Equitation people - stay up or go to the default

[clanter]

@Renn_aissance

The instruction was that you never do anything that the judge doesn’t tell you to do- so if the judge says “walk and reverse,” you reverse and halt, because Simon didn’t say walk on. Etc

fully agree with you, but I was an air traffic controller and if a pilot did not follow what they were told there would be problems.

[Peggy]

If you’re already walking and asked to reverse, which action is adding something, continuing at the gait you were doing, or changing the gait (halting) after the reverse? I’m not sure there is a definitive answer to that.

I was in an eq class once where we were cantering and asked to reverse and maintain the “canter” lead. So there I was trying to get the reverse done without running into someone else while simultaneously wondering if they meant counter lead or you should switch to the new correct canter lead. There’s no time to ask in that situation. I held the counter lead and win the class.

[MHM]

Many years ago, we had a kid at a Maclay regional who happened to be right in front of the announcer when he said canter. But she heard him say it, and then heard it come over the loudspeaker immediately, and so she thought he had said counter canter. So she was the only one in the ring who picked up the counter counter. That was most unfortunate.

[Renn_aissance]

I remember you telling this story before. What a bummer for that kid.

[MHM]

She was sad, we were sad, her parents were sad. I think her horse was even sad, although I may have been projecting a bit there. But I’m sure he would have been sad if he had grasped what happened. He was a sweet horse.

[endlessclimb]

Oh my heart breaks for that kid. What a disappointment.

[Midge]

@supershorty628

@Midge

@Renn_aissance

First, a note about my perspective here. I am in Zone 3 and as a junior I had very old school trainer. The instruction was that you never do anything that the judge doesn’t tell you to do- so if the judge says “walk and reverse,” you reverse and halt, because Simon didn’t say walk on. Etc. I posted something about this a few years ago after participating in an equitation class that included riders of multiple generations, some of whom reversed and halted and some of whom reversed and walked. I will say that the ONLY COTHers who agreed with reverse and halt in that scenario were ALSO in my state and ALSO rode with instructors from a similar school. I am an announcer and asked a fair number of judges about this- at least as of 5 years ago, the people I asked were evenly split and those who did say “yes, you halt” also noted “it’s a Maryland thing” or “it’s a Virginia thing.” It’s possible that there are also some regional differences that may apply to what people in your area would commonly do if given an instruction like the ones you posit.

But you were walking, they asked you to reverse. They did not ask you to halt, so why would you, based on the ‘don’t do anything the judge doesn’t ask you to do’? What if you were asked to reverse at the trot? Or if the instruction was ‘change direction’?

I grew up riding with an old school trainer similar to Renn, and if we were not told to reverse and continue at the gait, we were expected to reverse and that’s it.

But you are doing more than ‘that’s it’. You are adding a halt. If you continue to walk, you are not adding anything except the reverse that was asked for.

[supershorty628]

Hey man, it’s just what my trainer (who was a BNT and a big R judge) taught us.

Also, for as much as I’ve seen this discussed online over the years, I have never actually seen it happen at a show. It’s always been specified.

[Renn_aissance]

@supershorty628

Hey man, it’s just what my trainer (who was a BNT and a big R judge) taught us.

Yep. Apparently it’s a Maryland, Virginia, and Kip Rosenthal thing! I do see the logic. You don’t walk on because nobody told you to. You’re not “adding” a halt, you weren’t told to keep going.

In any case, I think that what we take away from this is that it’s important to give specific instructions because the intent of the judge’s direction is to assess the rider’s mastery of the riding skills, not their critical thinking.

Let us all reverse and continue at the walk, or halt and reverse directions, or change direction at the canter demonstrating a change of lead. Or- and this was quite a good class- reverse direction at the counter canter, changing leads to maintain a counter canter in the new direction. And as I said, at IEA regionals and zones, which I’ve announced for multiple times, this is the level of specificity I generally get from the judges.

Signed, the announcer who’s going to have to enunciate all this twice over and leave the mic hot in case I have to interrupt myself with HALT PLEASE when riders reversing at canter crash into each other.

[MHM]

@endlessclimb

Oh my heart breaks for that kid. What a disappointment.

It was, but she was a nice kid with a good head on her shoulders, so she didn’t let it ruin her life. Plus it was not her last year, so she knew she had another shot at it. Thank goodness.

[Midge]

@Renn_aissance

@supershorty628

Hey man, it’s just what my trainer (who was a BNT and a big R judge) taught us.

Yep. Apparently it’s a Maryland, Virginia, and Kip Rosenthal thing! I do see the logic. You don’t walk on because nobody told you to. You’re not “adding” a halt, you weren’t told to keep going.

In any case, I think that what we take away from this is that it’s important to give specific instructions because the intent of the judge’s direction is to assess the rider’s mastery of the riding skills, not their critical thinking.

But no one told you to halt, either. You were walking, you were told to reverse. I cannot find a reason to halt there. If you are travelling at any other gait and you are asked to reverse, are you going to halt? If you are doing a U turn in your car, are you going to halt? I will say if Kip Rosenthal thought a halt was the thing to do, I may have to rethink this. She was a great horseman and clinician.

And I do think critical thinking skills are also being judged. Riders crashing into each other shouldn’t need someone to tell them to halt.

[Renn_aissance]

@Midge

And I do think critical thinking skills are also being judged. Riders crashing into each other shouldn’t need someone to tell them to halt.

Sure, but let’s give some benefit of doubt to the kids on the opposite side of the ring for whom the crash is in their blind spot. The last thing I want is for a two-horse pileup to become a four-horse pileup. Forget the Short Stirrup kids- the ones I really worry about are the Pre-Adults!

Though if one of them reverses direction at counter canter, we have a different problem than the one I anticipate for equitation kids performing this maneuver…

[Peggy]

@Renn_aissance

Forget the Short Stirrup kids- the ones I really worry about are the Pre-Adults

A friend somehow ended up going the wrong way in a flat class. At the canter. She circled and the circle turned into a different shape as she maneuvered to avoid other horses. She couldn’t figure out why everyone else was going the “wrong” way, and then she saw the expression on her trainer’s face.