03/12/2025
A body spent is balanced against a life well lived.
None of us will arrive at the grave in pristine condition, cell death and the aging process mean that deterioration is inevitable. This week two Olympic level equine athletes aged 23-24 who were companions were laid to rest together, my first feeling was compassion for their humans. The internet lit up with comments of shock “that’s so young” but I’m always shocked at the lack of understanding people have. Comparing the human life span to the horses makes those two horses around 70 years old. The average planet wide life span for a human is 72. Humans have a fear of death because we are conscious of our own mortality, because we have been conditioned to fear death. It’s a taboo subject and not to long ago I would have fitted into that category of being afraid of dying. Like all of our human emotions we project these onto our horses.
It’s time to stop pretending competition life and athletic performance don’t come at a cost for the horses. Ask any human who has strived for more performance from their body and they will tell you it has a cost later on. A heart is only good for so many beats, a joint is only good for so many rotations. Movement is life but too much of anything can have consequences. I get to see tissue both at birth and old age, both are weak. The competitive dressage posture has a consequence for the equine neck, particularly the Articulating Process joints(APJ). Arthritis of the cervical spine(neck) happens, that is often the price for the sport. 23-24 is old for an ex high level competition horse. You can often spot the broken neck line and lack of lateral flexion in the older dressage horses. I am not really a competitive person but I don’t begrudge people who are and wish to compete on their horses. I can appreciate the sacrifices made and the commitment to be competitive.
“Horses don’t choose to have their body spent up” that’s true, humans make many decisions for horses but let’s compare wild/feral horses. The average lifespan for their feral counterparts is 15 years old. The lower average is due to harsh conditions, food scarcity, lack of vet care, and parasites that domestic horses are protected from. Yes they lived life on their own terms but if it’s the span of the life people are shocked by then domestic horses have a lengthened life.
I often get to see ex race horses whose lives are definitely cut short by the excessive use of their bodies. I regularly see 4 year olds with joints that look like horses in their late 20s. This is what I would say is exploitation of the horses body. That is not a balance of a life well lived against a body well spent. Immaturity of the horses body is weakness, Wolffs law has been used to justify this with skewed data from the race industry but hueter volkmann law is the better fit.
At the end of the day horses were not put on the planet to be ridden by humans. This is a privileged position to be in, it is a stewardship humans need to take seriously with integrity and honesty. All conversations must be balanced because there is a yin and yang to everything in life. Equestrianism is a minority group and we must take these conversations seriously because one day we might be legislated out. So in closing, I’m not shocked by two veterans of competitive life being humanly euthanised in their twenties, this is good innings. It is still sad and being in the public spot light means everyone feels entitled to an opinion. My sympathies go out to their owners who will be grieving the loss of their dance partners and friends. They have earned a spot in history.
In a world where we are being polarised by emotions I hope we can have a balanced conversation.
