For those who want the short versionâŠthey are âworking on itâ, more details supposedly out on June 1. IF they come up with a change, it would have to be voted on in November and might not pass as written, if they come with something in writing. Too late for WEG.
YawnâŠ
Couture TB didnât bring it up, I did. And I stated that a) it was from the dark side of the reining handbook, and b) that Iâd heard it third hand. I didnât specify that the person who told me was a grizzled octogenarian who hadnât competed in decades and had only heard of other trainers doing it, but perhaps I should have. Said grizzled octogenarian said that the wiring of mouths was part of the reason reiners are required to drop the bridle after their rides to make sure thereâs no funny business. That was my reason for bringing it up.
My train of thought is thus:
- Some riders severely tighten their horsesâ nosebands in dressage, to the point where the strap makes noticeable dents in the horsesâ face.
- There has been talk of making a rule standardizing how snug nosebands can be.
- I remember the conversation with the grizzled octogenarian about the wiring of mouths.
- I think âeventers arenât all saints, and people can do some dark stuff when thereâs fame and money on the line.â
- I post, and also make a suggestion that perhaps eventing should follow the reining rules and require horses to be unbridled after their test to show thereâs no funny business.
End of train of thought.
precisely why my post, that you @MNEventer just quoted, said you ie @Couture TB DID NOT blah blah blah.
because she responded to someone elseâs post, hence she was not who I was addressing. Which I then clarified for her, and am now clarifying for you.
Sorry, I have not read all 45 pages of this. Just wondering, how do they do a bit check if the nose band is so overly tight? I know a bit check is required at all levels, so are they just skipping it?
did any of you read the big write up in Chronicle about this? They covered both sides, but there is really only one sideâŠ
There may be others with better answers, but info I got directly from an official participant in that competition was that the noseband and bit were checked and rechecked before dressage. Might have been checked afterward but I have no direct info on that. What I gathered was that the noseband is correctly tightened when the mareâs mouth is closed. But she opens her mouth enough to push against it almost constantly. I suppose in theory, if it was to be loosened, she might push against that (with a slightly gaping mouth) and it would look too tight.
Apparently itâs random and some seem to never get picked. Supposedly there should be room to slip a finger under the noseband, takes 2 seconds. Besides tightness, things could be under that noseband. Yet officials are afraid to rock the boat because they are afraid they will never be officiating anything in the future.
Thatâs a problem in other dusciplines too. Thereâs talk of USEF hiring the stewards independent of input from show managers, who are heavily influenced by trainers threatening to pull their sizable strings of show horses over in Hunterland if the stewards are not " friendly" to them.
Not a bad idea for TDS and even vets to be hired by their regulating authority with no input from elite level competitors or team selectors.
So I got my eventing news in the mail last night. And there is a little story about the national champion. Blah, Blah, she âhad a little cut on her lipâ.
Then they actually had something in there about Townendâs issue at Badminton.
So unreal. âNope, nothing to see here, move along, itâs okay if the national champion seems to have a repeated issue with bloodying her horsesâs mouths, and the world top ranked rider seems to have repeated issues with various questionable actionsâ. âAnd for those of you who have an issue, itâs because you donât know what you are seeingâ.
Sheesh. :mad:
If you get the paper version of COTH, they had a HUGE write-up on both.
The FEi can introduce rules, without putting them to vote of all NFs at the General Assembly, if they are deemed to be really important. New endurance rules were agreed by the FEI bureau in summer 2014 in time to be applied at the Normandy WEG.
This is really unfortunate, but itâs honestly one of my lesser concerns about the Raylyn/Little camp. Electrified jumping boots, creative accounting practices, near-constant litigation, and vets who âunderstandâ are at the heart of the Raylyn business model. Itâs not just the Raylyn horses that have blood in their mouths; weâve all been biting our tongues for way too long.
Reiners have to drop the bridle after competing.
PRE/POST CHECK
Section 1. NRHA requires riders to dismount and drop their bridles for inspection before or after showing, either in the arena for a judge or in close proximity to the arena for the designated judge in multiple judge situations. Failure to comply with this rule shall result in a no score. Judges are required to call all occurrences of illegal equipment, un- sportsmanlike conduct, and evidences of abuse, without fail. As with any penalty application within NRHA, judges are advised that should there be any doubt as to whether or not there has been a violation, benefit of this doubt shall always go to the contestant. Also, judges are advised not to drop or assist in dropping bridles for contestants, this is to be done by the contestant or his/her designated assistant. A judge has the authority to perform random mouth checks. An NRHA Judge who serves as a volunteer equipment judge is allowed to compete in another class at that show.
I canât speak to the rules in FEI eventing dressage, but for recognized US dressage shows where I had to do bit checks, the rule is that equipment must be inspected on one-third of the horses/competitors in a class after they exit the arena. So, yes, itâs pretty much random. I basically put a check mark next to âxâ number of horses out of the class and those were the ones I looked at. I think the only horse I purposefully avoided checking was Silva Martinâs horse, but only because he almost ran me over before going into the arena. :lol: However, for championship classes, it is done for every ride.
For CDIs (FEI âpureâ dressage, not eventing dressage), every single horse gets their bits & spurs checked after they come out of the ring.
Has anyone seen or heard a whisper of these proposed rule(s) changes yet? Itâs well past June 1.
Curious if there has been any movement on this?
The whole issue rubbed me the wrong way; make sure to read the presidentâs letter if you skipped it. The funny thing is that I actually agree with her core point (which I would summarize as being about maintaining some perspective in contentious online discussions), but not her conclusions.
Also the back page picture can be taken as high snark should one so choose.
I completely agree. 
So, at least we now have confirmation that the USEF has absolutely no balls at all. Putting ML on the WEG team is an absolute disgrace. And of course, we havenât seen anything from them or FEI about rules changes.
Welfare of the horse, my ass. :mad:
