WHIP IS NOT CRUEL UNLESS YOU HIT A HORSE WITH IT.

I’m sure we can all say the same about you like talking to a brick wall. Anyway doesn’t matter how many video’s you show you are being defensive and just want your point proven right I get that & I also don’t really care. I just decided to intervene on this subject think what you may.

@NicoleLynne

We are not getting defensive we are getting impatient. Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall. Your saying that we do something that we have never done and never will.

Here’s a video that gives an example of how we use whips to train horses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFyVvCIMh1I

As you can tell, all the trainer is doing is tapping the whip on the horses leg. It tickles so the horse lifts is up. This is how we use the whip…

A whip is not used to ‘abuse’ horses or hit them. If you know anything about horses you’d know that they respond to slight touches. This is why Dressage is so marvelous. A rider can communicate with her horse by touching the horse very lightly with her feet. To the naked eye the rider didn’t ‘touch’ the horse at all, because it was THAT light….

Yeah, whatever usually when someone gets so defensive about a subject especially trying to say a whip tickles a horse usually means they do use the whip… but it doesn’t matter you are arguing over nothing PETA & most of the people on here will say that whips are a form of abuse so if your trying to persuade otherwise your not going too.

@Nicole

You are assuming that you use the equipment to hit the horse, which we don’t. We literally barely touch the horse, so it is impossible for that to hurt them. I know it wouldn’t hurt me.

@fit4life is the one saying when she uses the equipment it tickles the horse which I serious doubt that sounds like just an excuse to make it sound like it doesn’t hurt.

I admit I haven’t read all of the conversation, and maybe you don’t hit horses, but others do. I have a friend that rides horses for sport and although she claims to love her horses, she will hit them if they do something “wrong”. It’s a terrible practice and horses shouldn’t be forced into anything like this.

Once again, I have not read all three pages of this debate, but that’s just my opinion. I personally have not decided whether riding horses is wrong, but I know that doing it for sport certainly is wrong.

@Nicole

Yes, hitting a horse is wrong. I think we can all agree on that. Our point is not that hitting them tickles them, it is that we do NOT hit them in the first place with this equipment. I think we have hit a misunderstanding. We are not saying the horse does not feel pain if we hit them, but that they don’t feel pain BECAUSE we DON’T hit them.