Uneducated judgment common in these times

Every now and again, I find myself embroiled in an argument on social media.

My latest social media battle wasn’t about politics. It was about the care of horses.

The woman with whom I argued specifically condemned the way Mennonites care for their horses.

Since this is a common view in the increasing number of areas of the province that are home to Old Order Mennonites, it’s worth some discussion.

I count among my friends a number of people in the Old Order and Amish communities, so mindless condemnation of their methods of care got my dander up.

When I suggested as much, the woman doubled down, repeatedly mentioning shin splints, harness sores, head shyness “from being hit” and that she has never seen a buggy horse on the road that wasn’t a couple hundred pounds underweight.

She also wrote about horses that are “foot shy from them (the owners) doing their own feet without training.”

Although I’m a graduate of farrier school, I never intended a career in the field. I just wanted to understand good foot care from bad.

A number of Old Order farriers have trimmed my horses and mules and each was every bit as skilled as “trained” farriers.

To suggest hoof trimming and shoeing skills passed down through the generations can be called “without training” is nonsensical.

On another point, it’s mindboggling how anyone driving past can say a buggy horse is underweight.

Is the horse a standardbred? A Morgan? Dutch harness? American saddlebred? Even those with minimal knowledge know ideal weights vary by breed.

I’ve cared for a saddlebred or two over the years that were impossible to put weight on.

Even though they did nothing but eat and run free, their teeth were fine and their diet rich, they looked malnourished to anyone who didn’t know better.

And then there’s the repeated “shin splints” comments. These are injuries in the lower front legs that appear mostly in young horses. The seriousness of splints varies with their location on the bone.

The first horse I ever owned developed shin splints as a two-yearold. When it died in my arms 26 years later, it had been free of splints for a quarter century.

Details aside, the most disturbing part of this exchange was the way in which this correspondent was willing to malign an entire culture (actually a number of Old Order cultures) based on a little bit of knowledge.

It was a reminder of the grumpy old right-wingers quick to judge every Muslim based on the actions of a few.

This kind of thinking is where the Donald Trump movement comes from in the U.S. election. People with little education and perhaps less life experience are willing to condemn all others who are different. At its worst, it’s called xenophobia.

My correspondent indicated her knowledge about mistreated horses came in part from attendance at the Ontario Livestock Exchange, where horses are bought and sold.

Tell you what, she could spend every day of her life there and she would see only a fraction of the horses that enjoy good lives on farms, Old Order and otherwise, across Ontario.

Her whole argument showed a startling prejudice based on questionable knowledge and experience.

As Alexander Pope said in the 1700s, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”