No! No! Horses run when they’re riderless because they are herd animals. They are prey animals and it is staying with the herd that is their instinct in order to keep them safe. They are safe when they are together and they are vulnerable on their own. It is not within a horse’s psychology to stop running when the rest of the herd is charging away. They cannot do that.
Herd animals simply cannot leave the herd: it’s against every instinct to do so. Therefore, they will run with the other horses. They do not do this because they have made some considered decision or for some kind of fun. Anyone that tells you that doesn’t know what they’re talking about and if it’s a horse racing person that tells you that, then that really is a key to their lack of understanding of horse behaviour.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that horses in any sports industry have very little autonomy. So little, in fact, that some stallions simply cannot serve as stallions after they retire because any sexual instincts have been suppressed, at best by chucking cold buckets of water at them. Very few animals are given choices, although it’s fascinating to watch them when they are. Giving choices to race horses would be a financial disaster.
Horse racing people only know how horses behave in a racing environment. It is very difficult for them to change their beliefs because that would mean confronting things which they do not wish to confront. It’s human nature. Nobody wants to accept that what they have been doing all their life is unkind and unnatural. Some racing people are beginning to do that, but it’s not easy for them. Humans just don’t behave that way. Therefore, you double down, deny and tell those who criticise you that they simply don’t understand or have the deep insight and knowledge that you have.
That is also a clue to how we changed this: confrontation does not change peoples’ minds.