
May 12th, 2022
By Karine Vandenborre
This guy will never join the Liberty Connection Program
It has now been 1 week since my family and I returned home from a month-long road trip to and through Portugal.
The trip was fantastic, and we made a lot of great memories. However, there's 1 memory I don't like to think back on.
In this memory, I’m sitting on the roof terrace of Femke, who is a member of my online Liberty Training Program, and who owns a property in Southern Portugal where travelers can camp.
The scenery is nice: green hills, sun, a blue sky. A beautiful white horse is standing about 100 m further. My guess is that it’s a Lusitano, looking at the way he’s built.
At first, I thought nothing of the fact that the horse was always eating hay at the same spot. I figured that the owner just gave the hay on the same spot, and that was the reason the horse was always standing there. After seeing the horse a few days in a row, always standing on that exact same spot, I asked Lune -the oldest daughter of Femke, who was making earrings with pearls – about the horse.
Lune said, “Oh, it’s really sad. This horse can’t move”. “What do you mean?” I asked while trying to see what could be wrong with the horse.
“Haven’t you seen the rope around his neck? He is tied to the ground with a rope” Lune answered, while she was choosing another pearl.
“What?! The horse is tied to a rope, the whole day long?!”
And then I saw it: the horse had a rope around his neck, that was about 3 meters long, that was attached to a heavy iron ring in the soil. This meant that this horse could walk in a very small circle where he could find hay and water.
I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but then Lune said: “Yeah, and he’s there day and night, year in, year out. We have lived here for 5 years now, and he’s always been there.”
I was shocked!!! Can you believe that?!?!?
I knew that in Portugal there are still some strange habits when it comes to horses, but this was something I had never seen or heard before…
When I saw this horse for the first time, I saw a beautiful, healthy-looking Lusitano. But then, I could only see a suffering horse on a rope, pinned to that spot…
The owner comes by 2 times a day to give hay and water, probably thinking he’s taking good care of his horse. To be honest, the horse looks as if he’s in good physical shape. However, mentally and emotionally that must be a whole other case…
I think we can say it’s pretty sure this guy will never join the Liberty Connection Program, where it’s all about liberty and freedom.
Unfortunately, that’s Portugal too…
With love,
🎔 Karine
BLOG CATEGORIES
© Karine Vandenborre - Horsefulness Training. All Rights Reserved