Equestrians and Social Media

Social media and the internet changed the world we live in, and that includes the equestrian community. Whether we like it or not, it is here to stay and it is imperative that we use it to our advantage and not get fooled by everything that we see and read.

We buy and sell our horses, buy tack, and look for advice on social media, mainly FaceBook. There are groups where barn owners can bash boarders, groups for bashing dressage riders and groups for bashing barn owners.

But there are also groups to educate us. We can find educational sites that teach us pasture management, conformation, nutrition and of course, horse care management (Common Sense Horse Keeping!)

It seems that if it is on the internet, it must be the gospel, because we can trust complete strangers, right? I mean, why would anyone lie to us, right? At least, that is what some people believe, anyway!

It is a very stormy afternoon here on my farm and while I am waiting to head out to the barn to feed dinner to the crew, I am perusing FaceBook.

Sometimes I come across fantastic information. Other times, well……

A national magazine….one we have all read and probably subscribed to… has just written an article about the importance of properly storing hay. Their cover photo is of hay that looks more like straw and is hardly stored in a manner that I would consider correct. It looks rather haphazard, and a dirty window behind the “hay” needs to be cleaned of cobwebs and dust. Nowhere in the article does it mention anything regarding the correlation of stacking hay improperly and barn fires. Not one mention of how hay can generate heat and cause spontaneous combustion. There is not one mention of the importance of stacking hay correctly in order to prevent barn fires. Nor is there mention of the importance of storing hay in a separate building, or for the importance of compartmentalization, which can prevent barn fires. For a magazine held in such high regard, it is pretty disappointing and honestly, it looks like a kid in middle school wrote the article.

Next, I come across a photo used in an advertisment by the American Horse Council. It is a lovely photo, of a Palomino, standing in a field of Lupines. It is clearly photo-shopped. The problem is that Lupines are toxic to horses. So why on earth, would a respected organization use a photo such as this? This same scenario plays out across social media, especially Instagram. We have all seen the beautiful photos of the most incredible horse barns, and throughout the barn are hanging baskets of flowers, and there is extensive use of landscaping throughout the barn. When I bought my farm, I thought how I wanted my barn to look like those photos. I imagined ivy covering the outside wall of the end of the barn and lovely flowers hanging in baskets throughout the barn aisle. Then I began researching what plants I could utilize throughout my barn and I realized that most of them are toxic!

We come across photos depicting horrible training methods, horses wearing badly fitted tack, and lately, there has been an ad for a course that will teach you to be a horse trainer in 60 days! (Cue the informercial music) Yes, you too can tame mustangs, teach a horse to passage, and you can jump around a preliminary cross country course after taking our 60 day course! Who says that you need to spend thousands of hours in a barn and sitting on the back of a horse! Our horse training course eliminates all of that time wasted in the barn! Don’t delay, sign up now! Do people really sign up for these things? (sarcasm, folks!)

I could go on and on about the non-sense that we see on social media. My point of this blog is to remind you not to take everything you see on social media as the gospel! Do your research and make your own decisions. Better yet, give social media a break, and go hang out in the barn and learn something new today!

Happy Riding!