We amateurs are the voice that is necessary to fix this. The big bucks changing their ways are necessary to fix this. The institutions (FEI, USDF, USEF) changing the rules are necessary to fix this. But, there first needs to be the desire to change, which wasn’t there previously. It’s looking like the Cesar/Helgstrand abuse has created that desire from all parties. We’ll see where it goes.
The general public who doesn’t know anything about horses will only create more problems than they’ll solve. Their buy-in when the dust settles is necessary so they don’t take away what we love.
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The FEI, USEF don’t need to change rules. They need to FOLLOW the rules they already have.
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I have not been in an online chat room in years so bear with me as I try to make sense of the horse abuse I see being shown on social media and written about here and other sites. I have suggested we stop following, buying or in any way supporting dressage riders who use “training methods” that are obviously abusive. I rode western and did hunters in the seventies, evented in the eighties and dressage in the nineties. I quite competing in 2000 and have not looked back. I have been trying to figure out how dressage has dropped to the level of Quarter horse, Arabian or Walking horse riders. Honestly I think that wealthy middle aged woman are to blame. I realize I just posted a sign that said “Flame Me!” but just think about it. 1. Correct dressage training is very hard to do because it relies on a rider with an excellent seat and sympathetic hands. 2. There is a reason the SRS use to put riders on a lunge line to teach them a correct seat BEFORE they could sit on a school master. 3. Wealthy middle aged woman ( or their wealthy children ) don’t want to do that. They want to ride in the Olympics! 3. This is the bread and butter for upper level trainers. It is easier to crank and spank a dumb ( non speaking ) animal than teach an ambitious middle aged woman to sit the trot correctly.4. Look at the proliferation of cranks, saddles with huge thigh blocks and warmbloods taught from day one to keep their heads DOWN, nose in. Charlotte Jorst changes horse with Helgstrand like most people change their underwear. ( By the way I know what a chambon looks like when you take your cute little honey bear for a trail ride.) So I guess what I’m saying is lets just stop pretending that dressage today has anything to do with correct dressage. It is accurate dressage which means robotic horse dressage without an ounce of relaxation. Maybe this is just a rant because I am old and was allowed glimpses of beautiful dressage ridden by the SRS in LA in 1984 or watching Danny Pesvner halt a horse from the canter by exhaling. The only thing that dressage riders as ridden at the upper levels today know about horses is that they can make them a lot of money and they don’t have to treat them with an ounce of respect. Okay flame …
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It has always been easier to foist blame on a demographic we are not a member of (I apologize if you are middle aged and wealthy).
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No need to apologize… I am middle aged and wealthy but grew up horse crazy and middle class with non-horsey parents. But I was lucky to have grown up in a time when being told you had “bad or harsh” hands was the ultimate put down. When you could still see Reiner Klimke do a line of ones with one hand around the arena at the Los Angeles Olympics instead of coming into the awards ceremony with your groom holding your horse to prevent mishaps or better yet a stand in for your Grand Prix dressage horse because standing still is too hard. Now I have to apologize to you for going on a rant again but honestly I grew up buying off the track thoroughbreds because that is what I could afford. But I was taught dressage was for ANY HORSE no matter the breed and it was the training that mattered not the outfits or the brands or how knee jerking/ hock jerking you can make a horse passage. Sorry, getting off the soap box, kicking it into the street, lighting it on fire…
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I don’t believe it’s the group you suggest. It’s not the women, not the older women. In fact, one of he fastest growing horse sports at the moment is Western Dressage, heavily populated by women - even older ones. So much so that even the USEF has stated spoken on the speed of growth there. I’ve spoken to the women at WD shows. They wanted a place where they could show the horse that they have and love without drama or abuse. Or spending a fortune.
In contrast, dressage participation is waning. Simply reading the posts in these recent threads is testament to this fact.
It’s not the chicks, man.
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Here we go… the “it was so much better back in the good old days” trope. No, no it wasn’t.
I’m no longer middle-aged unless someone discovers a fountain of youth very soon. I’ve been around horses for quite a long time and I’ve seen some things.
The group of middle-ish-aged comfortably off riding ladies I hang out with are dedicated, grateful, hard-working and capable riders who treat their horses like gold. We’ve all learned and grown together in this sport over the last 3 decades or so. And I can tell you that we would all say that we ride and train with far more knowledge and consideration than we did 20 or 30 years ago.
You know as well as I do that there was more than enough truly awful riding and horsemanship to go around back in the “good old days.” It just wasn’t so publicly available to view.
I think it’s a really good thing that the light is finally being shone on these abusive practices. I’m pretty sure it won’t do away with them completely, but opening people’s eyes up to what is going on should reduce them, at least.
There are plenty of wonderful riders around now. As well as still plenty of really poor ones, unfortunately, and there always will be because human beings really aren’t very nice.
You just have to be discerning (as you have always had to be) about whose company you keep.
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I agree.
The internet has really changed things in so many ways. “The good old days” abuse wasn’t known beyond the people ( if any) who witnessed it. That didn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
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“Jerk him, rip his face off!!” - Trainer in my area to children in a group lesson circa 1980
I’ve got my beef with western dressage, too, though. Western style curbs are not meant to be ridden with non-stop contact - period, full stop. I don’t care how nice your hands are, that’s not what they are designed for.
Yet that is rampant, or maybe even expected, in WD.
Out and out cruelty? I wouldn’t say that. Not in the best interest of the horse, and potentially very uncomfortable for them? Yes.
A smattering of pictures from googling “western dressage”…
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Those are not correct postures and the first one might not be a curb but perhaps more like a grazing bit.
In a curb you can have contact without a straight rein but it takes a lot of skill. If the pics shown were a consistent posture during the ride it should get marked down for contact issues.
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You are glossing the point. The contact they’re taking has nothing to do with their posture, and has everything to do with inappropriate rein length for the type of bit used.
The WDAA tests CALL for contact. That’s not appropriate in a western curb, period. I don’t need to see a WP drape but there should be a clear looseness in the reins, and these solid bits are not designed for two handed riding. There’s a reason the curb is not the sole bit on a double bridle.
also… A grazing bit is a curb, but with the shanks angled back so the horse can get his mouth to the ground.
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That’s actually a really good point, IMO.
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Contact is not achieved solely by rein length. You can have contact on a loose rein or a looped rein if the body is properly balanced and supple. Think vaquero style as a loose example.
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Yes, it is.
curb bit
noun
: a stiff bit having branches by which a leverage is obtained upon the jaws of a horse
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Why do you say that?
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I agree. I was excited about western dressage when it emerged. I thought this could be an opportunity to take away some of the bad aspects about competitive dressage until I learned the standard is contact with a curb. Back to my classical dressage hole I went.
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I liked the concept of people who may not feel comfortable in a dressage saddle for one reason or another would have a way to get out there and compete. Then the photos started showing up and I was shocked honestly. I was always taught never to ride with “dressage” type contact in a curb.
The WDAA port height is 3.5" I believe. Spades are ok. I’m not against a bit with those parameters, but ONLY on a loose rein!
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The point of these curb shanks is to amplify the communication of the bit so that the horse can be ridden on loose rein. They are generally used after the horse has accepted direct contact with a snaffle and has enough training to respond to even more subtle cues using the curb on loose rein.
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