I've learned so much about horses the past couple years. I've always loved them, always loved watching them and seeing them, but didn't understand a lot about them behaviorally and physically. There are things I recognize now as cruelty that didn't appear cruel before, and things that appeared cruel before that I now know aren't.

One thing I have learned is that usually the horses with a job to do are the least often the victims of abuse. Now days, a "job" is usually a sport or some type of competition or entertainment since we do not NEED horses as we did in the pre-motorized days. I've also learned that some horse sports/shows that appear harmless have some very ominous and hidden things going on behind them, the worst I have learned are what is done to gaited horses to make them have such weird and unnatural gaits in the ring, to carry their tails high, their heads back, and so on. I am so glad for thoroughbreds that they are not having painful things put in their rear ends to make them hold tails up, not having their feet weighted and chained and sored to make them walk a certain way, they do not have cruel bits that cut into their tongues to make them hold their heads back, and are not spurred viciously in the ribs to make them "dance." The most they have done is the use of the crop, of which their are rules how they can be used, and is more a signal to a horse the same as a leash correction to a dog is. If used correctly, it's more to make a popping sound than actually have painful contact.

I've also learned how fragile horses are. When a 1000+ horse stumbles it is usually catastrophic. Thus horses die romping in their paddocks sometimes, galloping in the field; lipizanners in training, hunters, jumpers, Olympic equestrian horses. All stumble sometimes, step badly, end up injured and sometimes fatally. The difference is most the time it is not witnessed by a large audience. Usually those events are mostly witnessed by horse people who understand and are familiar with the issue. Steeplechasing is the sport that seems to have the most brutal and catastrophic fatalities.

Are horses being bred more fragile? That could be an issue. But I believe so are many species bred for a specific purpose. Take bulldogs and pugs for example, bred and bred to strict AKC standards until many die of heart and breathing problems. It is similar to my mind as running horses having a greater propensity to break down because they are being bred for speed more than stamina and hardiness. A definite problem, but really not pertaining to this thread which is about abuse.

And I have learned it is the horses in people's barns and fields, the ones who are rarely seen or taken note of, the ones not used for any real purpose, that are the most often neglected and abused. Underfed horribly, vetting and foot care let go, worming let go, and other vital maintenance. It is easier to keep a dog or cat fed, it is expensive and takes a lot of money and effort to keep a horse properly fed. So many, many go without. Many are not trained well, and an untrained horse is a dangerous horse, a horse that can kill you. It is much harder to rehab and train a horse that has been let go than other pets. So a lot of them end up neglected, unwanted, costing too much, shuffled around until the inevitable happens, and it is usually a slow, painful, miserable and long process.

For a horse to have clean stall, well cared for feet, well groomed and bathed, plenty of exercise and training on a daily basis, that is something the majority of horses don't receive. Many know how highly active dogs need a job, and that if they have no purpose and no job and little attention, they turn to bad behaviors: destruction, aggression, fearfulness. We talk on here so often about fatal dog attacks and what causes dogs to become that way. That is the plight of horses, but much more so than dogs. Much, much more often. It is something I never realized, did not know about, until I started truly talking to horse people, reading horse boards, reading articles. It is not something you'll find in the newspaper, just like you won't find that stuff about what makes pitbulls attack, why they are abused and what that abuse causes. So we spend so much time fighting and struggling to educate, to show people.

It is so much harder in the horse world though, because not near as many people own and are around horses and know horses other than what they see on television and in movies. And none of that shows an accurate picture about the real issues going on with horses, where the good is, and where the bad is.

ETA: I did not know about soring before until fairly recently. Thought I would add a link about it that tells more about it: http://www.thegaitedhorse.com/morethansore2.htm