Economic performance - long may it live!
Sometimes you look at the evening news and see the blueprint for exactly the system that you have been criticizing at home in equestrian sports for years. The latest example: The justification for the new legislation on sick leave by Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Telephone sick leave is being abolished, the medical certificate from day one is coming. The justification for this exposes a way of thinking that mirrors one-to-one the patriarchal and purely functional structures that also keep the system of violence against the horse alive. There are exactly three core mechanisms that link the political debate with the suffering in our riding arenas:
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The individual as a pure production factor Merz explicitly justifies the tightening with "exorbitantly grown sickness rates" and declares these a "competitive disadvantage" in economic terms. The message behind it is unmistakable: Economic performance stands above the actual well-being of the individual.
General suspicion instead of root cause analysis!
Exactly this attitude dominates traditional equestrian sports. In the system, the horse is all too often not viewed as a feeling partner, but as sports equipment and a high-performer. It has to function. Pain signals, exhaustion, or biomechanical overload are suppressed or reinterpreted as "Disobedience" "Resistance" "Laziness" because the training plan, the next tournament, or economic success do not allow for breaks.
General suspicion instead of root cause analysis Behind the abolition of telephone sick leave lies the implicit general suspicion of abuse – a blanket culture of mistrust, even though health insurance companies and studies do not prove systematic abuse. Instead of addressing the deeper causes for high sickness rates – such as chronic overload, a poor working climate, or psychological pressure – the leadership chooses the path of control pressure and harsher punishments. This symptom management through coercion is the standard in the system of equestrian sports.
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When a horse does not function under the rider, there is rarely a question about biomechanical causes, suitable tack, or mental overload. Instead, one reaches for sharper bits, auxiliary reins, or forced submission. Symptoms are suppressed instead of fixing the cause in the system. Anyone who does not toe the line is under general suspicion of laziness or malice.
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The arrogance of the functionaries against science.
The political decision to tighten sick leave is being pushed through from above – regardless of the massive warnings from general practitioners and medical associations, which warn of an absurd wave of bureaucracy and the complete overload of practices. Professional expertise from practice is sacrificed to political calculation. This ignorance is the peak of the arrogance that we experience daily in equestrian sports. Functionaries and associations persistently ignore the overwhelming scientific findings on biomechanics, pain perception, and animal welfare. Instead of fundamentally adapting the guidelines and judging to science, the decision-makers remain in old patterns to secure the status quo and their own power structures. Those who have no voice are the ones who lose out. From system error to true partnership If control pressure, the ignoring of science, and the pure exploitation of labor form the basis of a system, this inevitably leads to a dead end. It is exactly these parallels that show that in equestrian sports we are not dealing with isolated cases, but with a structural problem. It is precisely here that the analysis begins, which is detailed in the book "Systemkollaps – Vom System Gewalt gegen das Pferd im Reitsport zur wirklichen Partnerschaft" (System Collapse – From the System of Violence Against the Horse in Equestrian Sports to a True Partnership, the English Edition follows soon). It is about radically questioning these deeply rooted, often unconscious control mechanisms. Only when the horse's reactions are truly understood and perceived, when we understand how we are manipulated, does the patriarchal logic of pure functioning break open.
Society's real verdict What connects Friedrich Merz and the functionaries of equestrian sports is the firm belief that systems can be kept stable through pressure, control, and the ignoring of needs. But this is exactly where the foundation breaks away. Today, society is looking more closely, be it in the treatment of employees or in the treatment of animals. The Social License to Operate, the social acceptance, is waning for systems that are based on exploitation and ignorance.
It is time to break these patterns of thought. For humans – and even more so for the horse.
Click here and follow me on the new path with the horse!
Regina Rheinwald
*Translated with Google Gemini*