"No pictures please"

That is what she was saying as I took this photograph. I didn't really understand why until the horse got closer and I could see all the restraints it was wearing. Clearly this woman wasn't proud of what she was doing.
I was at this stable in California for a natural hoof trimming clinic, and the barn adjacent to where the lecture was being given was as quiet as a morgue. The word morgue is what keeps coming to mind because the horses that were in the stalls were alive but they weren't living, if you know what I mean. It was really, really sad.

When the people from the hoof clinic walked into that barn during the lecture break there was no nickering, no whinnies heard. Instead we saw horses tied to the walls IN THEIR STALLS, wearing these contraptions to "train" their tails to stay in this upward bent position. It was AWFUL!! The horses were miserable.

I started to feel this anxiety, and I couldn't understand why then I realized that it was coming from the horses. I left the barn and went as far away from it as I could to clear my head before the lecture resumed. For the rest of that weekend I stayed away from that barn.

How uncomfortable does this horse look? This is about as far from Parelli Natural Horsemanship as one can get. I think it's a perfect illustration of how humans inflict unnatural standards upon animals. "It should move like this, it should carry its head, and tail like that" etc.. I felt bad when I saw these pictures so I decided to post them so that everyone can see how gross and unharmonious this is.
Here is something much nicer to look at..
One night when I was driving home, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw this beautiful sight.