See this is the type of misinformation I am referring to. The steward absolutely should have pulled the horse if it displayed dangerous behavior in warm up! Shame on him/her! The ONLY reason we warm up horses in front of the steward is to determine that the horse is sound, safe, and suitable. If it is not all of those things it should be pulled.
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I don’t think this is misinformation- I think CBoylen is saying that in this case the steward didn’t exercise good judgment. I think like you she’s saying “shame on the steward.”
I saw that at zone finals. Kid in the open division drew a horse that came unglued and reared in the holding ring. Steward declined to remove the horse. Rider went in for her warm up two jumps and got run off with. Steward in the show ring knew the animal had already lost all of its marbles and still didn’t remove the horse. Rider gave a very tactful ride around the course but the horse was obviously beyond its emotional ability to participate and the rider didn’t pin. The horse was later removed from the draw. I think it was unhorsemanlike, unfair to horse and rider, and dangerous. Altogether a bad call by management. But unfortunately it happened.
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Ugh I also hate this style of “coaching”. I had a trainer once scream at me “Ride! Ride! RIDE! RIIIIDDEEEE!!!” as I galloped my way around the arena, desperately trying to get a lesson horse to do a lead change. Thank goodness she reminded me on every stride, otherwise I might have forgotten I was on a horse!
I found out later that the trainer herself can rarely get this particular horse to do changes 
For OP though, I think she should definitely watch some other lessons this trainer gives and see what happens with other students, and especially while coaching more advanced skills. I know many trainers get burned out on the beginner riders, and I think they just honestly don’t remember what it’s like to not know or not be able to just “add leg”. It could be a matter of finding a beginner coach who is a better match for your daughter until she gets to a little more advanced level, or it could be that this coach just isn’t a good match, period.
In the meantime, I’d really encourage your daughter to ask questions when working with the trainer. It might drive trainer up the walls, but at least your daughter will keep learning.
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If she feels defeated all the time working with this coach, and this coach is the only option for IEA, then I would suggest for your daughter’s sake that IEA is not a good idea for her riding career.
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Apologies if I misread. I was referring to CBoylen’s statement that " if there was a rule in place letting me or the steward step in before the class for a safety concern"
There are rules in place for just these instances. It is unfortunate that neither the steward nor the coach knew or understood these rules to prevent such an occurrence.
I have to ask why the horse was not pulled if it displayed dangerous behavior during warm up? Was the horse truly dangerous, or was the rider just over faced (which does happen A LOT in IEA - too many coaches putting riders in classes they are not ready for given they are on unfamiliar mounts)?
Either way, the rider should not have gone in the class on that horse and yes there are rules to prevent that from happening.
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That’s unfortunate. Generally, horses exhibiting a major problem behavior seem to get pulled ime. At one show, a horse bucked with a capital B after being asked to walk out towards the rail prior to the judging commencing for a low novice w/t class. It was immediately pulled & replaced. A crow hop? That would be less likely to elicit a switch out.
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Lots of people can see when something needs to be done or changed. Fewer have the finesse and skill to appropriately communicate exactly how to implement change. Might be the case here.
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The warmup was in the indoor so the steward couldn’t watch each warmup as well as the show ring. I actually don’t want to shame the steward because she was clearly bothered by the fact that she had no option under the rules to offer a reride without sending the kid in to try the class.
In the case I mention, I was the starter, so I didn’t see the horse in the holding area. I gather that it just plain came unglued with the commotion, being in an unfamiliar environment, not being surrounded by its friends, it was cold, or whatever. And then things just didn’t get better. It seemed like a perfectly nice horse who would have been appropriate on a different day but just wasn’t having it on the day.
What I usually see at shows is that if there is a problem in the ring that may have been the fault of a bad ride, the horse is reschooled at the jump and stays in the draw; if the horse then continues to have a problem with other riders, it tends to be pulled and those riders may get a re-ride. If the animal becomes outright dangerous, it is pulled. I was called in to re-school one pony who took off with a rider over fences and the steward and owner thought it just needed to be reminded that there are expectations in life. Based on my ride, I didn’t feel that the pony was appropriate to stay in for the rest of the day; I relayed that to the steward and it was pulled. Overall, my observation is that most of the time, the steward makes a horsemanlike call that is fair to the riders. In other words, in most cases, the system works.
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If she feels defeated all the time working with this coach, and this coach is the only option for IEA, then I would suggest for your daughter’s sake that IEA is not a good idea for her riding career.
Fully agree, at least for my family it was not a riding career that was the goal but how to deal with life. We used our horses as tool to expose the kids to just how cruel the world can be to teach them how to overcome defeat.
At least in a show ring it is sort of a controlled environment. one at least we as parents could observe than afterwards help the child deal with the outcome. The goal was to teach the child how to deal with events.
Speaking of warm-up ring stewards, I noticed my then eleven year old daughter approach the steward asking to be excused form the the class… he asked why… those kids are dangerous and my horse is not safe around them… so she brought her mount back to the stalls.
Yes, but often what is going on here is the child has conflicted feelings, and the instructor doesn’t pick up on this and doesn’t have the time to explore why the disconnect is occurring, as in a busy group lesson.
This is really common when kids are learning to canter. One timid child is in a group of kids who are pretty confident at the canter. The timid child is (appropriately) on a rather pokey pony. The child asks for the canter uncertainly, or is sending conflicting signals (choking back on the reins but asking for the canter with her legs). “Why are you so lazy and not kicking hard enough? Why are you shortening your reins?” asks the instructor. The child wants to canter, but is nervous about going fast/pony misbehaving, and doesn’t want to look foolish. So the child is doing all sorts of odd things with her body the instructor interprets as disobedience, when really the child’s body language is saying very clearly “I want to canter but I’m also very afraid of cantering.” Or the instructor knows the kid really needs some private lessons, or to be put into a less demanding group, or just feels bad that a saint of a pony is being imposed upon, but that won’t satisfy the parent’s expectations or work with the program, so the kid gets lectured about not listening.
Even children who aren’t afraid in lessons may shut down in a competitive environment, too. It’s especially hard to talk about this with a kid who doesn’t want to admit fear, but it might be worth having a conversation about goals/nerves. There is so much psychology behind riding.
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My kid is not a hunter rider but in the midst of covid last year, I saw some one was looking for IEA kids and I signed her up. I thought it would be nice for her to have a team experience since she was stuck at home all the time. She was not thrilled by the idea but ended up she loved it. She got to meet a new coach, new kids, new horses… but she did not place that great. Usually 4th or 5th and did not make regionals. She didn’t care though- she loved the coach and made a new best friend and loved the horses.
As for horses- from what I’ve seen, any horse that acts up or has refusals gets switched out. The rider will get to go again on another horse. I never saw anything that made me worry about the safety of the horses. And my kid said it was the least stressful showing she’s done. Overall, it was a better experience than we could have expected.
Needless to say she’s doing it again this year.
Just wanted to give a positive review of the sport since seems like a lot of negativity on here for it.
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This exactly! In @CBoylen’s case, where was the warm up supervisor? Why was the steward not called to see the horse re-schooled with a competent warm up rider on board? As a steward I’ve stopped many a show to go address issues in the warm up area.
Point being that there are alternatives to just sending a (child) rider into the ring on a potentially unsafe horse. In fact, failing to do so is in direct conflict with the steward’s job description as outlined in the IEA rule book.
Worst case scenario, if a steward insists that a child ride the horse drawn despite safety concerns, you can absolutely scratch the child - the entry fee HAS to be refunded - and petition for the child to get another show. And that steward should be reported.
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@NC001 thank you for this. As a RP I field so many complaints about “How IEA Works”. And I can say that 98% of them are invalid and just a misunderstanding of the rules or how things are supposed to work. I actually had a coach tell me (in post season) that they “did not have time to read the rules”. Sorry, that’s on you.
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This is totally common for riders! We all have times we think we are doing something but no…we aren’t. She probably needs to use even MORE leg than she is. No comment on the coaching style.
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AllisonWunderland, this is a mostly off-topic question from an IEA parent that I needed clarification on (and I’ve read the rules 
): Are IEA riders allowed to ride in air vests? Say a rider wears one and brings his or her own saddle attachment which they can quickly attach to the stirrup bars. Are air vests allowed? I wondered if you had any info on this. Thanks so much!
Absolutely! And we are starting to see more of them.
If using the inflatable kind that requires an attachment to the saddle, it would need to get approved by the steward as it would be considered altering the tack but I cannot imagine a steward denying it.
IEA defaults to IHSA and ultimately USEF rules for anything not clearly stated in the IEA rule book 
Thank you so much, I appreciate your help!
Here is the USEF rule:
GR 801.4 Any exhibitor may wear protective headgear (ASTM/SEI) and/or a protective vest either body protecting or inflatable, specifically designed for use in equestrian sport in any division or class without penalty from the judge. The Federation recommends that the vest pass or surpass the current ASTM standard F1937 or be certified by the Safety Equipment Institute. For Eventing, inflatable vests are permitted only when worn over a body protecting vest.
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I had something similar happen in a geometry class. The teacher kept telling me I missed a step in the proofs. She kept repeating it. You know what I did? I very respectfully ASKED the teacher what she meant. And then after she explained I asked WHY.
I was 14 so only a year older than this child. At what point does the child ask for clarification when they don’t understand? If in class the teacher keeps saying “Take tue derivative!” would you just sit silently? Or would you speak up and explain that you don’t understand? I would speak up (and did so as a kiddo, too!).
I advise teaching this kiddo to ask for clarification and to understand the WHY. The adults in her life should empower (and teach her) now so she has this skill moving forward. It makes life sooo much easier if you feel confident enough to ask when you don’t understand something or when you believe you are doing something correctly yet your trainer/teacher/boss seems to think otherwise. This isn’t just a riding skill - it’s a life skill.
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