I’m not sure if this is so much in these cases because in 2/3 it really looks like the horse just made a really dumb decision and read the jump wrong. But, side tangent, I do think this is a problem. How many ISO ads do you see that say ‘absolutely no stop’ in them. I get not wanting a horse to stop because the flowers are purple but people really think they should be able to set their horse up to the worst distance and the horse should fix it for them in the air somehow. Horses should stop when they need to.
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When McLain broke his knee at WEF the camera stayed on him and we watched him driven away in a golf cart.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/updated-mclain-ward-breaks-leg-fall/
An equitation horse and rider in the WEC Equitation cup tonight just had the same fall at a single oxer. I only caught it happening out of the corner of my eye so I didn’t see how it started, but it ended with both horse and rider on the ground. They both were up and walked out of the ring.
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It was a oxer to a loooong 4 stride to an oxer. The horse took off then decided to add but it was too late. Scared the crap out of me. The rider seemed to be okay though.
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Geeez! Thanks for the link. He sat and up and pulled and then the horse somersaulted. Yikes the poor neck on that horse.
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That horse seemed neither well balanced, nor ridden in a straight manner to the jumps by the rider. Hope they are OK.
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Horses are tricked in training through false distances or hidden rails to get them to hit fences, not to mention good old fashioned rapping, so of course in the ring they don’t always trust what they see, they are being trained on the daily not to. It’s naive to think these practices aren’t being used, just watch the first day of any big money show and see the horses schooling in a class, they are all so ready it’s ridiculous, if you go for a job with a rider that asks you to sign an NDA then you know what’s going on in that yard.
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How to rapidly ruin a good horse: trick distances, hidden rails and rapping. These horses are bred to jump. They want to jump. They can stay healthy and jumping for many years. Given the huge price of jumpers these days, particularly the ones being ridden by the likes of Harry Charles at international shows, anyone who uses such shortcuts is a fool. Anyone who uses a trainer who teaches them to abuse horses is also a fool. So yes, useful for trainers and riders who lack any other tools. Not habitual for the vast majority of riders.
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Crazy thought; could it be because of all the square oxers? It seems like a lot of these falls wouldn’t have happened if the jump had been a vertical; like maybe the horses just keep reading as a vertical. I don’t know the solution if that is the issue because sometimes a ramped oxer causes a weird optical illusion and clearly we aren’t getting rid of all oxers
Michael Duffy’s horse fell at the vertical, not the oxer. Just like us, horses make mistakes sometimes. They may not see the jump as it is, they may not be looking at it, but somewhere else, the rider may have interfered with them causing a bad distance. Stuff happens and I’ve seen horses just walking around on flat ground trip and fall.
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You’d think. But honestly this was my first thought…especially with McLain’s horseS (plural) making the exact same mistake.
I inherited a once careful 1.45m horse turned stopper (at 2’6”) by a well know Irish rider…poling was involved. Have you seen the video of Erynn Ballard? Sorry to say, but I wouldn’t trust most at the top, and more than likely the truly good ones are few and far between.
All to say, I completely agree that using such methods is foolish. But alas, I’m a lowly meter level ammy. What do I know 
On an on-topic note, these past two weeks at Thermal every single on of my classes (6 total) started on an oxer and every single AB element was oxer - vertical.
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@Rumorhasit93 I’ll admit to being a bit of a Polly Anna about horses now being correctly trained, and the demise of such ineffective, crude techniques as rapping, mainly because I’ve seen a change over my many decades. Probably most of the horses I’ve seen with jumping issues caused by rapping are ammy ponies with ignorant owners.
Interesting.
I’ve never heard, or seen, an amateur rapping. To go a step further - I would actually suggest that many amateurs, unless particularly well read or connected, wouldn’t even know what rapping is. If trainers are doing this, they are doing it without their clients knowing.
But if you know professional grooms well enough for them to be candid, they can tell you who raps, and who doesn’t. And exactly why some barns are 100% closed on Mondays, or Wednesdays, or any day that the pros decide is the day to rap. Or worse.
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Or, they are closed because everyone needs a day off from dealing with clients.
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I don’t think that is a true video of Erynn Ballard. There are two horses, one bay and one gray, with that name. I did a search on CMH TV and could only find Ballard riding the gray. Also, the video appears jerky and odd looking. I think it is a fake.
This. Trainers have a hard enough time establishing boundaries as is 
so let’s be careful suggesting that those dedicating a no-clients day to preserve their own sanity is even remotely aligned with unsavory practices. Does it occur? Surely. Is the practice otherwise a benign industry standard? 100%.
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Interesting…this is the first time I’ve heard/seen it might be fake. I do know sometimes the screen doesn’t catch up to the current horse/rider, and sometimes the country flag is incorrect, but I’ve never seen a horse/rider combo incorrectly stated (not to say it can’t happen).
Also, if I were Erynn and this was a fake video, I’d be addressing that. She surely has to know this is circulating as her, whether it is or not.
Not arguing with you at all, just talking through the possibilities. Of course I don’t want to imagine anyone doing this to a horse…
I have no insider knowledge but I was puzzled and started searching for that ride on CMHTV, WEC and WEF and could find only Erynn riding a gray horse and another person riding the bay. So who knows.
It is not a fake video. Horsetelex and USEF confirm its a bay with results with Erynn Ballard.
@kenyarider there is no other horse registered with that name in USEF. So probably an error from CMH or a mixed up number if you’re seeing a grey going with Ballard with that name. The bay mostly goes with its owner, which is why you’re seeing videos of it with another rider.
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A rider/owner can have videos removed from any of those video services.
That is not a fake video and more than one FEI showjumping groom I am close with have nothing nice to say about Erynn or her horsemanship.
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