We live in a world where strange trends seem to pop up out of nowhere and steadily gain popularity. In recent years, pony painting parties have started to become a thing in the UK. It's exactly what it sounds like: a party in which the partygoers, typically small children, paint a pony. Nontoxic paints and chalks are used to decorate the pony, but it seems that using an animal as a canvas is leaving some concerned animal activists outraged.
If you ask me, the only type of painted horses I ever want to see are actual paint horses.
I have no idea why on Earth anyone would think pony painting parties were a good idea. Animals are not ours to objectify for entertainment purposes. They should be treated with kindness and respect, always.
Animal activists have grown increasingly concerned for the well-being of the equines who are forced to participate in this growing trend. They argue that it does not benefit the well-being of the horse, claiming that it's an unethical practice. Secondly, they argue that this isn't the message we should be sending to young children—that it's perfectly okay to objectify an animal for your own entertainment.
Think about children at parties. Loud, shrieking, easily excited. These are all things that our equine friends are not typically fans of. For the sake of these ponies being used, it's borderline animal cruelty in the eyes of many.
Horses display signs of stress through swishing, flared nostrils, raised tails, sweating and raised heartbeat. And I wouldn't be surprised if these situations cause horses to become stressed.
Here's a clip below of a horse being heavily painted...
Change.org is circulating a campaign in hopes of seeing pony painting parties come to an end. If you'd like to sign the petition, you can do so here.
Horses don't have a voice to speak for themselves. It's up to us to defend what is right and what is wrong for the sake of their health and well-being. Hopefully, the pony painting parties trend will be long-forgotten sooner rather than later. I know for myself, I'd never think to allow my children to paint one of our cats or our dog—let alone a horse.
Party organizers for these pony painting parties claim that the horses enjoy the attention and the contact they receive, but, with 334,000 signatures and counting on the Change.org campaign, their claims are falling on deaf ears.
What are your thoughts on this strange trend? Share with us in the comments section, and tell us what you think about all of this.
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Cathy
Our barn is committed to providing a safe environment in which children, families and horses coexist. We have included painting our horses in our birthday parties for years. I think our success with painting is the approach that we take in an effort of to make the pony party an educational experience as well as a day the children will remember.
We start our party with a “show and tell” teach session. We have one very gentle, child-friendly horse saddled and ready to ride. In our presentation, we try to teach the party why and how horses react to certain stimulus which explains what we CAN do and what we CANNOT do around horses. We engage the children, letting them one by one pet the horse and learn the proper way to walk around them. Many of the children who claim to have experience with horses are the most afraid and the most rambunctious around them. This helps put dangerous activity in check and calms the children and the horses.
We then do an educational scavenger hunt which both teaches and tires the kids out a bit. This lowers the excited jumping up and down, high pitched shouts and running that we discouraged in our show and tell. It also gives us a chance to reinforce our safety points before the actually giving the children time close to the horses.
Now, it is painting time. The children already have a respect for you (the party leader) and the horses.
We have pallets prepared with tempra paints (mixed with horse shampoo) and a sponge brush like those found in craft stores.
We have two to three horses that we back against a fence rail so the children cannot get behind them. Handlers supervise and hold the horses’ halters. One adult is present to be sure everything is safe. This is the QUIETEST most CALM point of any birthday party you ever have or ever will attend. If anyone does anything unsafe it is usually a parent, because they have been talking or not paying attention to the rest of the party. Of coarse, not every horse is suitable for this exercise. We choose from horses in our lesson program that stand well and like children. At this point we have maybe four of our twelve lesson horse herd that qualify for this event. If they seem squirrelly that day, we have one less horse to paint. It is not fair to the horses or the kids to put each other at risk. We always say that one out of ten horses that we buy for our riding program has what it takes no matter what kind of time and training we put into them. It takes a very special horse to deal with ever changing riders and skill levels. Well, right now only four of our twelve have the skills neccessary to grace a child’s birthday party.
Now I am getting to my main point of all of this explanation. All of these activities have led up to a nonscreemimg, non flailing of arms, cooperative group of kids who have a POSITIVE first riding experience. A normally panicked child now has a sense of ownership of the horses they have painted. They may still be a little shy, but an educated shy is better than a screaming, insensative alien who will scare the horse to pieces. As you know, a frightened rider leads to a frightened horse. Frightened horses lead to accidents. Accidents can end a riding career before it starts.
After the ride, the horses are washed off.. the soap in the paint helps with it’s removal (and also helps in cleaning the children’s clothes). I warn about green paint, though. That pigment is extremely difficult to get out.
In the end, we have clean horses, happy educated children, a very happy birthday child and money in our pockets. But most of all, we have achieved our mission of making horseback riding and all it has to offer available to a child and their family in a safe and educational environment.
That is a job well done.
Kacey
I think it depends on the situation. That video though. The kids were barefoot... oi! So dangerous. If it is a couple of kids painting on a horse that is hanging out relaxed and doesn't care, shows no signs of stress, and is enjoying the company fine. But a bunch of kids surrounding a horse all painting at the same time, that sounds like it could be stressful for a horse and kind of claustrophobic. And gosh dang have kids wear proper footwear and learn to stay in areas where the horse can see them. Especially away from the hind end.