Horses Became "Equipment"

January 13, 2026

If we love our horses, why do we choose to allow them to become property, equipment, assets, and/or entertainment?

Because it makes life easier for humans. Not better. Easier.

There isn’t one single reason. It’s a stack of them that built on each other over time.

First, distance. When you don’t have to look a horse in the eye, touch their body, or depend on reading their signals to survive, it becomes easier to turn them into an idea instead of a being. Modern systems create layers. Farms, industries, sports, ownership papers, stalls, tack rooms, screens. Distance dulls empathy.

Second, efficiency culture. Once humans started valuing speed, output, and profit over relationship, horse became units. How much can this horse produce? How fast? How consistently? Anything that slows that down, including listening, gets labeled inconvenient. Turning horses into equipment removes friction.

Third, control soothes human fear. Horses can be unpredictable. Living systems always are. Labeling them as property creates the illusion of certainty. “I own you” feels safer than “I am in relationship with you.” Control calms the human nervous system, even when it harms the horse’s.

Fourth, language shapes morality. Notice the words we use.

"Breaking a horse." 

"Using a horse." 

"Stock." 

"Livestock." 

"Asset."

Once language strips away individuality, it becomes morally easier to justify almost anything. If it’s equipment, wear and tear is expected. If it’s property, consent is irrelevant.

Fifth, we learned it, we didn’t choose it consciously. Most people didn’t wake up and decide to objectify horses. They inherited a system and normalized it. Tradition is powerful. Especially when questioning it threatens identity, livelihood, or community belonging.

And here’s the part people don’t love hearing, but it matters. Humans who are disconnected from themselves tend to disconnect from horses.

If you’ve learned to override your own body, emotions, and limits, overriding another being feels normal. If you’ve been taught that worth comes from productivity, you apply that rule outward.

This is why horses react so strongly to people doing this work.

They sense when someone is no longer trying to extract from them.

So why do we allow it?

Because it benefits systems.

Because it comforts insecurity.

Because slowing down asks us to feel things we’ve avoided.

Because relationship requires humility.

The shift away from “property” doesn’t start with laws or labels.

It starts when a human pauses and thinks:

“What is this horse experiencing right now, and am I willing to let that matter?”

Once that question enters the room, everything changes.

And there’s no unseeing it.

To Be Continued...