Although acknowledging some overlap, David Ramey, DVM, describes what he calls two horse worlds. The pleasure versus performance designations have a lot to do with the expectations of owners.
Ramey asserts the owner of a horse that’s valued because he’s a very special individual who makes his human’s life better just by being there may look askance at the owner of a horse that’s valued because he might be able to breed mares for years if he just wins enough races
The “best” care doesn’t come from treating your pleasure horse like a performance horse. Much of the research and treatments recommended use performance horse models.”
Source: David Ramey, DVM, June 26, 2023. Link. Ramey shares these two points, one for each type of horse:
- The treatments given to performance horses often aren’t all that relevant to pleasure horses because while they’re the same animal, the expectations are different
- When you’re just trying to affect or continue performance, you’re sometimes just setting up the horse to get a more serious injury: sooner or later
INSIGHTS: Ramey’s comments are pragmatic and provide good guidance, “You can treat a horse well and also not require the owner to take out a second loan on their house.”