Moorcroft Putting Equine Welfare First
Mary has more than 40 years’ experience of working with horses and has vast knowledge across a variety of equine issues. Equine welfare remains high on the agenda in the equine industry and rightly so. Mary’s blogs below provide a platform to help educate and advise on many areas related to this important issue.
Riding Horses - Part 1
The true essence and ethics involved
A growing number of the public believe it is both cruel and wrong to ride horses. With 40 years of experience and enjoyment both riding and helping horses, Mary Frances, CEO of Moorcroft, shares her thoughts and beliefs on this topic:
Our experience is that horses love to be ridden and love good communication with human beings. Horses are exceptional athletes, and they have a level of intelligence and intuition that they are rarely given enough credit for. However, when things go wrong with ridden work and it looks ugly or controlling, or cruel to others, we must take responsibility. We must do a better job for the sake of the horse’s welfare and our beloved sport and love for it. Correct riding tuition is needed which incorporates an understanding of the whole horse, mentally and physically. Importantly, the only people who should strive to become riders are those who truly love and respect the horse.
We have always believed that if we decide to sit on a horse’s back in order to enjoy riding, training, jumping, hacking, or any other discipline with him or her, then we have also taken on the responsibility of making sure that we are well enough equipped with the skills to enhance and care for that horse. Never through our decision to ride should we injure, break down or cause any harm to that horse in any way.
Our ultimate goal for an equestrian is to be in tune with their horse so that both can move in harmony and enjoy the whole experience of whatever discipline they are both involved in. A knowledgeable, caring and empathic responsible rider with the right approach will never trouble, put out of balance, or break down a horse. He or she will enhance its natural movement and thereby develop its paces and its suppleness, its freedom to move under a rider. The horse will develop better muscles as a result so it can improve its strength. This will all undoubtedly help to bring out a better personality in the horse as he/she will be happier to work and be more confident.
All teaching should be positive, sympathetic and always progressive. It is a good guide to say to yourself ‘to take time’ but, ‘don’t waste time’. Your confidence and knowledge should be building all the time but not at the same rate - this can change a little from time to time. You should feel a better, more understanding rider this year than you did last year and you should understand your horse better.
Forced, restrictive, bullying methods can never work in any training system for either horse or rider.
The horse must be able to understand and respond willingly because he is physically able and mentally clear, and because he is sound enough to do the work being asked of him. Tying the horse’s head down, using restrictive tack or uncomfortable gadgets or systems is not valid training. If you love horses, you will find a trainer that will help you to develop your skills to be in tune with your beloved horse and to progress to make you both better in every way. It will be an amazing journey.
As we go through our riding lives, we should feel that every horse that we have had the privilege of getting to know and riding has taught us much that we will take forward with us and share with others.
There is one basic essential commitment for Riders and Trainers, and it has the love, respect and welfare of the horse at its heart:
To ‘rebalance’ the horse under the added weight of the rider and its equipment and to allow the horse to develop the strength it needs to carry the rider initially, which it was not born with. This is a never-ending commitment for any rider/trainer who wishes to succeed. An understanding of the anatomy and how it moves and works is essential and ongoing. The horse will develop and change, and we need to keep up with those changes.
Everything we do with our horses should be developmental and should enhance the horse, both physically and mentally. Human beings tamed the horse from the wild. Remember, hundreds of years ago, the equine was a wild animal living his or her life fending for itself over various terrain. The horse had also never carried a rider on its back. It is a privilege and a journey to develop the skill of riding and to achieve great success in it but, it involves a lifetime of learning. The truly great riders have never felt that they reached a certain age and knew it all – they all state that the learning goes on until the end and then there is still more to learn.
The experienced and sympathetic staff at Moorcroft are here to help with all aspects of welfare for both horse, rider and carer. We help horses every day to return to soundness and recognise that the owner, rider, carer must be involved too. If you are lost, feel your horse is not comfortable, or feel you need help with your skills as a rider please get in touch with us.
MLF and the Moorcroft Team - June 2025