Live Stream of Wellington Young Rider Clinic January 4-7

[nolirides]

Right, I was watching, just found it surprising that continuing would be on the table.

[roseymare]

But in PETAs view anything we do with horses is force.
How can we even compete with that?

[Knights_Mom]

@dags

No. No one is routinely (or even occasionally) flipping horses over in HJ land. Some of those things are worth more than my house and trainers can’t ride with broken bones. None of the accusation that she actually meant “flip it over” makes any sense at all.

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve said “you run him into the fence before you let him turn that corner” and to this day absolutely NO ONE has actually run a horse into a fence. But by gods, they did finally realize that they could indeed stop straight.

I feel like a lot of the critiques are coming from people that just haven’t taught a lot of kids and learned firsthand how nonchalant they can be about instruction that is ultimately meant to keep them safe.

People run horses into corners all the time. Dressage riders too. Gold medalists. With electrified spurs.

Upper level riders are not always the good guys. If you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

[Knights_Mom]

@roseymare

But in PETAs view anything we do with horses is force.
How can we even compete with that?

You show the general public the truth and THEY interpret. Blackfish the Orca movie did this. But with this obvious brutality and advising a child to flip a horse I’m thinking John Q. Public won’t be so liking of equestrian sport.

[roseymare]

But that is not what she said. She didn’t tell a child to flip a horse.
And John Q Public actually probably has no idea how dangerous flipping a horse over is.
The licking statement probably has more effect on John Q Public.

[Curly_Feather]

My hands are just too weak to pull the leathers through the bars after adjusting. So I can technically lift my leg and change the holes one-handed, but then I need two hands to pull the buckle into position

[Aussie_2020]

I think that many people are also becoming intractable and dangerous. And I’m not trying to be funny.

[Knights_Mom]

@roseymare

But that is not what she said. She didn’t tell a child to flip a horse.
And John Q Public actually probably has no idea how dangerous flipping a horse over is.
The licking statement probably has more effect on John Q Public.

That’s EXACTLY what she said.

John Q. Public would see flipping a horse as abuse.

[roseymare]

You give John Q Public way more credit than I do.

[MHM]

@Knights_Mom

@roseymare

But that is not what she said. She didn’t tell a child to flip a horse.

That’s EXACTLY what she said.

No, it’s not.

She said: “I personally would be flipping him over backwards. He wouldn’t dare go around that corner with me.”

As in, Katie was contrasting what she herself would do with a horse that was dragging her around the turn to prevent it from happening.

She did NOT say to the rider, “You should flip him over backwards.”

Whether you think she was right or wrong in her comments, let’s stick to what she actually said.

[Knights_Mom]

To my mind, when Katie said what she would do, it was implied that the kid would be correct if they did too.

At least to me and a multitude of others.

Suffice it to say, those words weren’t worth the subsequent outcry as far as those words being meaningful to successful training practices…

[Cowgirl]

In my horse’s case, he was three years old and they were riding him too much and too long. The horse was doing great in training. They got greedy. They started overriding him. He was THREE. The day I saw them beat him and pull a bit through his mouth (yes, pulling the inside rein to her knee while beating him with a crop) was because they rode him 40 minutes without a break and he stopped at the gate. That is what prompted the viscious beating. By the time I came with my trailer to get him a few days later, they had already flipped him the day before. The horse is not dangerous, the trainers were.

I have another three year old that I just pulled out of a colt starting program at about 80 days in (different trainer this time) after he started refusing to go forward and the trainer started using spurs and a crop on him. The trainer was also overriding. A week after I brought him home, I had a vet look at him and his back was so sore that he is on the highest dose of robaxin for a month. This horse has a much more submissive temperment to the other one, but am fairly certain that if the trainer started really beating him (like the first trainer did with my other horse) he would probably fight back.

So I have had TWO recent experiences with this with trainers (and both programs were expensive and in good facilities). Somebody is teaching these young trainers to do this. They are not making it up for themselves. The worst part of that USEF video is that it was broadcast for the young trainers in other parts of the country who can’t afford to go to clinics to see and learn from.

[Cowgirl]

Potato Potato Whatever she said, she suggested this is an appropriate method of training. It’s not only not appropriate, it’s extremely dangerous. AND she said it to children AND on camera. Not pearl clutching here, but I am definitely saying that it’s time to dump the old guard who think dominance is a way to train horses.

[fivestrideline]

@Curly_Feather

My hands are just too weak to pull the leathers through the bars after adjusting. So I can technically lift my leg and change the holes one-handed, but then I need two hands to pull the buckle into position

Same here. Sometimes I need two hands plus some body weight to haul them into place from the ground, depending on which saddle

[Midge]

@punchy

As for stopping straight, some ways she could find would be running it into the wall or ripping its face out. Depending on how the horse reacted to that, e.g., badly, then she could flip it over for disobeying. Sounds nice.

The point of saying that is to not let the horse go around the turn. The choice is to stop in a straight line or run into the wall. 99.9% of horses will stop before running into the wall. If you are on one of the .1%, it’s good to find out early on.

[Midge]

@MsM

I have only seen the clips.

Then, when exercises didn’t go as planned, she didn’t have a lot of ways to address issues.

If you only saw the clips, how do you know? The session was 90 minutes. You saw two and a half of them.

[Midge]

@DMK

@dags This may be single greatest post I have ever read (only a little hyperbole involved).

The only thing I will add is I sincerely hope that those riders (along with their trainers) are having a significant amount of healthy introspection that they were defeated by what should arguably be basic level gymnastics for anybody at their level. For this I don’t blame the kids, but I also expect the kids to buck up little beaver when you’re having a lesson and things get hard and just get it done. And since the only people I’ve seen losing their collective shit over this appear to be adults on the internets, I’m assuming that they are all doing exactly that… but that their education to this point left them so unprepared speaks volumes.

Right? Right???

[wanderlust]

They are on perfectly manicured GGT footing. I own the penultimate shoe puller (can we say double bell boots for turnout) and as long as she’s pulled it off clean, she is perfectly sound and 100% good to ride on that footing.

[dags]

@Knights_Mom

As for exclamations of frustration, I could see yelling to someone “I’m going to kill you” in a moment of anger but that doesn’t hold water to someone telling their child/youth/junior aspiring rider that they need to flip their horse over backwards.

Yeah, so, as a survivor of attempted homicide, I despise how quick people are to whip out that phrase and have worked hard to eliminate it from my vocabulary. I no longer flinch every time it’s used but sure as hell don’t enjoy the symbolism. Meanwhile, we’re witnessing a decline of reasonable discourse alongside a rise of vitriolic outrage that all too often ends in violence, so I’m going to disagree that that hyperbole is somehow more innocent than Katie’s woefully wrong choice of words.

[LSBC]

Also, they asked Missy if he could keep going! It wasn’t Katie’s decision at all. I just wanted to acknowledge that because I think the clinic as a whole and Katie are almost two different topics.