I never heard of this type of show. If kids are under a trainer, why are they not riding the horse they lesson on?
Not many riders would have a successful show on a horse they are unfamiliar with. Inexperienced kids would have an even worse time( i would think).
Who owns/ provides the horses?
It is the type of show it is, and that is how it is done. They show a horse they draw and have almost nor warm up on.
The horses are typically part of the lesson string associated with the host school and other horses donated for the day.
This is not the type of show that you ride your horse or a horse you picked to ride.
I guess the advantages are you learn how to ride a variety of horses and that no-one has an advantage over the other and kids that don’t own horses get to compete?
It is judged on equitation, not the horse.
And yes, those who do not own a horse get to compete.
And a kid who is a good rider who can successfully deal with a variety of horses can do well, whether or not they own a nice horse or any horse at all.
IEA is all over the place as far as quality instruction and school horses at home as are all barns. Add the competition aspect of hosting and providing horses or traveling depending on donated for the day horses at each competition and fewer barns are willing to participate. For a number of reasons. This can vary by region.
For most there are not just enough horses despite each horse doing multiple classes Visiting teams are expected to bring some horses along to at least some competitions and host teams to provide suitable horses and its a reason some teams cannot stay involved.
Those seeking the IEA experience have to pick trainer/team from the best of what’s available whats available to ride opposed to selecting the best instructor for their young rider and paying for a suitable lesson mount selected for that riders ability level. Sometimes IEA opportunities don’t make up for trying to learn from a less then ideal coach on, whatever horses that are available and (probably) safe.
Hard to know and its been over a month here but sounds like this OPs rider might do better with a different coach, more lessons to get stronger and better horses to learn on even if IEA and shows are not in the picture for awhile. Better to have a successful learning experience and some enjoyment then a frustrating, unsuccessful show day.
If OP ever looks back on this or for whoever may read it, remember even the best coach/trainer cannot fix a thing once the rider goes into the show ring. The coach, any coach, also will not have time to completely explain and correct mistakes at the exit of the showring, those will be the subject of the next at home lessons.
Better coaches will be sure riders understand this before showing and stress it’s a test of what they have learned and what needs more work. If drawing a strange ride out of the hat better coaches
will discuss dealing with a bad draw with rider and parent. Not rare for the same horse to be
at or near the bottom all day regardless of rider at these things.
“You need more leg” should be answered with “HOW do I do that. Teach me HOW”. It doesn’t mean kick either. If coach does not clarify “how” in the next lessons? Waste of your time and money, find another coach.
Well said!
On IEA in general: I imagine that many colleges are lucky enough to have fairly substantial lesson pools thanks to people donating horses for the tax write off. I think that the model at sub-collegiate levels needs to evolve to reflect the changed reality of the horse industry., though. Growing up, I rode at a huge, very traditional riding school with 30 truly useful lesson horses + another 30 odd boarders, half-leases, and semi-failed lesson program prospects. Of course some of the lesson horses were flat-only due to their age. But all were reasonably sane and sensible and classes could’ve easily been divvied up between them. If needed, one of the gentler boarders or even a semi-failure lesson horse could’ve been pulled in to cover a more advanced class or two. (None of the semi-failures were truly dangerous or even that challenging. Just persnickety.)
No one here has lesson barns that size anymore. Most places don’t even have schooling horses. It’s therefore not unusual here to see the IEA classes divided into 2 or 3 tranches each & the same 5 horses pinch hitting with 2-3 different pilots in each class. Predictably, even some of the most sane & sensible horses have just had it towards the 2nd half of the day. At all the IEA shows we’ve been to they run the more advanced classes & O/F first and the beginner & novice classes at the end. One more than one occasion I’ve seen the sweetest, gentlest horses go full on rodeo bronc with a beginner rider on board – it was past dinner & turn out time, the horse was physically tired & mentally fried & finally just lost it.
I’d love to see them divide it middle schoolers on Saturday, high schoolers on Sunday. Or at least flip the order of go to put the newer riders earlier in the day so they’re getting a mentally fresh horse.
This is so true! I rode a bit as a kid, and when I went back to riding in my mid-30s, one thing that surprised me was how lesson barns (which were the norm when I was a child) no longer seemed to exist. I totally understand why, economically and training-wise, now. A nice beginner horse is often too valuable to “waste” and the owner feels it’s better for the horse as well as for her pocketbook to half-lease and limit the horse’s saddle time and riders on his back. So lesson barns are even less common now, and truthfully, of the ones that I’ve seen still in existence, they aren’t the best “teaching” model of horsemanship for an IEA program that is supposed to be about education.
I wonder if in the next 10 years (side-eye at the pentathlon) disciplines relying upon catch-riding will still be thriving, the way things are going.
After over 20 years of IHSA involvement (as a competitor, alumni, volunteer, and briefly as a coach), I can assure you that this has been tried and stopped for safety reasons. If the advanced classes go first, anything that’s feeling fresh or goofy becomes apparent while the riders most equipped to handle it are on board. You don’t want Old Reliable having a “bad” morning with a walk/trotter on board. That gets ugly FAST. When the beginners go at the end of the day, the horses who don’t want to play that day mostly get weeded out long before the lowest level classes. And there are very, very, very few horses who go all day long. Most will do 1-2 “levels” and then be done for the day.
Absolutely. My history in IHSA is similar to yours. You do not put a nervous W-T rider on a three-legged bronc (albeit a good soul) in sideways sleet at 8am. Plus the regular schoolies are now sharing the ring with unfamiliar horses from outside barns.
Ime, most of the horses here are doing more than a level or two so still seems safer to have them up on a horse that is feeling goofy than one one that is bucking with a capital B. These weren’t crow hops. Tail hitting rider’s helmet sized bucks. Seeing as most of the equines entrusted with IEA are older, the go, stop, and stand idle in 30 degree temps probably also aggravates arthritis & cold backs. That’s enough to make any horse extra grumpy.
Maybe sandwiching the beginners in the middle could work?
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@TheDBYC, it sounds like your local IEA region is very poorly managed. No IHSA/IEA show manager I’ve ever worked with would allow horses to go all day long like that. Nor have I EVER seen a horse truly come apart in a walk/trot level class. Stop and refuse to move? Yep. That happens. Make tiny circles ever closer to the center of the arena? Oh, yes. But throw a bucking fit? Nope. Not at that level. Those kinds of horses MIGHT make an occasional appearance in the upper levels, but they are not welcome for the lower levels.
I’m confessing to not having read most of the posts here but have to agree with those who said IEA is often the luck of the draw and also to your daughter (and/or you) talk to this particular trainer about the situation. First I would reassure your daughter that there is no shame in coming in last. Honestly at the interschool shows they have where I live the goal for most kids is just staying on. I don’t want to knock these programs at all because I think they’re wonderful way to get kids riding who might otherwise not be able to. Anyway I agree with having your daughter talk to your trainer about how she felt that she was using her leg but trainer didn’t notice a change. I can assure you that many/most of us over the years have felt the same way. The IEA trainer should also be more compassionate with all the team kids knowing that often those placed are those who got the better draw horse and not necessarily better skills. School horses know the drill - there are those who plod along doing exactly what’s asked of them no more no less, those who won’t budge.who prefer the fast “tranter” instead of cantering when asked, or those who run around with their head in the air thinking runaway thoughts.
Communication is always the key. I hope your daughter doesn’t get deflated over this… These shows are tough and they can be almost just as bad if you do really well all the time. I’ve seen kids who kill it at these shows but then when then compete at schooling shows are left out of the ribbons.
The Steward can definitely pull a horse prior to that horse showing!
It’s certainly possible. I’ve lived in the same area my entire life & have no other frame of reference to make a comparison other than what I have personally observed. To be clear, 1) the horses were pulled immediately upon offering the behavior 2) the horses were ok up until these last few classes of the day, at which point they just seemed to lose it 3) Not a single barn I can think of in the area has enough horses for them to only work one division per meet. Even with guest teams bringing horses, there’s not enough for that.
I grew up under similar circumstances to many IEA kids – horseless barn rat who enthusiastically rode anything that was offered to me. It might’ve taken a pick axe & night vision goggles, but I could always find something that I loved about each one. I learned how to get jaw-dropping results out of horses that no one else wanted. To this day, I don’t really get the concept of a heart horse or dream horse. The universe brought this animal to me for a reason. I’m not exactly Olympic material, yet I tend to be able to play above my pay grade because I’m patient & have a large tool chest. I support the concept of IEA. Nothing like having to get on a strange horse & tactfully find & press the buttons to teach horsemanship. At the same time, I also believe it must evolve naturally to keep up with changes to the equine industry as a whole.
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