Sunaura Equine Therapies

18/02/2025

The Silent Suffering – How Big Is Horse Abuse Globally?

Horse abuse is bigger than most realise. It’s not just a few bad people—it’s embedded in sports, culture, and everyday life. And the worst part? Horses suffer in silence. They can’t speak.

Here’s the reality:

SPORTS:
• Racing – Drugs to mask injuries, breakdowns, disposed of if too slow.
• Dressage -spurs, harsh bits, double bridles, forced into unnatural gaits.
• Show Jumping – horses pushed to jump higher, faster—often beyond their limits. Short-term strain leads to long-term damage: tendons, joints, backs ruined, many finished before their prime.
• Barrel Racing / Reining – Hard stops, sharp turns, —all at speed. Repeated strain wrecks joints, hocks, stifles, and backs. Spurs, heavy hands, and exhaustion are common.
• Broncos (Rodeos) – Fear-based training, mental trauma, physical damage from rough handling. Forced to buck to entertain, often left with lasting psychological and physical scars.
• The Big Lick (Tennessee Walking Horses) – Horses forced to wear heavy, stacked shoes, subjected to cruel practices like soring (chemical burns to the legs) to make them “perform” a high-stepping gait. The pain is masked for show, but the suffering is real.

CULTURE & TRADITION:
• Rodeos – Flank straps, electric shocks, calves slammed to the ground.
• Wagon Racing – High-speed crashes, injuries, deaths often ignored.
• Dancing Horses (Mexico, India) – Whipped, chained, forced into painful steps, often leading to severe joint and muscle damage.
• Egypt Tourist Horses – Starving, collapsing, forced to pull carriages for hours in extreme heat, many left to die on the streets.
• Work Horses (Cart Pullers) – Donkeys, mules, and horses overloaded with carts, pushed beyond their limits in extreme heat, with little to no care for their well-being. Constantly abused, they work long hours in harsh conditions, with no rest, food, or water. Many suffer from malnutrition and injuries, discarded when they can no longer perform.

EVERYDAY ABUSE:
• Backyard Training – Beatings, fear, and tools of pain, from ignorance or cruelty.
• Work Horses (Poor Regions) – Overloaded, underfed, broken, viewed as tools, not living beings.
• Kill Pens – Horses rounded up, crammed into pens before being transported for slaughter, often neglected and beaten.
• Slaughter Pipeline – Auction yards, cramped trucks, poor conditions, many end up in botched killings.
• Abusive Individuals – People who are hell-bent on causing torment, using horses as a means of control and power. Their actions are driven by cruelty, seeking to break the spirit and body of horses for their own sadistic pleasure.
• Police Horses – Sent into crowd control in dangerous situations, often subjected to stress, noise, and physical danger.
• Military Horses – Used in parades and ceremonial events, often expected to maintain composure in stressful, large crowds, facing long hours standing in parades.

WHO’S TO BLAME?
• Blind Public – Watches the show, but ignores the suffering behind it.
• Tradition – “It’s always been done this way” is no excuse for cruelty.
• Governments:
• Weak laws – Fines, warnings, rarely enforced.
• Loopholes – Built into laws to protect industries.
• Persuaded by Big Industry – Racing boards, rodeos, wealthy organisations, and political connections stall change, putting profits before welfare.

This is global. Find me a continent or a country that does not have horse abuse at different levels.
This is the life for horses TODAY in the MODERN WORLD, not the 1800’s.

Every one above have one thing in common,
NONE HAD A CHOICE

Horses stay silent.
We can’t, please share.

10/11/2024

HOW HORSES PERCEIVE THE WORLD

There’s the old saying, ‘You don’t really know someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes’. I was sitting in the paddock with the horses the other day trying to imagine what the world is like from their perspective. As all horse people will testify, horses regularly perceive something in the environment and try as hard as we can, we can’t see, hear, smell or feel it, but the horses do. By trying to understand how horses perceive their surroundings we can deepen our understanding and enhance our interactions with them.

One of the most striking aspects of how horses perceive the world is their vision. Horses have large lateral eyes on the sides of the head, that provide them with a wide field of view, approximately 350 degrees. This allows them to detect predators and other threats from nearly all directions. They have 2 types of vision, binocular to the front and monocular to the sides, with blind spots immediately in front and behind. These blind spots are why horses sometimes startle if something suddenly appears in one of these areas. 80% is monocular vision, where a horse views both sides separately with either eye. This allows horses to keep an eye on approaching threats. The remaining 20% is binocular vision, which provides a rather narrow zone, roughly 65 degrees, of the view directly ahead of them while using both eyes. Binocular vision enables horses to accurately judge distance and aids with depth perception. Horses can switch between monocular vision and binocular vision, depending on the situation in which they find themselves. This ability is one of the many things that make equine eyesight so unique.
Horses eyes are more sensitive to movement than detail, making them adept at spotting potential dangers but not as skilled at focusing on finer details. Their eyes are dichromatic, meaning they see two primary colours, blue and yellow. They are less sensitive to red, which makes their world appear somewhat different from ours. For instance, a vibrant red shirt might not stand out as much to a horse as it would to a human. All of these components together shape how horses view the environment.

Horses have an acute sense of hearing, with ears that can rotate independently to pinpoint sounds from various directions. This ability allows them to detect even the slightest noises, making them alert to potential dangers. The conical shape of the outer ear, like an old-fashioned gramophone speaker, captures even the softest sounds. This shape shields the sound the horse is trying to focus on, fading out other noises around them. There are 10 muscles in a horse’s ear, compared to three in a human’s, which control movement. Horses’ ears can move 180 degrees. Their hearing range extends to frequencies outside what humans can perceive, enabling them to hear sounds that might go unnoticed by us. People can hear sounds from 20 hertz up to 20 kilohertz. A horse’s range is far wider, from 14 hertz up to 35 kilohertz, another two-thirds of an octave. With all this ability, horses can detect sounds up to 4km away!

Horses only breathe through their noses; they can’t breathe through their mouths and are called obligate nose breathers. They have an exceptional sense of smell, which plays a crucial role in their ability to navigate their environment and for survival. Smell helps them locate food, water, other horses, detect predators, and sense subtle environmental cues that humans cannot detect. Horses can differentiate between members of the herd by scent alone. They also navigate based on scent, picking up on subtle environmental cues that we can’t detect. Horses’ olfactory abilities are so great that they can detect certain smells from up to 16 km away! When a horse curls back the upper lip and exposes the teeth (The Flehmen Response), they can better analyse a scent, particularly those related to pheromones. This is due to a vomeronasal organ (VNO) positioned at the base of the nasal cavity, within the roof of the mouth, that detects scent. Genetically speaking, humans have 350 olfactory receptor genes, while horses have 1,066! Their large, flexible nostrils flare to pull in as much air as possible when faced with a potentially significant scent.

Horses are highly social animals, and their perception of the world is heavily influenced by their interactions with other horses. They are prey animals, which means they are naturally attuned to the movements and behaviours of their herd members. Horses communicate primarily through body language, using their posture, ear position, and facial expressions to convey emotions and intentions. Horses can read each other’s body language and respond appropriately, whether it’s in the context of play, grooming, establishing dominance or alering to danger. This keen perception extends to their relationships with humans as well, where horses pick up on subtle cues in our body language and emotional states.

Understanding how horses perceive the world provides invaluable insights into their behaviour and needs. Their unique visual, auditory, and olfactory capabilities, combined with their social structures, shape their interactions with both the environment, each other and with us. By recognizing these aspects of equine perception, we can deepen our understanding of them, fostering better relationships with our horses, and enhancing our shared experiences.

Suzy Maloney B.Eq.Sc.Dip.Couns.
Happy Horses Bitless
Considerate Horsemanship
Email: suzy@happyhorsesbitless.com
Web: www.happyhorsesbitless.com
FB: Happy Horses Bitless Bridles
Lismore, NSW, Australia
Ph: 0401 249 263

07/11/2024

22/10/2024

21/10/2024

🫶🏽🐴

This might sound harsh to some but, If you wouldn’t have a horse in your life simply for the love of keeping a horse, you don’t deserve to have one.

Being a horse's guardian is a sacred privilege, but somewhere along the way, we lost sight of that.

We started valuing horses only for what they could do for us—riding, sport, competition—using them as tools for our ambitions.

We stopped seeing them as the deeply feeling, wise beings they are.

Sharing your life with a horse should be an honor and a commitment that goes beyond what they can do for you.

It’s a promise to love and care for them, no matter what.

When horses were no longer building our cities or carrying us, they became status symbols—something to ride, display, or win prizes with.

We turned them into trophies, proof of wealth and success, and in that shift, we lost the chance to see them for who they truly are: powerful, ancient companions with their own spirit and purpose.

We overlooked the magic of simply being with them.

I’ll be honest, I fell into this mindset myself.

I used to think that because horses are expensive, I couldn’t justify having one if I wasn’t riding.

But then Phantom came into my life and shattered every belief I had.

I realized how wrong—how selfish—I had been.

Being with him is everything.

Just standing beside him, I feel a peace and connection I can’t put into words.

He owes me nothing.

We may never ride, and that’s perfectly fine.

His place is still with me because I chose to be his guardian, and that means honoring him for who he is, not for what he can provide.

I owe him that—and so much more.

For those who say they can’t justify keeping a horse if they aren’t ridden—consider this: horses owe us nothing.

They are not here to serve us, and their worth isn’t tied to their usefulness under saddle.

If we choose to have horses in our lives, it should be because we value them for who they are, not what they can do for us.

They deserve to live peacefully, respected, and cherished simply for being themselves.

Let’s honor them as the sentient, wise beings they are, not as tools for our ambitions.

True guardianship is about choosing love over expectation, offering safety, care, and devotion purely for the horse’s sake.

It’s about respecting their boundaries and letting them be who they are without demand or pressure.

It’s knowing they are sentient beings deserving of reverence, not tools for riding.

If we approach horses this way, we step out of the ‘power-over’ mentality that has dominated horsemanship for too long.

We begin to honor them as the magical, wise souls they are, committing to building bonds rooted in love, respect, and reciprocity.

Let’s normalize having horses simply for the love of being with them—no riding required.

19/10/2024

The Shocking Truth About What Riding Does to Horses

A reader just came across a chapter in Stormy May's book, "A Better World for Horses and Humans," that completely changed the way they look at riding horses. It delves into the scientific research on what actually happens to a horse's body when humans sit on their backs. The findings are nothing short of disturbing.

It turns out that even with a perfectly fitted saddle and the lightest of riders, the pressure exerted on a horse's back exceeds the threshold that cuts off blood flow to the muscles. This leads to tissue damage, muscle atrophy, and chronic pain.

The chapter cites studies showing that sustained pressure of just 0.68 psi (pounds per square inch) for over 2 hours causes significant tissue destruction. Yet modern saddles often create pressures of 8-14 psi! Even the "best fitted" saddles still exceed the 0.75 psi threshold that blocks capillary blood flow.

The author argues this explains why horses often develop issues like kissing spine, spondylosis, and other back/joint problems - because we're essentially suffocating the muscles that evolved to carry their own body weight, not a rider.

But the most troubling part is that horses are incredibly stoic. Many will just silently endure the pain rather than show obvious signs of distress. Humans have selectively bred them to hide their discomfort so they can "get the job done" for us.

The reader feels sick realizing they've unknowingly contributed to this equine suffering in the name of their own riding enjoyment. This is a wake-up call that we have to radically rethink our relationship with horses. They deserve so much better.

The book encourages others who are ready to explore kinder, less invasive ways to interact with and appreciate these amazing creatures. It calls for a conversation about how to do right by our equine friends.

"A Better World for Horses and Humans" is available here: https://a.co/d/1UbT8LX

25/08/2024

It's very important for us to be always able to understand our horses' emotions and feelings, as it's fundamental to create a real relationship together being based on mutual understanding too. So a very useful European research illustrates a valide technique in order for people to easily understand if horses are in pain based on their facial expression, trying to evaluate it as much as possible as a whole.
1) Asymmetrical ears rotating backward.
2) Tightening of the eyes with the upper eyelid being partially closed: the muscles above the eye tighten, consequently giving the upper eyelid a V-shaped appearance and it's sometimes possible to also see the sclera being exposed, that is to say the white part of the eye.
3) Nostrils being dilated on the sides, often with some wrinkles on the muzzle too.
4) A general increased tension above the mouth, with prominent chewing muscles.
5) A strained mouth with the chin being visibly pronounced.

Picture and info source: Ascot Equine Vets

24/08/2024

This 🙏🏽🫶🏽👌🏽

That's exactly what us, as their caregivers, should make sure our horses to have: it's just our own responsibility since the very first moment when we decide to have them living with us🧡

Picture credit: Leslie's Force Free Horsemanship

16/05/2024

My path together with my stallion Mamba and a voice for all horses, promoting a different way to live them away from the human exploitation: valuing them just for the life companions they can become and not for what they can be used for ❣️