in Público, August 2021

We have all witnessed the joy of a dog when we praise him for learning to sit, play dead or give a paw. Dogs appear to see humans as an opportunity to learn new things as if sniffing a productive exchange, which makes taming canids a relatively peaceful task. The same is not true of equines, which we first have to tame by force, with halters, spurs, and whips, and, a key piece of equipment, a bridle across the mouth, attached to the reins. With the variants of harness and bridle–breech, this metal equipment sits in an area of the horse's mouth cavity that induces sharp pain if the pull is strong or threatens pain if the reins are gently pulled. This alleged "art of gentleness" of the rider perpetuates the use of a device that, in very simple terms, hurts or threatens to hurt. What worries most in the Olympic dressage competitions is not the posture of the horse's head itself: it is the existence of a bridle that forces him to obey.

During the domestication process, due to its size and temperament, the horse was the animal that put up the most fights, but, after it was tamed, the one that has rendered us the most services: means of transportation and cargo, power partner in agriculture, industry, and war equipment of nations – always with the bridle in its teeth.

About six thousand years ago, had it not been for that ergonomic and inviting back curve, providing so many comforts, we would have left them alone. After all this time of relationship, those of us who live most closely with horses disclose that they are happy in dressage, sport, and training. Despite the pain we impose on them, one might say that there remains a satisfaction of a canine nature in the equine. Believing this, it is easy to deduce that the solution is not to free the horses from all training, service, performance and poetically return them to the prairie. This act, however well–intentioned, could be perceived by the horses as an unjust dismissal, in addition to an unforgivable lack of human love. Still, we will have to stop inflicting them pain, under penalty of non–compliance with Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights, paragraph (a): "No animal shall be exploited for the entertainment of man."

Training methods emerge in Europe, the United States, and Australia that dispense with embouchures or halters and saddles. These handlers seek to replace the duty of the horse's submission – a determining factor in the practice of dressage – with the pleasure of entering a game in which the degree of difficulty is based on mutual understanding. Who knows, these practices may result in an Olympic modality that evaluates how much horse and rider agree without restricting acts – which would be pretty spectacular.

In the near future, the use of bridles and saddles will be considered an archaism, an unfortunate cheat in the relationship with the animal. One could also take advantage of this much–needed updating of riding practices to lighten its military heritage: riders in competition would benefit from no longer dressing as if they belonged to the queen's guard. Precisely, we are talking about a process of demilitarization, as if horses were entitled to civilian life. In the slow barometer of animal sensibility, it is the horses' turn – how lovely.