For sure! In my opinion elders are worth listening to, and Bruce is definitely, based on this article, in the ranty old guy club right along with Emerson, Wofford, and the rest. Love it.
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I for one would just as soon see these guys coaching a team than the last few…just my crusty useless can t buy a stick of gum 2 cents…
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This!!! I wondered how long it would take for some of the younger riders to lump Bruce Davidson in with Denny Emerson? It is a sad world when young people do not learn the wisdom that their elders are willing to depart! If I want to be better at riding, I go to the best, keep my mouth shut and learn from them. Kudos to Mr. Davidson for finally speaking up. Denny and Woff have been carrying the torch, by themselves, for too long.
Listen up, young riders, you may think that you know more than Denny, Jimmy and Bruce, but you do not have the knowledge in your pinky finger that they have. Get off of your high horse and try listening for a change? What can it hurt? Try something new? You might even find out that the wisdom of the Elder Statesmen of Eventing can help you go where you are trying so hard to go. Just saying.
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For the record, I don’t think it’s the younger generation you need to convince. It’s the adults running FEI and the organizations into the ground.
Most YRs I know idolize Bruce. They’re willing to listen and to learn. What they lack is an organization that gives them this constructive educational environment in an obtainable way, and we lack leadership. The FEI and USEA have failed most YRs.
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Yes the sport is different…you have to be super in ALL three phases. But the strength you need galloping and xc hasn’t diminished.
People are missing out by not both listening to the older top trainers in our sport and others. Even in the simplest ways.
I have both Jimmy Wofford AND a top trainer from the Cadre Noir teach at my farm almost monthly in the heart of Area II just down the road from many our current and rising event professionals. Almost NONE come either to ride or watch. We do not charge auditors. You would think some would make time to learn. Only Jane Sleeper sends her working students.
Nope. Unless it is some fad or promoted by their “idol”, people are not making efforts.
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BFNE
man, would I loooove auditing those. I make regular use out of Jim Wofford’s gymnastics book since I finally found a copy
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You are welcome anytime. I find you can learn just as much, if not more watching. Seeing how an exercise is adjusted for a horse or rider…seeing a change ina horse or rider etc.
Thierry Durand is who also comes. I’m shocked more eventers don’t take advantage of riding with him. We keep getting mostly Dressage people. And while he is excellent in Dressage…he really is a jumper/eventer as his main focus. Totally gets TBs too. And kick a$$ cavaletti work. To me…it is huge to tap in to knowledge outside of the US as well.
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This post wins. I completely agree! Would love to see this!
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FAR more horses get hurt, can get hurt due to lack of proper conditioning than out fox hunting.
When I was hunting my steeplechase horses, Timber horses one of which would have been worth in the 6 figures. Just about all if not all the horses that went out 2-3 days a week made it through the 5+ month season and were turned out in the spring sound. They can do this for years and years. . A lot of which are worth low to mid 5 figures. Take a very good horse to hunt first flight with Cheshire. There is rarely a “laid back” day. Better know how to run and jump over just about anything. And some runs can go for miles over hill n dale.
All Timber horses are hunted through out the season. A true Maryland Hunt Cup horse can easily fetch over $100,000. And there will be people lining up to buy it.
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This is very sad.
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I grew up in BD’s territory, and while I wasn’t into eventing in my youth, I took on a few opportunities to work for him and his fellow 4* neighbors. Part of the reason I never got into eventing is because all of that conditioning looked like too dang much work! Why do I want to work so hard just to jump over stuff that makes me want to wet my pants?
Later in life, I boarded with an upper level event rider. Her horses didn’t get much more saddle time than my own non-competitive retired/pleasure mounts. And she was following the conditioning schedule from her coach, who was also a prominent upper level rider. :eek:
Not surprisingly, both rider and coach went through horses like clean underwear. Injuries were always someone else’s fault-- the breeder, the farrier, the vet, the show management, or the horse himself. They used to say, “You have to push the horse hard to see if he’s going to break. That’s how they did it in the old days.” Well, ok, but that doesn’t mean running your unfit new horse prelim just because he can clear the fences.
I can’t tell you how many upper level riders I know of who do their conditioning gallops in the arena, for lack of anywhere else suitable. Even the hay field is becoming rare.
So while I do not have the credentials to cast judgement on our American eventing program, I have seen enough with my own eyes to concur with BD that lack of conditioning is both prevalent and problematic.
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BFNE I’m a bit of a lurker and I’m nowhere near you I’m guessing so I was wondering if anyone ever considered doing recordings to allow others to watch/semi-audit? I would love to be able to watch them but I’m in San Diego. Wasn’t sure if it’s something you ever considered doing but I think it’d be pretty cool if it were possible 
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Yup.
I’ll drop you a line if I’m in PA! It’s a bit of a hike from NS but you never know
Worth repeating!
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There is a reason why the liquor flows very freely beforehand and during…
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This would not apply to Ireland fox hunting alone. While I love to do hunter paces, you would not find me near a fox hunt in my area due to all the drinking and scary as crap riding that goes on. I do agree that these upper level horses do need to go out and get dirty more often rather than work on their footing perfect tracks, but in no way would I ever put a horse in that situation. There’s a reason the horses in Ireland are good at taking care of themselves. Most are being hurled at full speed at large fences with no input from above.
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While I am not condoning poor riding and drunk riding, some of the videos of Irish hunting bear little relationship to hunting here. Most of the “old school” people I have ridden with (JW, Lucinda Green, Eric Smiley) would agree, although they may phrase it differently, that it is the horse’s job to jump the jump. Certainly the coops and natural obstacles our local hunt encounters are WELL within my Training level horse’s ability to figure out WITH NO INPUT at all. That’s why he’s hunting with a friend - so that he grows more confident in his ability to sort his feet out. He’s not jumping giant ditch and walls in Ireland, but fox hunting here can, under good conditions, be a very useful education.
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I’ve been hunting for decades on TB’s and they don’t have the soundness issues I see with upper level event horses at eventing barns. In 30+ years of hunting we have never had a serious or career threatening injury. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen but hunting is not horses running around, pulling up lame and having to be put down. That would be eventing.
When I started hunting, it was fairly common to see upper level riders on their upper level horses out in the hunt field. When people start with the “my horse is too expensive” argument, I tell them they sound like the hot house show hunters now. Unfortunately with all the changes in eventing that is where things are heading.
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That’s probably beyond my limited organizational skills! But I do think Jimmy is one of the Clinicians for Eventing Training Online. I’ve not had a chance to watch their videos but others I know who have said they were good.
As to hunting…I still know a lot of eventers who also Fox hunt. For me…it is lack of time. Most hunts are not going at 4am or 7pm which is my normal riding times…and while I could possibly do one Sat in a blue moon…not worth the capping fees for me. Also…not all horses will fox hunt. Most eventers that I know who do not go hunting (even though living in major hunt country) it is also more lack of time and money. Fox hunting does take a good chunk of time. Nothing to do with my horse is too expensive.
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