In case you ever thought you had a bad day at a clinic (video clip)

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

From Facebook (but a public post, so everyone should be able to see it):

https://www.facebook.com/boyd.martin.37/posts/10154779206060993?pnref=story

[m_m1]

The poor rider must have been horrified!

[runNjump86]

Omg. I would have just gone back to the trailer…lol.

To be honest, I imagine Boyd’s comments after that were hilarious. He’s quite the comedian.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

“How did the clinic go?”
“I BROKE BOYD MARTIN.”

[asterix]

I came SO close to this last summer. My pony is also ditch averse, and after a friend won the Practical Horseman Boyd/Silva clinic day, off we went. Boyd had me jumping BN, N, and T ditches in style, but when we went to jump a prelim ditch our luck, or my courage, ran out. 10 minutes of ridiculous rearing/jumping into a tree ensued, and finally Boyd took his bridle and led him across the ditch. Took three tries, but on the final one, a serious leap ensued, which very nearly squashed Boyd.
Luckily he’s a nimble fellow and escaped harm, but I was very freaked out by the notion of mowing down an Olympian.

[Renn_aissance]

My horse tried to buck off George Morris. This horse might win.

Horse has quite a nice gallop.

Glad Boyd was OK.

[LaurieB]

OMG, I’m so glad that wasn’t me. How embarrassing.

[EventerGirl98]

So how did clinic go?
GREAT! Except for when I ran over Boyd Martin hahaha
This poor rider

[EventerGirl98]

[QUOTE=asterix;9012209]
I came SO close to this last summer. My pony is also ditch averse, and after a friend won the Practical Horseman Boyd/Silva clinic day, off we went. Boyd had me jumping BN, N, and T ditches in style, but when we went to jump a prelim ditch our luck, or my courage, ran out. 10 minutes of ridiculous rearing/jumping into a tree ensued, and finally Boyd took his bridle and led him across the ditch. Took three tries, but on the final one, a serious leap ensued, which very nearly squashed Boyd.
Luckily he’s a nimble fellow and escaped harm, but I was very freaked out by the notion of mowing down an Olympian.[/QUOTE]

“Mowing down an Olympian” best thing I’ve heard all day lmbo:lol::lol:

[Curly_Feather]

Wow, she really did nearly break him!

Never get in the way of or try to hold onto a scared horse, that’s my motto

[trubandloki]

I am stuck between wanting to laugh and sitting here with my mouth open because that is just plain scary.
That poor rider will forever be the one who ran over Boyd.

[snaffle1987]

i laughed then I was horrified for Boyd. Don’t think the horse is scared; just think it knows who’s winning the battle in this case. Nice looking horse too

[JER]

[QUOTE=asterix;9012209]
finally Boyd took his bridle and led him across the ditch. [/QUOTE]

Do you mean that he grabbed his bridle or took the reins?

I’m asking because one of these things is dangerous. As is standing next to a ditch like that.

[Dr_Doolittle]

Poor Boyd :eek:

He was certainly a good sport about it.

Years ago I rode in a clinic with him (P level); it was in a smallish indoor, in the bitter cold. He had set up several complicated gymnastic exercises, and in this case had us doing what amounted to rollback turn across the diagonal from a skinny in the corner to a triple bounce, changing direction in the middle of the ring.

He STOOD (brave man) in the middle of the ring so that we could “go around him” like he was a cone. I headed toward him and (um) went the WRONG way :uhoh: He kept yelling “to the left!, to the left!” I guess I had a brainfart since for some reason I wanted to leave him to MY left - and the poor guy started to “feint” in the opposite direction, then (wisely) froze. Luckily my mare has catlike reflexes (unlike her rider), and quick auto-changes; she managed to cut around him, missing him by a hair. Needless to say I was horrified, and apologized profusely.

(I think we still have this “Dr. D’s finest hour” on tape somewhere…)

JW does a similar thing - but usually stands in front of the jump until the last-minute to slow the horse down and then steps away (I have done this the same thing with some of my students’ horses who want to rush or get strong), TRUSTING that the horse won’t speed up and plow through him. Since this is generally done when the approach is at trot - and often with cavaletti or placing poles - it’s not AS risky. (Though he once placed a golf cart with him in it as a “wing” during a X-country clinic at Morven when a horse kept running out; as I recall that didn’t end well.)

I think this “body as placing cone or wing” works most of the time since horses don’t naturally want to run over people!, but these guys are still pretty damn ballsy, offering their bodies up for the “training cause”!

[asterix]

To be honest, JER, I don’t remember. I was pretty seriously freaked by that point as my horse had been spinning and leaping and rearing for literally 10 minutes. There are pictures…hang on, I’ll find the link.

[asterix]

Ok, my sequence starts here (please note these are professional photos - she has made the gallery public but don’t copy them)…this is after our first stop approaching the ditch in a normal way. He then had me go around the other side (which is on a slope) and try it from there.
Many antics ensued.
Before you ask, no, that’s not the first time he has behaved like this.
Yes, that’s Boyd’s dog.
No, it didn’t actually make anything worse.
There are no pics of him holding the bridle or reins, but at the end there you can see him jumping the ditch having just let go of my horse. When my horse finally went it was fairly impressive and Boyd was very quick with his feet to scoot away.

On the bright side, those final pics make me realize my horse CAN jump any ditch I can find from a standstill, and I need to over my anxiety that we will end up IN the ditch when he pulls this crap.

https://amberwriter.smugmug.com/Clinics/Win-A-Day-Clinic-Cross-Country/i-qskXvzX/A

[JER]

Well, okay then, incident not as described.

[QUOTE=asterix;9012209]
finally Boyd took his bridle and led him across the ditch. Took three tries, but on the final one, a serious leap ensued, which very nearly squashed Boyd.[/QUOTE]

I take a dim view of this kind of ‘bravery’ around horses. I understanding the standing near the jump thing, but you do it in a safe way, in a place where you’re not the only escape route. And grabbing a horse’s bridle in that situation (and in most situations – you don’t want your fingers caught there) would be rather stupid.

Boyd is one of those riders who seems to be hurt a lot. Various fractures, ‘freak’ accidents while leading horses. Maybe some people find this funny and evidence of how ‘tough’ he is.

Not me. Maybe I haven’t ridden in the Olympics or whatever but I’ve spent a whole lot of time around horses in my life. I’ve also spent a lot of time around various accidents as an EMT. Yes, accidents can happen, but as a general rule, if someone goes from ‘freak accident’ to ‘freak accident’, those accidents might not be so ‘freak’.

(FWIW, Boyd is a nice person and my horses have enjoyed clinics with him.)

[mychestnutvalentine]

I might be the only one but I personally dislike when trainers stand in front of horses. Regardless of the exercise, I think it’s too dangerous. Luckily Boyd wasn’t hurt.

[Auburn]

asterix, First let me say that I love your horse! That is some great riding by you! Why is Boyd wearing those shoes? Who brought the dog that was trying to give you a bone, while you were doing airs above the ground?

[charismaryllis]

yeah, i have to admit i’m wondering: if this were not a BNT, but someone’s friend doing this, would the comments be this forgiving? i suspect they’d run more along the lines of, “what an IDIOTIC thing to do!”