Facebook ist ein Zeitverlöscher
I made a post on a bitless and bridleless community on Facebook.
I had hopped on Kitt during a lesson and used the War Bonnet because Kitt is super trained and riding her in her normal bridle would be boring, right?
So I took two pictures and posted:
"Played with a War Bonnet today on our Fjord Kitt. I haven't played with this one in a while and it was fun seeing how she responded, which was remarkably well! We even trotted some poles and figures."
There were several people who were curious, some thought it was cool, and a few thought it was a torture device because it was obviously going to exert nothing but poll pressure.
Two proclaimed that it wasn't actually a bridle. Well, yeah, the thing I bought was advertised as a type of tie-down. I countered that the Sami and other reindeer cultures had used something similar for centuries. Yes, I know reindeer aren't horses, but they are still an ugulates and have somewhat similar anatomy. Also, how can you say it isn't a bridle because there are cultures that have been using something like it for centuries? If I were that type of person I might have suggested they were racist and colonial-minded for dismissing non-"Western" cultures.
One expressed some form of disappointment that I would use such a thing because they generally agreed with me otherwise.
My brain got thinking and I'm working out the function in my brain and I'm like "nope, they're wrong!" They aren't even seeing how the bridle functions and are making assumptions built on their predetermined prejudices.
So I had to go out and get my planner and earbud case anyway plus put on Kitt's fly mask so I took my phone with me and snatched the bridle off the hook and threw it back on Kitt.
I posted the video.
One of the loudest protestors was tagged and commented "I honestly just think it's really silly. Each to their own."
I responded "well that designation is an improvement from damaging."
I just find the dismissiveness infuriating. They're miffed I called them on their crap I'm sure. They made assumptions about function and jumped to conclusions about what I was doing with it. These are the type of people who say "the horse looks uncomfortable, I'm sure it hates the bridle."
Yeah, a picture can be worth a thousand words, but it is also just a moment of time and lacks context.
And as I was typing they responded:
"No need to be snarky. I'd rather assume it's painful and happily be proven wrong than go along thinking life is fairies and princess parties."
Sir, you have no idea the level of snark I could stoop to.
My response:
"It turns people off of this group when people immediately comment with the *assumption* that the bridle is damaging when that person does not understand how the bridle actually works. It does damage to people's perception of the bitless and bridleless community when the loudest response is one condemning someone who is sharing something that shows NO sign of the horse being in distress.
"You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but be mindful of how someone fresh to bitless riding and is trying to do right by their horse might interpret it. "I'm worried it might cause poll pressure" is different from "that is going to damage sensitive tissues over your horse's poll."
"I can take it, been working with horses over half my life and have been bitless for well over a decade, but others are more sensitive.
:You can read it as snark, but it is true, "silly" is an upgrade from "damaging.""
I won't be on Facebook tomorrow because I've been taking Sundays off from it, but my gosh, people!
I should know better, but it was a bit of a crusade against the insufferable "know it alls" that comment on people's posts with things like "You're too big for your pony" and "you shouldn't even think of sitting on anything under seven years old because you'll damage your horse's back" and "that bridle looks uncomfortable/damaging/you may as well be riding with barbed wire."
I had hopped on Kitt during a lesson and used the War Bonnet because Kitt is super trained and riding her in her normal bridle would be boring, right?
So I took two pictures and posted:
"Played with a War Bonnet today on our Fjord Kitt. I haven't played with this one in a while and it was fun seeing how she responded, which was remarkably well! We even trotted some poles and figures."
There were several people who were curious, some thought it was cool, and a few thought it was a torture device because it was obviously going to exert nothing but poll pressure.
Two proclaimed that it wasn't actually a bridle. Well, yeah, the thing I bought was advertised as a type of tie-down. I countered that the Sami and other reindeer cultures had used something similar for centuries. Yes, I know reindeer aren't horses, but they are still an ugulates and have somewhat similar anatomy. Also, how can you say it isn't a bridle because there are cultures that have been using something like it for centuries? If I were that type of person I might have suggested they were racist and colonial-minded for dismissing non-"Western" cultures.
One expressed some form of disappointment that I would use such a thing because they generally agreed with me otherwise.
My brain got thinking and I'm working out the function in my brain and I'm like "nope, they're wrong!" They aren't even seeing how the bridle functions and are making assumptions built on their predetermined prejudices.
So I had to go out and get my planner and earbud case anyway plus put on Kitt's fly mask so I took my phone with me and snatched the bridle off the hook and threw it back on Kitt.
Click to viewI posted the video.
One of the loudest protestors was tagged and commented "I honestly just think it's really silly. Each to their own."
I responded "well that designation is an improvement from damaging."
I just find the dismissiveness infuriating. They're miffed I called them on their crap I'm sure. They made assumptions about function and jumped to conclusions about what I was doing with it. These are the type of people who say "the horse looks uncomfortable, I'm sure it hates the bridle."
Yeah, a picture can be worth a thousand words, but it is also just a moment of time and lacks context.
And as I was typing they responded:
"No need to be snarky. I'd rather assume it's painful and happily be proven wrong than go along thinking life is fairies and princess parties."
Sir, you have no idea the level of snark I could stoop to.
My response:
"It turns people off of this group when people immediately comment with the *assumption* that the bridle is damaging when that person does not understand how the bridle actually works. It does damage to people's perception of the bitless and bridleless community when the loudest response is one condemning someone who is sharing something that shows NO sign of the horse being in distress.
"You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but be mindful of how someone fresh to bitless riding and is trying to do right by their horse might interpret it. "I'm worried it might cause poll pressure" is different from "that is going to damage sensitive tissues over your horse's poll."
"I can take it, been working with horses over half my life and have been bitless for well over a decade, but others are more sensitive.
:You can read it as snark, but it is true, "silly" is an upgrade from "damaging.""
I won't be on Facebook tomorrow because I've been taking Sundays off from it, but my gosh, people!
I should know better, but it was a bit of a crusade against the insufferable "know it alls" that comment on people's posts with things like "You're too big for your pony" and "you shouldn't even think of sitting on anything under seven years old because you'll damage your horse's back" and "that bridle looks uncomfortable/damaging/you may as well be riding with barbed wire."