After a recent discussion with family members about when we became a “consumer” society (it was Reagan’s fault, it was the 80′s, it was post-depression grandparents spending too much on grandchildren….) I began to wonder about horse people and what a consumer society we’ve become.
Back when horses were bought to be used, they were purchased in the same way we might buy a car. The frame is evaluated for your needs, the tires are checked for safety and wear, the electrical is tested. So it was with a horse. The bone structure was evaluated, the hooves checked to make sure they’d stand up to wear, someone made sure the horse wasn’t a nutjob since the kids would be working on the farm at a young age.
And the horses stayed around for a while.
These days, we trade up our horses for newer models more frequently than we change up the trucks we use to haul them around. Especially – it seems – when it comes to show horses. The typical pasture ornament has its name for a reason, that horse gets to hang out for a long time in someone’s pasture. And I’m kind of ok with that. As long as a horse is happy, well-cared for and healthy, it can eat grass until its heart’s content.
Rachel Weingarten is a writer who typically waxes quite poetically on marketing and style and she had a recent post where she discussed society after World War II:
After the privation of WWII, people were eager for products and experiences to make them feel happy or at the very least appear to feel happy. Everything was fresh, new and exciting. Cosmetics could make you more beautiful, youthful and engaging. Flip through a magazine and it can be abundantly clear that the more advertising changes- the more it’s remained pretty much the same.
I think that this is where our consumerism started: in our homes after the combined difficulties of a depression and then a war. We became a bit obsessed by what we could acquire. That’s one of the reasons my grandparents never, ever, ever had an empty pantry.
So how does this fit with horse people?
Ask yourself some questions:
Do you buy more show clothes than you need?
How many show pads do you have for your horse?
Do you have more than one saddle but only show in one event?
Now, I’m not just asking to be critical. Oh no, not me 
But if you didn’t have these things, would your life be a tragedy? Do you really NEED them? Try this: go to wherever you store your show shirts, chaps or hats. Turn all items so that they face one direction. When you wear something (not just take it with you to a show “just in case”) turn it the opposite direction. At the end of your show season, give away or sell what is facing in the original direction. Then RESIST the compulsion to buy more!!
Buy adopting an attitude of wanting what you have rather than having what you want, you can really begin to develop a green horse showing attitude.
