One thing I am noticing as I immerse myself in the world of online horse people is how many people are willing to openly express their dislike of female horses.
I'd been pondering this attitude for a while but this morning I came across the above post, from someone I would have thought would be more sensitive to the female condition.
Every second 'horse wanted' ad features the phrase 'no mares' and people describe the mares they like or want to sell as 'not a mare-y mare', as though the only good mares are the ones who don't act like mares. I've seen the phrase 'I just get along better with geldings' and 'geldings are just easier' more times than I care to count in the past few months.
Humans are really good at placing their own values and judgements on animals. And the propensity to apply these judgements to horses is strong. These days we are starting to look at horses more as what they actually are, to be more sympathetic to their mental and emotional functions and capabilities. But the prejudice toward mares seems to endure nonetheless.
There are a few points to this. One is age-old misogyny and widespread acceptance of anti-female sentiment. But people who would never insult a woman just for being female still seem quite comfortable having a dig at mares.
Another thing to consider, is that the playing field is not level here. A mare and a gelding are fundamentally different, in that the gelding has had his testicles removed and is now going around without his source of male hormones. Most mares are kept with intact reproductive systems, and the seasonal fluctuations that, to varying degrees, go along with that. Some mares suffer ovarian pain which can lead to problems under saddle. But if the everyday horse person was to compare riding and handling a mare with riding and handling her male counterpart - the stallion - how many would choose to ride a stallion?
And so we can argue that the mare already suffers from prejudice, and this is not helped by her being compared unfairly to the gelding whose prized even-temperedness is the result of having a major part of his anatomy removed. But many people will still swear that they find mares more difficult to handle. So what does science say?
While a quick search will show you lots of articles written by 'experts' claiming that geldings are 'more reliable' and less likely to suffer from 'mood swings', actual scientific studies have found that there is no statistically significant difference between trainability and performance capability in mares and geldings.
Most of the horse's primary urges center around food, comfort and social coherence. In a training scenario, horses are motivated by consistency and reliability in their handler. They like clear instructions, predictable responses, and safety in the explorations they make in order to answer the questions we ask them. None of this is dependent on the sex of the horse.
I currently own four mares, who have over time created a complex social web that is more intricate than a 'pecking order'. They are a mix of introverts and extroverts. I have worked on breeding farms with hundreds of mares, all with different personalities, living out their mare-y duties. In my almost 35 years with horses I have so far bonded most closely with a gelding, but my Thoroughbred mare is to this day the most talented horse I ever sat on.
I'm probably going to upset people with this post, because human nature makes questioning our core beliefs hard. But if you are one of those who has been blissfully bagging out mares without even thinking about why, don't get mad at me. Just ask yourself the questions. Have you really met that many 'difficult' mares? Is your mare really more 'spicy' or 'unpredictable' than your other horses, and is it really because she is female? Or might it just be that a society that values the male above the female has influenced your views?
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