Hot take: I felt guilty trimming a healthy hoof just for a show ring

The owner insisted on a certain look, but it served no real purpose for the horse. Made me think hard about where our job stops and vanity starts, lol.

3 comments

3 Comments

robin8361mo ago

Totally get where you're coming from. Like @john697 said about the saddle pads, I saw something similar with tail setting. This trainer had a horse's tail wrapped up for hours before a class to make it hang a certain way, and the horse was stamping and switching its tail the whole time, clearly annoyed. After the class, they took the wrap off and the tail went back to normal in minutes. All that stress for a look that only lasted a few minutes and didn't matter once the horse moved. It really shows how much show stuff is for us, not them.

richards311mo ago

That story about the tail wrap hitting too close to home. I once spent two hours on perfect braids for a local show, and my horse rubbed them out on the trailer door before we even unloaded. So much for my masterpiece, and the horse couldn't have cared less. Makes you wonder who we're really doing all this for, right?

john6971mo ago

Ngl, saw something similar with saddle pads last season. This trainer had us stack three perfect matching pads just for a halter class photo, then they all went right back in the tack trunk. Felt pretty pointless since the horse never even wore them for real work.