Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2006 11:08:30 GMT 1
I know this may not be my place to say, but I feel compelled to express my concern at some of the advice that has been given on this board recently. I'm not talking about differences in training methods that I may or may not agree with, I'm talking about advice that I consider to be just plain wrong. I apologise in advance if I give offense to anyone whose posts I use as examples but by giving real examples I can better illustrate what I mean.
To start off with, I think it is important that we remember that we more often than not don't know the person on the other end of the keyboard, don't know how experienced/confident/young/supported, etc. they are. We don't know if they are describing the problem accurately or if this is their perception of the problem but that the real issue lies elsewhere (which is often the case). In other words, when giving advice, I believe you have to work on the assumption that you may be talking to someone with less experience, on their own, with a bigger problem than maybe they realise. You may also be talking about a horse who doesn't just have one issue but a whole heap. In addition, someone else may pick up on your words and use them out of context. All of which makes giving advice on line difficult.
Against this background, I think we should assume that the person receiving the advice will act on it word for word. It is therefore up to us to be careful what we say and how we say it. Regardless of our beliefs in horse training, all advice should at a minimum be:
- safe for both horse and handler
- fair on the horse
- not counter productive
To illustrate, I'm going to refer to the thread on Horse Chat about catching the kicking foal. Amongst other advice given, the poster was advised to lassoo the colt from another horse, and to sedate it in order to get a headcollar on. I will confess this advice shocked me. The first is dangerous to all concerned, the second is just not fair on the horse and both would probably be counter productive. Neither would teach the colt that having a headcollar on is no big deal and that humans are ok really.
What worried me about these posts was that the advice could well have been acted on if the OP in question had been less experienced and more foolhardy than it sounds like she is. The result could have been a traumatised foal and/or an injured handler.
I'm not saying don't give advice, that after all is what people are asking for. What I am asking, though, is to think through what you are suggesting through the eyes of someone else. Before you hit "Post Message" just read through what you've written and try to visualise your advice being put into action and think through where it could go wrong. Check is it safe, is it fair, and is it not counter productive. And if you're not sure, err on the side of caution. I like to think I would rather say nothing than make a problem worse.
To start off with, I think it is important that we remember that we more often than not don't know the person on the other end of the keyboard, don't know how experienced/confident/young/supported, etc. they are. We don't know if they are describing the problem accurately or if this is their perception of the problem but that the real issue lies elsewhere (which is often the case). In other words, when giving advice, I believe you have to work on the assumption that you may be talking to someone with less experience, on their own, with a bigger problem than maybe they realise. You may also be talking about a horse who doesn't just have one issue but a whole heap. In addition, someone else may pick up on your words and use them out of context. All of which makes giving advice on line difficult.
Against this background, I think we should assume that the person receiving the advice will act on it word for word. It is therefore up to us to be careful what we say and how we say it. Regardless of our beliefs in horse training, all advice should at a minimum be:
- safe for both horse and handler
- fair on the horse
- not counter productive
To illustrate, I'm going to refer to the thread on Horse Chat about catching the kicking foal. Amongst other advice given, the poster was advised to lassoo the colt from another horse, and to sedate it in order to get a headcollar on. I will confess this advice shocked me. The first is dangerous to all concerned, the second is just not fair on the horse and both would probably be counter productive. Neither would teach the colt that having a headcollar on is no big deal and that humans are ok really.
What worried me about these posts was that the advice could well have been acted on if the OP in question had been less experienced and more foolhardy than it sounds like she is. The result could have been a traumatised foal and/or an injured handler.
I'm not saying don't give advice, that after all is what people are asking for. What I am asking, though, is to think through what you are suggesting through the eyes of someone else. Before you hit "Post Message" just read through what you've written and try to visualise your advice being put into action and think through where it could go wrong. Check is it safe, is it fair, and is it not counter productive. And if you're not sure, err on the side of caution. I like to think I would rather say nothing than make a problem worse.