Usually not. Also, horses generally go where cars and bikes fail, and they are self-fueling.
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Even if the car driver did look, I’m not sure they would have been able to see the motorcycle coming.
100 years ago it was like abuse. Today horses are like any other thing relatively wealthy people have, and can afford to look after properly. 100 years ago the notion that animals could suffer might get you beat up.
OTOH the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is significantly older than the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. But yes, back when draft horses were practical transportation, they tended to be worked hard until they dropped.
Edited to add: And remember, “Dress for the slide, not for the ride.”
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I’ve always thought of that as the backside of the same invisible hand.
(and not the invisible hand of physics)
It’s even worse. It’s the RSPCA (Royal) but the NSPCC (National)
Mind you, Prince Philip and Prince Charles both were sent to Gordonstoun, so an RSPCC would be a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?
[citation needed].
It depended. Narrow boat owner/operators tended to look after their horses very well since their livelihood depended on them, and it was expected that they ensured their horses were well fed and bedded down for the night before attending to themselves. Bargees, who were much less reliant on horses, tended to look after them much worse. My great-grandfather was a London blacksmith and his clients were mostly people like milkmen and small tradesmen, whose horses might already be fairly old when they acquired them, perhaps former drayhorses who were no longer able to haul the heavy barrels around the streets. It was in their interests to look after such a critical asset, and during processions their horses would be turned out as well as they could afford. Some of the worst treatment of horses was by the aristocracy (who could afford more) rather than working people. The book by Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, describes this. Foxhunting and polo are both occupations that have a high horse casualty rate, and part of the attraction of foxhunting was that it enabled you to show how rich you were by having multiple mounts at a hunt. I’m afraid that I sold my copy of Notitia Venatica so I can’t quote chapter and verse on this, but the book is an eye-opener about Victorian treatment of animals, though not meant to be.
Kipling was another author who tried to improve the treatment of animals and gave them personalities in his books - he was actually attacked for this by some Catholics for whom, of course, animals had no souls. The English used to contrast the ill-treatment of animals in Catholic countries, especially Spain, to their own, but you can make your own assessment of the level of hypocrisy, taking into account the number of horses killed in wartime.
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I consider riding another animal when you don’t need to, abusive, almost by definition. There was a time when their speed made it a near necessity compared to the alternative. But that’s no longer the case.
Grew up riding in Phoenix. Wore protective clothing year round. Didn’t want to be the one broken on the searing hot asphalt begging for someone to pick me up because it burns.
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Also when a horse starts wobbling like that, since you’re going a more reasonable speed you could jump clear a little more safely.
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