I would have armed myself with whatever was handy ie a rake, pitchfork etc and my man voice and put an immediate end to it. Then call the cops if necessary.
I would have taken what ever precautions I could and stopped the abuse how ever I needed to. I can’t believe people stood around for 30 minutes and didn’t try to stop the girl in the example.
If she was so crazed with anger that she tried to hit me with the whip, fine, she could try, I’m a big, strong girl and I’d gladly take a few hits while I disarmed her if it protected the mare from further abuse. I’d also be hollering for people to be recording all of it on their phones so there would be a record of what happened.
This is why everyone should take at least a basic self-defense course.
Safety in numbers. Shout for a friend or other bystander and loudly voice that the abuser needs to STOP NOW. The fact that you have a body next to you and they don’t usually helps. They can’t just punch you out.
The fact that you have a body on your side and they don’t will hopefully reduce any later retaliation, as well, because there’s a witness to their abuse, so the suspicion would immediately point in their direction.
Get the whole barn watching if you can. Nothing better than public shame.
I understand that this is hard to do if you are confrontation averse.
I think it’s noble to interfere, but keep the circumstance in mind, don’t put yourself in danger.
There is also the matter of why the abuse happened.
Is the abuser just popping a fuse or is it more organized?
I once new about a guy who’s reputation was truly horrific. I mean really bad.
At one show he took his horse into the nearby woods to beat the snot out of the horse. A bystander followed, but was warned off by the wife. It wasn’t a matter of rage I suppose, but much more systemic. Not to mention a somewhat shady background.
looking back, with some 30 years more life experience, I wonder if his wife was not also object of his violence.
My sister cut ties with a girl that went to ride for that guy, after having been told about the ‘rumors’ that surrounded him in terms of abuse.
(he was on the rather short list of ‘don’t sell to’ of my dad and uncle)
I just read this post and it made me upset. Put aside your own fears and call animal control, , or give a warning to barn owner and trainer that if behavior does not stop immediately, you will call animal control. Cowardice allows abuse to flourish and btw I personally stood up for an abused ( more like neglected ) horse at a prior barn at the risk of being asked to leave since it belonged to a BNT.
Prior to that I had kept quiet a few times and swore I would never be quiet again and it did have positive results when I told the BO I would call AC if the situation did not change immediately.
[QUOTE=SoMuchToLearn;8196688]
I’m referring to this thread in the Off Topic forum: http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?469505-Has-anyone-in-upstate-NY-heard-of-this
There was a recent case of rather severe treatment of a horse where I board and I saw pictures of the aftermath, but nobody felt they had the authority to stop it while it was in progress. The “trainer” had brought a lot of business to the barn and long-time boarders have been feeling like their opinions don’t mean diddly and didn’t dare intervene, they wouldn’t have been backed up.
I honestly don’t know what I would have done had I been there. I avoid conflict and confrontation at all cost. I guess may have cowardly resorted to video and pictures to out them online later. For sure, that doesn’t help the horse while he’s being attacked, but it could hopefully have an effect on the abuser’s livelihood. The particular trainer at my barn would have, I’m sure, threatened a lawsuit and I don’t know what the laws are, but jeeze… video of the woman being outed on FB surely couldn’t be construed as being taken out of context, right??
What would you do? I mean seriously think about this, don’t spout off about how fearless YOU would have been standing up to her… what would you do if you heard this commotion going on and you went and looked and saw Hayley Sauberan beating this horse??[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t worry about being “backed up”. If I see abuse, and I have, I first call out loud to the abuser to knock it off, or I am calling the police. I get loud, and I make sure other people in the area hear what I am saying. I call other people to witness it, but without waiting to see if other people agree with me, based on MY estimation of the situation, I call 911 and report them because I will not tolerate it, not because the place I am in will or won’t agree with me. I have reported abuse at a barn, at a horse show, and abuse to children several times. When I call the police, I describe the abuse, make sure the abuser knows I am calling, and stand with the abuser waiting for the police to arrive. If I feel threatened, I walk to the front of the property and wait for the police to arrive there.
I don’t need others agreeing with me to decide to call out abuse. Either I am capable of calling 911 or I am not.
A girl at my barn was abusing her tolerant old horse and I yelled so loud I startled myself. NO WAY was this kid going to be allowed to continue kicking the mare into the barn wall and yanking her around.
For me it was almost instinct to stop her. I saw the behavior and the bellow just came out of my mouth before I even thought too far. I scared the bejesus out of that girl and her mother, who was standing watching her.
[QUOTE=Appsolute;8197319]
Just adding to this - again, go ahead and call the authorities - but really, don’t expect them to do much. Unfortunately stopping abusers is VERY difficult. Sure you can stop them mid act - but it doesn’t mean that they won’t do it again.
Look at the “Jeromy Mixon & Brad Stewart in Millerton” situation. These men hog tied a horse, stood on it, and whipped it! And then posted pictures of the abuse on facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/Horseharslytrained?fref=nf
DOES THIS LOOK LIKE ACCEPTABLE HORSE TRAINING? (yes, those are big spurs aimed at the horse’s neck)
HOW ABOUT THIS? (“trainer” notes that the horse is “learning manners”)
Maybe these guys could pick on someone their own size…
Wanna guess what the “authorities” did to protect these animals after MUCH pressure from the public?
The DA declined to press any charges… Apparently this type of “training” is acceptable in Oklahoma.[/QUOTE]
This is a great way to make emipou puke at work.
A couple years back, I somehow accidentally wandered upon a video on youtube with a girl from Russia or eastern Europe on this horse. She was wearing stiletto boots, enormous pointy spurs and riding this poor horse into the ground. The horse was foaming all over and so scared and she just kept spurring it left and right. Run, run, spur turn. Run, run, spur, turn. Sideways, spur, turn. sideways, spur, turn. It was absolutely horrible.
I wrote a comment about how horrible this video was. You know what her response was? Something along the lines of, 'horses are animals to dominate. you must dominate these animals." It was so disgusting. I had to delete the entire thing from my history and block her. It broke my heart to see that poor horse so scared.
Okay, so how about this… There is this horrible b!tch of a trainer at our facility. She moved in shortly after us and trains western and western dressage. She is such a horrible lady. Local show circuits have had to make entire rule changes to prevent her from snagging ribbons from kids because she goes and underclasses herself at all the local shows. She makes grown women cry just staring at them (I’m actually not kidding here).
She has this pony. This little tiny pony that she, in her larger size hops on and runs around in a round pen. She’s training it I guess for her young students. Is that right? My trainer thinks it’s horrible. I think it’s horrible… There is already so much friction between my trainer and this lady that there is no way she can confront her about it without it turning into a huge mess. Is that abuse?
Of course it depends…exactly what is going on, are others around, what resources are available, what is my “position” ie boarder, owner, visiting spectator; but I would react no matter what my “position”. As for approaching a maniac with a whip, bring it on…seems justice would be swifter if a human with welt marks reports an assault n battery and maybe a human being attacked would prompt a bystander who had been wondering “who can I call to help this poor horse?” to say “ahh now I can definitely call 911”. A couple of things made me go hmmmmm when I read the posting: 1 It says that others were mounted…can’t imagine how none of the other horses reacted to the sound, the sight and what must have been distress/panic of the mare to such an extent the riders had to dismount and leave or get thrown. 2 It says this went on for a half an hour…I guess some people may have that much energy and time on their hands. 3 No where does it mention that this incident was reported to the proper authorities, if the young lady did report it Kudos to her.
I would have ZERO qualms about walking up to someone, man or woman, beating a horse. Let’s be real – that person is not going to turn on a human and start whipping them. They’re just not.
[QUOTE=HungarianHippo;8198403]
I would have ZERO qualms about walking up to someone, man or woman, beating a horse. Let’s be real – that person is not going to turn on a human and start whipping them. They’re just not.[/QUOTE]
Maybe.
[QUOTE=HungarianHippo;8198403]
I would have ZERO qualms about walking up to someone, man or woman, beating a horse. Let’s be real – that person is not going to turn on a human and start whipping them. They’re just not.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t be so sure. If someone has problem controlling their anger they may have gotten to the point to seeing red and make no mistake they will turn on you.
Obviously that won’t always be the case but it can happen.
Just have to use your best judgement in terms of whether of not you can handle that person in a confrontation.
And believe me, I’m neither shy nor intimidated by confrontation but there are situations where putting yourself at risk won’t help the animal and could even escalate the problem.
Again, those a likely the minority of cases but it can happen.
I once worked for a man that 1) put his hand through a window in anger and 2) ripped the rear-view mirror of his vehicle in anger.
I would have definitely hesitated to approach this man when he was in one of his temper tantrums.
I think it’s important when faced with a situation where we would like to intervene, that we consider some people are definitely violent and they might injure or kill you if you attempt to stop them from what they are intent on doing.
Because most of us don’t think in such violent terms we hope that no one else will turn around and chop us down in anger. But those people do exist and in general they don’t like being told what to do.
Basically what 4TheHorses was saying…
[QUOTE=4THEHORSES;8198696]
I wouldn’t be so sure. If someone has problem controlling their anger they may have gotten to the point to seeing red and make no mistake they will turn on you.
Obviously that won’t always be the case but it can happen.
Just have to use your best judgement in terms of whether of not you can handle that person in a confrontation.
And believe me, I’m neither shy nor intimidated by confrontation but there are situations where putting yourself at risk won’t help the animal and could even escalate the problem.
Again, those a likely the minority of cases but it can happen.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=maunder;8198724]I once worked for a man that 1) put his hand through a window in anger and 2) ripped the rear-view mirror of his vehicle in anger.
I would have definitely hesitated to approach this man when he was in one of his temper tantrums.
I think it’s important when faced with a situation where we would like to intervene, that we consider some people are definitely violent and they might injure or kill you if you attempt to stop them from what they are intent on doing.
Because most of us don’t think in such violent terms we hope that no one else will turn around and chop us down in anger. But those people do exist and in general they don’t like being told what to do.
Basically what 4TheHorses was saying…[/QUOTE]
Exactly that.
Boldly go where angels dare not tread…
I once saw a man beat the crap out of his horse for no reason at all at the stable I was working at for the summer. I yelled at him to knock the crap off, but he didn’t. So I went up to him and punched him in the face and told him if I ever see him doing that again he’d get it worse. I then took his horse and put her in her stall, and tried to calm her down. I then proceeded to call the barn owner.
I told the barn owner what he did. She said she would handle it. Half an hour later the cops showed up and arrested him. This isn’t the first time he did this to a horse. Apparently he was banned from the barn he was at before this one for beating another boarders horse so bad that he had to be put down. 
The mare is now living the rest of her life as a trail horse at a barn down the road.
I’d have no problem confronting an abuser but I also lived with a fair amount of violence in my younger days so someone wailing on a horse possibly turning on me may not give me as much pause as it would some others. I really think it boils down to how comfortable the witness is with handling the prospect of a confrontation and possible physical violence.
In this age of cellphones and cameras I would definitely record as much as possible and call barn management or police but I don’t think I would have it in me to allow the abuse to continue while waiting for someone of authority to arrive. If the abuser were to turn on me for speaking up, well, ‘they might get the dinner but I’ll make damn sure I get a bite of the sandwich going down’ as my dear old dad used to say.
Anything that will draw a crowd - so, noise of some kind. Public attention is what many abusers fear more than anything else. Including confrontation from someone else - some are primed to resist intervention from any individual, but not the stares of a group. (And someone a lot tougher and more confrontational may show up and intervene physically!)
Noise can be done from beyond the reach of the abuser. It doesn’t have to be noise relevant to the situation, just something that will bring people, perhaps a car horn that doesn’t stop.
Also, consider what the abusers motives seem to be - anger? or just ignorance?
This is a very good question and I’m sure many of us would like a good answer to have ready in case it is needed! And hopefully it won’t be.
As far as prevention of future episodes, spreading the word so that eventually it gets back to the abuser might go a long way. Most people do not want to be considered an abuser.
[QUOTE=HungarianHippo;8198403]
I would have ZERO qualms about walking up to someone, man or woman, beating a horse. Let’s be real – that person is not going to turn on a human and start whipping them. They’re just not.[/QUOTE]
No, they won’t. If you walked up behind them and when real close bellowed “STOP, just cut it the hell out, NOW” they would stop and turn around to you. At that point you can just grab the whip out of their hand. They are going to be surprised enough that you said anything. Then you could grab the horse and tell them to get the hell away, and step towards them with the whip. If they did anything except back away and leave, I would probably give them a good whip. I said LEAVE!! Your done!
Something like that.
