Driving back from the Free State with an 18-month old filly in my horsebox recently, I was plotting out her career in my mind, when it dawned on me what a responsibility it is to own horses. Here, in the horsebox, speeding into the unknown, was an exquisite little creature totally dependent on me. She has absolutely no say in her future. I will be her god and she will be my toy to do with as I please.
At that precise moment the thought was ­rather overwhelming, especially because she had ­invoked in me, less than an hour previously when I first met her, strong emotions of tender protectiveness. Frankly, when I first felt her breath in my neck, I was close to tears. This reminded me of something that my friend, Eeben Barlow, says about the relationship between man and horse.
"The horse," he believes, "hands you his spirit as a gift to hold in your hand. You may hold this spirit with gentle respect, or you could crush it at will."
In her latest book on the relationship between humans and horses titled 100 ways to a perfect equine partnership, ­Susan McBane talks about the "Five Freedoms" of a horse within the context of an acceptable code of practice for equine management. I subscribe whole-heartedly to these five freedoms. In fact, I want to call them the Equine Freedom Charter and I want to call on all horsemen to display prominently the Charter in their stables.