I haven’t had time to read all the posts so this might
have already been mentioned, but spurring and using a crop or over/under whip IS
acceptable behavior in many equine speed sports. So is using drugs to help the
horses run even though they have an injury or maybe some arthritis. We may not
agree with these activities and it is against the AERC rules,
but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is considered abuse by all equine
owners and likely not a punishable action under state laws. Not all equine
owners consider their horses to be their friends either (even though I do). And I also admit that I will use my rope
end to repeatedly slap my horse’s behind (especially my 6 yr old) when
she has gone by an object 20 times without ever having an issue and now this
time she doesn’t want to do it. Yes, I know that this was not the
situation at Mariposa, all I’m saying is that spurring and using a crop
or whip is considered by many to be acceptable in many situations, although
hopefully not on an exhausted horse.
