Why Do You Have Him If You Can’t Ride Him?

It’s amazing how many times horse people are asked some form of this question. “Why don’t you take him to shows?” “Why aren’t you working him?” “Why is he just standing around eating his head off?”

Horse people themselves are almost as prone to this as non-horsepeople. The presumption is that a horse is a riding animal, a using animal: transportation. A horse who doesn’t “earn his keep” is not worth keeping.

So why would anyone keep a horse she doesn’t ride?

To stay on the negative side of the l...