Op Piece - Banning Whips in Competition

[kaya842]

Full disclosure, I’m no event rider (mostly the jumper ring for me) however the article was penned by an Eventer.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/opinion-its-time-to-let-go-of-the-whip/

I think he makes a great point re social license. But I’m not fully convinced that removing the whip entirely is the correct answer. I feel like there are some situations where a well timed application can make a difference between a successful jump effort and a crash. Maybe the answer is to pull up instead but I feel as though there are times where it’s unsafe to pull up. I don’t know.

Thought it was an interesting piece and just wanted to see what others thought!

[Marigold]

@Marigold

I don’t remember that Kentucky round, so maybe he did overuse it, I’m not commenting on that. But the use of a whip (never, ever to beat a horse, but as a timing aid) is not inherently abusive, and I don’t think it does us any favors to start claiming that either. Mia Farley and Phelps over the Cottesmore Leap at Burghley last weekend is a great example. That fence is a bad fence for a horse to hesitate at. To avoid that mistake, three strides out she put her reins in her left hand and dropped her right hand with her stick down near her right leg. When she reached her takeoff point, she tapped him with it. She didn’t hit him, she didn’t beat him. It was contact that I doubt registered at any level greater than your average high five. But it said to the horse “3, 2, 1, go!” and they stepped over the fence with confidence and continued on. That’s not abuse, and I have no problem with it being legal - in fact, I would have a problem if it wasn’t.

Of course a whip can be used negatively - I’ve ridden horses that have been treated poorly before they came to me, and you couldn’t carry a whip with them at all they were so afraid. But on the other hand, my horses couldn’t care less what I do with my whip, except when I don’t use it to remove the biting bugs fast enough, and I don’t have a problem with people knowing I carry one. A whip is not inherently a tool of abuse, and I think portraying it as such is also very detrimental.

He’s already made that comment in another post, and I responded to it then (in the Andrew McConnon thread), so my response is quoted above because I still feel the same way.

An important part of this article is that he is proposing banning the whip in competition. There are already strict whip restrictions in place in competition. No one is using a whip to beat a horse at a competition (unfortunately, we know that there remain some bad actors who will use it as such at home, but critically this proposal does nothing to deal with them). This proposal is for optics, and optics only.

Matt says:

The whip is one of the most visible—and easily misunderstood—tools we use.

This proposal is to remove something that may be occasionally used to help the horse and rider have a safer and more positive round, so that people who do not understand that can feel better. This is not the right direction, for our sport or anything else. The way forward is not to remove tools that serve our horses and riders because someone may misunderstand. The way forward is to help people understand.

If we do not provide information about what we do and why we do it, it is only reasonable that people will draw their own conclusions. It used to be that people did not see much of horse sports until they participated in them themselves, so by definition there was some level of education there. With the rise of social media, this is no longer the case. It could be such an opportunity for us: we have an incredible sport, and we work with incredible partners. But there is also a responsibility to explain ourselves, if we don’t want people to guess. We can take away thing after thing, most of which are tools most of us use for good reasons and with good intentions. But that will never solve the problem if we do not help people understand, because there will always be another thing.

Let’s share the joy of horse sports, all of the positives that come from a strong partnership between horse and rider, and how it is that we build that.

[alyssaequestrian]

I agree the whip has its uses prior to taking on a fence (and on occasion on landing), but I am not opposed to making it so it cannot be used following a disobedience or limiting the usage from 3 to 1. In general, most horses seem to have an understanding when they make a mistake and refuse a fence. If they don’t, then they truly never understood what was asked in the first place.

[libgrrl]

That is more than fair.

[Beam_Me_Up]

I believe the EV112.3 Extraordinary rule change already prevents the use of a whip as a reprimand.

I’ve grown up/been trained that having one (whether you use it or not) is an important safety tool. It sounds like the author has reevaluated its place in his training program which is fair.

[ClassyJumper]

I usually quite like Matt Brown but coming after a crop when you have quite an extensive peice of headgear on your horse is an interesting choice.

I always hold a crop but honestly hardly ever use it. It’s definitely a safety crutch for me. If I ever need to get out of a situation & NOW I like knowing I have something extra.

& honestly for the pokey ones I think a well timed tap is much better than a nagging spur.

Finally, horses are BIG creatures that interact with each other with kicks and bites and often are 10x the size of the humans interacting with them. Are they sensitive and well intentioned most of the time? Yes. But I do think we need to stop acting like they are newborn kittens.

Most of the people complaining about this or that are probably scared sh!tless of horses in real life.

[EventerAJ]

I ride A LOT of young horses, from starting under saddle to starting over fences and beyond. I almost never ride a young horse without a crop and a neckstrap. GO FORWARD is the name of the game. Starting babies, they don’t always understand what “leg” means. They get wiggly. They get stuck. They pop their shoulders. Tapping a crop on the shoulder is much more instinctively understood than “put your leg on.” I start and gallop a lot of 2yo racehorses too, and you learn quickly that a brisk road trot past a scary/spooky place is much safer than risking a stop/spin/bolt.

I’m actively teaching them what “leg on” means, but that most always involves some light taps on the shoulder (and less often, behind leg) when needed. It’s absolutely not a punishment or abusive; it’s just to get the feet moving on a baby horse that genuinely doesn’t know what to do. They all know voice commands, but they get confused, distracted, lost, stuck, and tap-tap with a cluck/kiss gets them going (& praise).

A year or two later, those horses are going to their first xc schools, shows, and new places. They’re green. They will be distracted, looking, and occasionally “stuck.” I still have my crop with me, and tap-tap on the shoulder just like we did at home (in the very beginning) to reinforce my leg. It prevents a stop on course, keeps the feet moving, and – for horses who stop, hesitate, plant and BLOW UP-- keeping moving is often a safer course of action. All these things can happen at a horse’s first competitions, so I want the option to have it at horse trials and not just at home.

I carry a crop but basically never tap/hit an educated horse. I may use it for straightness-- wave it in their vision on the outside shoulder of a corner, for example-- but by a time a horse is solid at the level they understand leg = forward and know their job. Those horses could probably get away with no whip.

But I would never give up the option to carry my stick on a young/green horse, it’s part of safety.

[RAyers]

To me, his arguments to justify his position are very vague, almost to specious. A lot of hand waving. I believe he is totally wrong. And just because somebody can ride at a high level doesn’t mean they know what is the right thing.