I’m not sure I understand some of what she’s trying to convey. Of course her point of view as an elite international rider is much different than mine, and most riders in the sport. For example, she says, “We have to accept being guided by their rules.” If its our chosen sport, aren’t the rules “ours” ?
I read it as it’s not all sunshine and roses training a horse…
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Yes, I would say so.
Samesies
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I found it very difficult to me follow, personally.
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It seems to me she’s talking about the likes of Dressage Hub and all the Facebook trainers that inevitably insinuate abuse if they’re able to pause a video and find any one imperfect moment, along with the rule changes that are being made for horse welfare and what impact they might have on judging.
I think some of it could be worded better but I don’t disagree with her overall point. Even if you’re an upper level rider who does your best to train kindly, the social media mob doesn’t allow anything less than perfection when it comes to results. If your horse is behind the vertical, you will get bashed and accused of abuse … even if it’s a situation where, for example, the horse is tense because of the atmosphere and curling up and you’re actively trying to get him relaxed and more open in the throatlatch but it hasn’t happened yet. It isn’t just “hey this isn’t quite correct and judges shouldn’t reward it, that other horse looks better because he’s more relaxed” type comments, it’s accusations of abuse. If you loosen your noseband and the mouth isn’t perfectly soft and closed 100% of the time, that moment with the mouth open will be screenshotted and showed as evidence of your terrible hands and cruel methods. If you love your horse and are doing your best to be kind, it would take some serious thick skin to deal with the pitchfork-wielding mob of social media experts.
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A video showed up on my facebook feed of featherlight horsemanship - the woman appears to be VERY skilled at what she does, lots of liberty work, etc.
She had a buckskin at liberty, at home, in a roundpen. The horse was being asked to do some variety of passage, and was extremely behind the vertical. At liberty. With no rider, no tack, no nothing!
I went to the comments, hoping to see someone point this out… but crickets. It was interesting to me, in the sense that if a rider was aboard, that would have drawn great scrutiny. People are weird, and at times very dumb.
I admit to browsing around on the very vocal people’s profiles, trying to understand what kind of experience they have. More often than not, I see crappy fencing, atrocious living conditions, a horse who looks to be a million years old and put together by committee with garbage feet (but barefoot, of course).
Yes, everyone has the right to say something if they choose. But who are you going to take more seriously - the person who doesn’t know what lead they’re on, or the one who went to the Olympics?
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If her point was that it doesn’t look good on the replay, ok - but… I was also flummoxed by the “keeping everyone safe” talk. It’s flatwork, for god’s sake. If you’re worried that your horse is going to explode and damage other folks on the ground, maybe you shouldn’t be competing?
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I have to admit I’ve also creeped on the profiles of a couple of the most aggressive Facebook trainers. Most of the ones with public profiles don’t appear to even have horses and it’s mostly pictures of dogs. I’ve rarely seen a picture of any of them on a horse and when I have the picture has inevitable appeared to be from at least 30 years ago.
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If your horse is exploding and putting everyone around him in danger on a regular basis, it’s true, you probably shouldn’t be competing. But any horse can have a spook or silly moment, and those moments usually don’t look pretty in the screenshot … the rider who was soft and following a second ago might be momentarily taking a firm hold to contain a spook, the horse might be wide-eyed and open-mouthed because he’s scared of something. And the DH-types will screenshot that moment and criticize it to bits and sling abuse accusations.
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Hmm. I had a similar takeaway to @Sticky_Situation, but found myself a little put off by the complaint lingering between the lines. My first read-through was along the lines of “okay, so you don’t like the welfare rules that force you to loosen nosebands that may/may not impact your score” and “sometimes we need to ride round and deep (read: rollkur)” which might have been an uncharitable takeaway.
I completely agree with her (and Sticky) about how bad the social media mob has gotten. Anything less than perfection is immediately scrutinized, your training is vivisected over a still, your humanity and horsemanship put on the line often by armchair quarterbacks who have never sat on something even a fraction as talented or as trained. It does make me worry for the future of the sport. Social license is probably going to change the sport in a way that might not be good, though I believe several of the most recent welfare updates were sorely needed.
I think it will just change the game in terms of the type of riding that gets to the top, as well as the type of horse bred. The super sensitive, hyper elastic horses may fall away for horses that accept aids and guidance with a little less expression.
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Ha! Turns out many of those Facebook trainers are right!
Mob? No. We are an army. And we are EVERYWHERE.
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Ooooooo git it gurl!
(QFP).
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No need to QFP. I won’t deny it.
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Congratulations in advance for when your army succeeds in getting horseback riding banned within a decade or two, I suppose.
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No comments on the article itself.
But as an English/journalism major I really wish COTH would use ghostwriters for any article “by” a horse professional. Because while they are experts in their fields, and certainly have important insights to share, almost none of them good writers, no matter how much the editors try to fix the submissions.
How many times have we had a thread where the main point wasn’t obvious, or every poster had a different idea of what the point was because the writer basically rambled along in a stream-of-consciousness nightmare?
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I can’t tell if you’re being playful or serious but… I don’t know. I think the Milestone Maniacs and the DH apologists do a lot more harm than good because they villainize everyone, irrespective of that person’s actual treatment of horses long-term. As always the answer is in the middle… Fewer Tophats & tight nosebands, more Tik Maynards & Masterson Method supporters. Fewer Helgstrands, more Klimkes. Fewer Bauchers, more Dufours. A movement towards kinder and better horse welfare was started long before MM or DH were on the scene; they’re going to ride its momentum to the top, but it will probably come at the cost of showing horses at all.
Don’t forget the Klassical Dressage Ancients weren’t all that great either. Baucher advocated breaking horses by strapping their limbs together. People have always abused horses, and people have always been kind to them. Xenophon was ~2,500 years ago.
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You’re hilarious. It’s not me or the army getting horses banned from the Olympics. It’s the abusers. If no abuse is happening then there’s nothing to worry about, now is there?
Did i cause CDJ to be suspended? Nope. That was CDJ committing the act and the FEI and BD suspending her.
Same with famous rider after famous rider. I didn’t make Parra be a twisted sicko. He did that. And THEY banned him.
So perhaps your gaslighting might work on others, but it will never work on me.
Stop the abuse and aspiring Olympians have zero to worry about. How about that?
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Nope. You’re right. The ancient ones often sucked themselves. But that fact doesn’t help the position of Olympic riders - it hurts it. Because then there’s only one logical conclusion left. If the old guys needed abuse to accomplish things and the new guys need abuse to accomplish things AND all these people are the best of the best then I guess there’s no way to do Olympic level dressage without abuse. Therefore, it must be banned.
Now I personally prefer it not to be banned, but if I have to pick which I’ll champion behind, it’s going to be the horse every time.
As always, I’m caught wondering why people choose riders over horses.
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