I wonder why there is no video of him using the spike pole.
I don’t know him, or much about him really. Is he known for being rough on his horses?
He is know for being a hugely gifted, super-accomplished world-class Olympic rider. If he poles his horses, which is seen in the video, then he is also rough on them = these can co-exist.
But the point is that it’s painful and unfair to the horses and that it has to end. It’s 2022.
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I’m so disappointed in him.
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I trucked into a major equestrian facility last summer that had several fences with carpet covers/anti-rub rails - this is a very well known barn even by COTH standards. I was there to XC school, but I noticed them when I was warming up in the ring.
The carpet covers/anti-rub rails are way more common at that level than most riders would like to think. Like Texarkana said, I’m always more surprised to learn when UL / high stakes competitors aren’t employing these kinds of practices.
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I understand it’s (more than one would think) common…it still saddens me.
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Apparently Germany allows poling or “touching”, you just have to do it to their specifications. 
So do we.
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Just not on show grounds? I’m unfamiliar with the poling rules of USEF otherwise (I didn’t know about the German rules until I read the article.)
I can’ say I’m surprised that people do this. Electric spurs…
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I do know an UL eventer that commonly uses square rails. I have used square rails, too, on occasion… but not for “training” purposes, just because I don’t have a saw blade to round off the corners into octagonal rails. I can’t say my horses hit them any more or less than other rails…they tend to try hard, jump cleanly and I have no need for questionable methods to make them jump better.
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Which barn?
I am surprised when successful people use these methods… I always thought good horsemanship and success went hand in hand.
I know a former UL eventer that has a mass cult following on social media and preaches sympathetic riding that has many square rails on jumps. As in, probably half the jumps.
Even went so far as to say “well, sometimes when they hit them they start to get scared, so you have to be a little careful using them…”
Is this sarcasm? Sometimes I’m really really concrete 
(this is not sarcasm cause I love Jealoushe)
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No lol I have always had my horses at home for the most part though so I haven’t seen a lot of the “behind the scenes” of others.
Oh yeah a lot of them are trash. There is lots of good, but also lots of shady, and lots of meh horsemanship. Poling is not disallowed by most national federations or the fei, t is disallowed like at competitions, hence why one US Olympian owns an adjacent property in Florida where he walks his horses home and…encourages them to be more careful. It’s infrequent at the yards at I was at in Europe, all Olympians and FEl riders, but it happens. I don’t like it, I said I didn’t like it, some riders try to do it when others aren’t around, some don’t.
Obviously we have high profile poling like George killing the horse at a clinic in Florida what? Within the last 20 years I think.
I hate poling. That said, there are way shadier and terrible things that these people who should be horsemen perpetrate on horses and people, as we all know and continue to learn more about.
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Sadly, I totally agree.
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When a dog realizes they can get some pretty nice rewards from stealing off the counter, you’ve got to start putting things in the cupboard.
When a horse realizes they can get out of work by bucking, they’ll buck every single ride.
When a child learns they get a piece of chocolate for going to the bathroom on the toilet, they’re going to (hopefully) try and get there every time.
Animals/people do what they’re incentivized and reinforced for doing. So when you tell me a rider can win more consistently (and therefore earn more $$$) by poling their horse at the facility across the street… well, color me unsurprised when that’s exactly what happens. There are many many riders who, if you read between the lines in interviews, allude to making less-than-ethical decisions to get where they are.
I wish people were more scrupulous and ethical, and I’m sure there are plenty out there who truly work to do right by their animals and treat them fairly and ethically. That being said, how many times have you seen someone (regardless of the industry they’re in) work hard, be diligent and loyal in their efforts, only to be passed over for a promotion for the slimy kiss-ass down the hall? or the owner’s deadbeat kid who can’t tell their ass from their ankles, but gets to head the department despite not having any managerial experience? I’m not going to claim that all of the top-level riders use unethical training methods (and I truly hope that they don’t!), but neither can I be surprised when this sort of stuff comes out either…
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