Perhaps those folks just don’t want to ride with an opinionated, strident, arrogant know-it-all.
Just a thought… 
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Well, I’m none of those things, and have gotten the same reaction so many times! Somewhat my fault for boarding at mostly-dressafe barns. But I noted that the horses that did go out on the trails, with the local hunt etc were generally much more sound than those who only were ridden in the arena on perfect footing.
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DownYonder,
I’m glad you quoted that part again, because I realize it made by BS alarm go off earlier
How do you condition a horse to go Training Level without leaving the ring? Is that even possible?
I haven’t evented since the long format days, but back then conditioning even for Training Level required a lot of trot and canter sets and a lot of hill work. The schedule I remember is one dressage day, one xc day, one stadium or gymnastic day and 3 - 4 straight conditioning days. The ring days weren’t successive, there was always a conditioning day after a ring day.
I suspect endless’s assertion that there are people going training who never leave the ring is another conclusion based on facts not in evidence, but on emotion and dislike.
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I think you offer some great suggestions and I agree with you that officials should have the agility and courage to pull people for bad riding. What I would like to see more of is people learning to STAY home or ride at a lower level till they have the necessary skill sets. To have individual riders be able ( with the help of a trainer if necessary) to recognize when it it safe to move up and when it is not.
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@Bearx2 How many times, in any discipline, have you watched a rider and thought “They shouldn’t be riding [at this level/in this competition/on a horse at all]” lol.
Just like no one ever admits to being a bad driver, few people admit to being very poor riders. The “not very good” often inflate their competence and experience (I run an equestrian vacation business, ask me how I know). Those that say they need improvement are often precisely the individuals who constantly seek to learn and develop - and they are unlikely to be the ones over-facing their horse because of ignorance!
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I totally agree with this, and I also agree that there are many AA riders who can safely get young / inexperienced horse around safely.
[quote="Willesdon,
post:88, topic:789606"]
ust like no one ever admits to being a bad driver, few people admit to being very poor riders. The “not very good” often inflate their competence and experience
[/quote]
These are the people that I am trying address . I know that some of them will ride badly no matter what education they get, but I also believe there are some of these people could be helped through education.
Perpetual loops around the arena in 3 point in a quasi hand gallop.
I board there. I see it. The horses leave the ring for xc ONLY.
I don’t think this is enough, because by the time this happens it’s too late. They need to be pulled up on the spot.
@endlessclimb For the safety of everyone else: runners; volunteers; officials and any spectators at a shown, it is safer to keep horses running, to time, than to stop one at some random point around a course. Someone who doesn’t know what they are doing is unlikely to know how to deal with being stopped on course which is a recipe for chaos. Add in volunteer Fence Judges who similarly might not know how to stop a horse safely… Don’t forget, at the lower levels they are only on course for a few minutes.
ETA As Fence Judges, we immediately shout very loudly at anyone attempting a jump from a halt. I have a lifetime of horses: I can shout really well. Then they get a b0ll9cking from the TD, too.
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I will let someone with more recent eventing experience debunk that in detail; but I cannot imagine getting a horse fit for Training Level without ever leaving the ring and I don’t think it’s possible. The speed for a recognized Training Level one day horse trial is 420 - 470 mpm, which is 15 - 17 mph. You can’t get fit enough to sustain that pace up and down hills and over fences for 1 - 2 miles by cantering in the ring. You just can’t.
Your folks have to be doing some conditioning on their cross country schooling days.
Maybe this statement is the problem. If they “leave the ring for xc” 3 times a week and include trot and canter sets and hill work, that’s adequate preparation. And it means that they’re not afraid to leave the ring, they’re just concentrating on their flat work on the other days.
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I hesitate to jump in, here, because I don’t think a particular poster is actually interested in a reasoned discussion, but I would add that trail riding is not necessarily a very good conditioning method. It certainly can be, but meandering around on a loose rein, or trotting or cantering with the back dropped and no real engagement isn’t the same as conditioning for competition.
I’ve been at barns where hacking out was limited and wouldn’t provide good conditioning for even my jumpers much less my eventer barnmates. One of them had pretty good hacking out, but that was mostly of the meandering around type. This was good for mental health stuff- just strolling along outside of the ring through fields and woods and such is obviously valuable to horses. But you couldn’t really do more than a bit of trotting, and certainly no sustained canter. Its real value for fitness was a steep and long grassy hill alongside a driveway that I took my horses up pretty much every day I rode, weather permitting. That was amazing.
Our current barn unfortunately has very little in the way of trails, and no hills, so the event horses go off the farm to get their gallops in. We are relatively close to Windurra, so that is a frequent destination, and we are even closer to a public park with a lot of excellent places for conditioning and tons of challenging terrain, including a bunch of very steep inclines/declines through the woods. This off-farm XC/conditioning system plus dressage and jumping at the farm works just fine for everyone from the BN kids up to my trainer’s UL horses. There has to be a lot more fitness work with anything going T/Modified and up, but on a daily basis the work done on the farm is solid, and pretty intense, so it’s a good foundation to build on when they go do XC.
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