Horses Should Be Used For Travelling? (Page 2)

PiereDulaine: Horse os not used for distance travelling..it kills the..they are unique..treat them wif care..lol

RocktheFlaminCowboy: I've got the answer then. Hook a horse up to your car. You could scoop the poop and put it in the boot for the garden and because the horse is pulling the car you can take the family and not worry about the rain. If the horse gets tired you can put him in the trailer and give him a rest. There that solves it all for a greener planet.

MrSnuggles: Only a fat and lazy horse can travel long distance. Horses you see used for sports can only gallot for short distances.

Why have transport at all? Everyone should go back to basics and walk.

FogofWar: "The thing is this is in no way better for the environment. Think of the amount of grain we would have to raise, the amount of fertile land we'd have to give over to horse paddocks. Going backwards is not the answer, more fuel efficient technology is."

You are aware that there are horses on the planet now right? It's really not that bad for the environment. As for th manure being bad, to a degree yes, so is cattle manure; but they produce far less methane than petrol fuels and ethanol. The "fuel efficient" (debated now) ethanol fuel is made from grains, those grains could be used for feed instead of fuel; so it would not have as much impact in that sense. It would slow traffic down, and make the world larger again, and that will not work with out current society...so I would agree, the search for more fuel efficient and greener fuels is more logical. FYI, there are many places in the world that still do use horses. A ranch I lived on down by Calgary, Alberta, still uses horses for almost all work in fields. Their land spans right to the very base of the Rocky Mountains; so the hills are far too steep in spots for vehicles, horses are the only way; and yes, it is a lot of fun!

I'd like to see animal rights activists try and claim animal abuse. Horses enjoy riding. We had a colt once that you could ride from the time she was strong enough to support your weight...she loved to ride around. Watch an Arabian prance around, they kick their feet for show...they love the attention and the companionship.


"And it's not so much that manure is bad for the environment is that it's bad to have around where humans like to eat and drink. Manure is full of bacteria that can contaminate water that causes serious illness and even death."

hence all the chemicals we use to treat water; although their safe use is easily debatable as well. The manure does produce around 15% of methane buildup in the planet (in cattle at least, as an example), but again, if horses were used instead of vehicles, it would knock down the 60 some percent of methane produced from engines a little too, so that would probably at the very least, cancel it's self out.


"You know all that methane from those horses will kill the o-zone layer and cause "climate change" right?"

You know that vehicles produce somewhere around 60% of methane, and cattle is more like 15% right? You know with that fewer cars on the road, and that many more horses, it would still be less methane than what we are producing now!

"ehh i think it's a little extreme. plus i think it's an incredibly bad idea for neighborhoods/cities that are dangerous."

very true; grand theft auto is a lot harder to pull of than grand theft horse! Not to mention the fleshy skin of a horse is not as resiliant to bats and guns as the metal skin of a car in those neighbourhoods.

Nosferatu: " We also rode those things during war to conquest other nations and steal their resources."

and to some affect. The introduction of horses to the battlefield brought both the war chariot and the cavalry, both of which were the top of battlefield technology for thousands of years. The horse proved to be of extreme value to us.


"All the poop collected to be given free to farmers for organic vegetables.
I just can't see the harm poop can do."

which in turn is also used to grow food for horses, what a poluting cycle hey? Yes there would be more manure, and it produces methane, but far less methane than contemporary vehicles do, not to mention the CO2 and other polutants fossil fuels emit that horses don't.

FogofWar: "Only a fat and lazy horse can travel long distance. Horses you see used for sports can only gallot for short distances."

um...ever heard of the quarter horse? It's the fastest horse in the quarter mile...farther than most humans can run. A horse at a full gallop cannot go for miles and miles, but at a steady pace, they surely can. You can also stop and give the horse a rest if you want...I mean, they only did it for the last 10,000 years, but what would that prove!

FogofWar: If you think only fat and lazy horses can travel far distances, perhaps you should study up into human history (as it's clear you don't get a chance to ride horses very much). A knight would ride on horseback; for the duration of his conquests. Knights rode horseback from England into Scotland; from France, to Germany, to Switzerland, to the Middle East. A knight's horse was kept in peak physical shape, as it had to endure not only long distances with minimal supplies, but also extreme speeds and manueverability in order to perform on the battlefield. The knight's horse was in essence, a warrior of it's own. Perhaps that is why the cavalry was still in mainstay during WWI, cavalry rode horseback alongside the tank for years. In fact, even in WWII cavalry was still used; not so much on the battlefield (as tanks, guns, and aircraft were getting bigger and faster), but still to run messages, and to relocate officers to key strategic positions. You are aware that the "Wild West" of North America was discovered and settled entirely on horseback right? My mom and dad both remember vividly when their parents got their first car. They both used to ride horses into town and to friends houses; and they were born in 1956 and 1958.

RocktheFlaminCowboy: The problem to nearly everything is overpopulation but governments like tax and keeping the economy growing. Long ago there wasn't many people and problems were nowhere near as extreme. If we just slowed down a little the whole earth gets a chance to breathe. We are like a dirty big fart in a room that needs to clear so some of us can breath easy. No wonder politicians don't mind a war every so often. Did I say every so often, I meant non stop. So what has this got to do with horses eh?

Outbackjack: I personally like horses and it would be nice if we used them,though I couldnt see how I could use them to traverse long distances across the outback.
One thing that would happen is their would be less serious crashes as lower speeds would be involved but this could be outweighed by the animals being jittery or horses bolting which would cause accidents.

Not all horses can tolerate cars and for this very reason they are never taken on roads.Horses have great personalities generally and with that becomes nuances.
Horses do like riding and running around,though a temperamental horse sometimes will throw its rider.

Fog raised some interesting points,but I think you confused methane with carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles.

It takes a lot to feed a horse especially in Australia with limited rain and grass.They would also need more grain which would generally add to the food shortage in the world.Just as ethanol grain is contributing to this.

RocktheFlaminCowboy: So there you have it again. Less population, less problems.

FogofWar: " If we just slowed down a little the whole earth gets a chance to breathe. "

Exactly! Could not have said it better Myself.

"Not all horses can tolerate cars and for this very reason they are never taken on roads."

Come to Alberta My friend; you'll see people riding horses in the ditch on the highways all the time. You just gotta make sure your horse can handle it.

"Fog raised some interesting points,but I think you confused methane with carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles."

I mentioned CO2, there is also many other gases (Corbon Monoxide or CO) as well...horses are way cleaner for the environment, no question about it.

The fact that our population is continually growing is definately the problem here...but I think the original idea from this thread was for people to use them for say, travelling around town, or to neighbours etc. where vehicles are currently being used for short trips...of course in most of those cases you could also ride a bike or walk; a little excersise never hurt anyone.

RocktheFlaminCowboy: Actually that's exactly the right idea. More walking and riding and more health. We are such lazy fat slobs. In Europe they have gone bike mad so what happened to the rest of us. Horses aren't the answer but they are better than cars in many ways.

FogofWar: plus horses are fun to ride.

Nosferatu: If you're just tuning into this thread then I created it completely as an absurd and facetious joke on the whole environmental concern about fuel and energy used by popular automobiles.

Nosferatu: I'd ride a chocobo if they were real.

Kaelis4u: Do horses like snorkling?

Brett666: Yes i agree! And when u have run them into the ground, they can be recycled into glue....Profit???