Equine Cyberspace – don’t trot in lightly!

For the uninitiated there should be a warning: Do not enter equine cyberspace lightly. You will encounter everything from love to hostility, good advice to dangerous advice and a whole giant dungheap of general misinformation – a lot of the time it is all on the same post!

Never has horse ownership been so confusing. If you delve into equestrian cyberspace, your head may soon be spining faster than Carrie’s in The Exorcist. Does your horse need to see a nutritionist or a chiropractor? Is he actually suffering from several terrible diseases at the same time which requires the help of A) – a Facebook expert or B) – A vet? Should you keep that horse that dumps you every day, because ‘horses are for life’ or should you sell it and get something more suitable? Even advice on the basic aids becomes a minefield because there are a million views on what exactly the basic aids are. Trust me, Shazza from Wakefield will be only too keen to offer excellent advice that is clearly more expert than the experts; because she read it on Facebook, so it must be true – right?

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Oh and get your virtual armour on it you join in the shod versus barefoot debate online. This is so polarising that several people have spontaneously combusted while defending their own views on this hot subject. (Ok I made that last bit up lol) but debates get so vitriolic that you feel people should go and lie down in dark rooms and have their foreheads gently sponged with cool water until they realise that, as in life, there is never going to be a case of one shoe fits all scenarios! Some horses need shoes and some don’t – and I suspect this will never change as long as we use them for riding or sport.

On one side some will swear blind a dealer has never sold them anything less than an Olympic showjumper. On the opposite side will be those who swear said dealer promised an Olympic showjumper only to find, after buying it sight unseen, that a three-legged donkey staggers off the ramp.

Another great debate (in head adopt Shakesperian tones) is, ‘to rug or not to rug’ – that is the question. Again people get really hot under the collar about but the debates that will really cook your brain are the ones about buying from various horse dealers. Reach for your virtual popcorn to browse through these. On one side some will swear blind a dealer has never sold them anything less than an Olympic showjumper. On the opposite side will be those who swear said dealer promised an Olympic showjumper only to find, after buying it sight unseen, that a three-legged donkey staggers off the ramp.

The problem with equine cyberspace is that there are literally so many views and differences of opinion that it becomes difficult to filter out the mounds of worthless information. Like Fake News this misinformation can be dangerous or even manipulative. Posters asking for advice on their horse’s health are a case in point. Such utter rubbish is often offered by well-meaning advisors that you seriously fear for a poor OP’s horse’s well being. Usually, sensible people step in and tell the OP to call a vet, but I wonder how many times this is ignored and somebody’s terrible advice is heeded. I can imagine that by the time the poor vet is eventually called they will have a more complex problem to deal with than if they had been called out straightaway.

Then there are the thousands of companies trying to sell you supplements that are at the very least a waste of your hard-earned cash and at worst actually harmful. Information is merrily bandied about that has absolutely no scientific proof to back it up. I do wonder how many millions of pounds are spent annually on utterly useless equestrian products?

So what can we do to combat this tide of nonsense? First foster a healthy skepticism for any advice, training tips or ‘miracle’ products that appear on your social media feed. Question the credentials and motives of the poster. Do they genuinely have any experience and does a product really do what it says it does? It is too easy now for anyone online to proclaim themselves an equine expert. Of course, the internet can be a massive source of good information, I use it all the time, but increasingly there is a need to be questioning and cynical about what you read. Check sources, if in doubt always ask your vet, and avoid getting sucked into online rants they will only make your blood boil as there will always be ten sides to every argument!

And, just when you feel like doing a Carrie, head out and ride your horse instead – you will feel so much better!