So with regard to Legolas and the article I linked, what advice would you have had for Steffen in that situation? Don’t ride him indoors? Just accept lower scores? Retire him, because he’s not cut out for that level of competition?
Do you believe that Legolas & Steffen cheated, in order to achieve that high a score while wearing a noise-buffering fly bonnet?
Like what? Another discipline where a noise buffer is allowed, maybe just a hack at home, where.Oh yes, noise buffering is allowed…
The competition arena is not the issue, it is the noise that is the issue for some horses, now my expectation is that reactions will not change because the discipline changes, all that changes is what the rules allow to help that horse cope.
To all who are “passing judgement” ( a common COTH issue, I’ll admit, I’ve done it myself), and saying don’t show your horse if you can’t do it without ear plugs - seriously? Ear plugs are non-damaging, not-cruel, a minor piece of equipment that is far less of an issue then bits, spurs, whips. Definitely less offensive then nosebands adjusted so tightly that the flesh bulges around the leather.
Many international horses have issues with noises too - as @Silverbridge points out, Legolas was one. Anky has ridden a few that were super reactive. Athletic horses can be reactive to noises or other things. I know a BNT whose GP horse was very reactive - she didn’t retire him, she took him to GP, and dealt with the sudden spooking. Valegro was a head shaker - for years, without a bonnet, he couldn’t be ridden. If we retired all the horses that had issues, there wouldn’t be a lot of horses left.
We have choices in all kinds of bits, and bridles - how many are using one of the new fangled bridles, PS of Sweden, Micklem, or some of the others? Those were illegal just a few years ago. How many are using bits made of different types of metal or metal and non-metal? Those were illegal several years ago. How many are using a slightly ported bit, or any of the other recently approved new bits? How may use a longer dressage whip - the length of the legal whip has gone shorter, then longer too. Do you use these things because your horse goes better? Yet an ear puff is an issue?
I’m not going to “retire” my mare. I’m guessing the others who have commented about experiencing issues with noise sensitivity aren’t going to do so either. Saying showing makes the horse miserable is also a bit of a cop out. Do any of you stable your horses? That makes them miserable. How about feed only twice daily? SO unhealthy. Is your horse on any supplements? Why? See, we could go on and on - reality is, our horses put up with a lot as domesticated animals. And we spend a lot on our horses to make them as happy and as comfortable as possible - and most of us can’t just retire one that isn’t perfect and go buy another. Even at the international level, the riders deal with foibles and quirks, and do as much as they can - bits, bridles, saddles, supplements, ear bonnets, WHATEVER it takes to make their horses most functional. Noise muffling bonnets were approved a few years ago, I think the OP has a valid question - why not ear plugs?
I was one who said if your horse is reactive to every noise that you can’t compete, then don’t compete. There’s a big difference between that, and a horse who has known reactions to specific types of noises that MAY arise at a show (i.e. Legolas). You deal with the spook in those cases. Horses are horses, sh*t happens. I was referring to the horses that are jumping out of their skin at shows, can’t possibly relax because the world is too stimulating/scary. As I said before, you try to help them overcome it, but if they can’t, then you let it go and find them something else to do that doesn’t make them so miserable. NOT retire them. Just don’t compete, or whatever situation sets them off so terribly. Because they ARE miserable if they are jumping out of their skin or having a mental breakdown at a show.
A horse who spooks when a truck backfires is pretty normal. A horse who spooks when a tent blows over is pretty normal. A horse who thinks a pen click is a giant horse-eating monster, well, maybe not so much.
I also didn’t say don’t use poms/bonnets ever. At times, like some posters have described for the rain-on-the-indoor example, there are just situations when it is safer to ride a horse with them, if there are known stimuli that trigger that horse. Or for example, a woman I know in her mid-sixties who is rehabbing her horse after a soft tissue injury in the middle of winter, so he’s a bit fresh and she doesn’t want to get dumped (and have him gallivanting loose in the arena) because the wind blew some sand around. She used a bonnet for him. It isn’t forever, in fact she doesn’t use it now that it’s a bit warmer out and he’s in more regular work and not fresh.
But keep in mind, poms DO pose a health risk. Do you know how many times I hear about a hunter (I use this example because that’s where I see them used regularly) who has forgotten/lost a pom, and they find it a month later jammed in their horse’s ear and infected? I see a legitimate reason not to encourage using them, and legalizing them for shows does encourage using them.
In that example the ear poms aren’t the risk, bad practice is the risk, is there a health risk if used properly and removed when untacking?
For this forgetful old lady, it’s bloody simple, I keep her poms in a pouch, that clips on her headstall, when the poms go in, I move the pouch to her halter, when I untack, poms go in the case, and back on her headstall…
OR, use the bonnets with ear protection…
So if noise doesn’t or shouldn’t bother a “good” dressage horse, why was (is?) it the practice to be so quiet at ringside or in the seating areas? There have been numerous discussions in the past about the difference in the hushed atmosphere of a dressage show and a reining competition. Or when you attend a saddleseat or Arab show and the noise from the spectators increases as the horses perform.
OK, I’ve been thinking about this…
Talking to a younger, thinner, fitter, braver rider than me, about our shared challenges and this came up…we both quit trying to play the piano once you had to use both hands, and they had to do different things! Some people can separate bits of their body out and do different things easily, for me it is more of a struggle. I think this is the best way I can describe that uncoordinated feeling, not fitness, not even good, bad or lacking instruction, but the fact we are all built and wired differently.
YES, of course most things can be overcome with proper teaching and time, but some of us are inherently struggling from the start…
Using your logic a race horse that needs a shadow roll or blinkers needs to find a new job, a jumper that needs poms should be retired, an eventer that needs a breathing tape on their nose should be retired, etc.
Not really though, since none of those aids are against the rules.
But then we come back to the rules and why they are in place…and the original question…of all the gadgets that are legal, all the aids that can be used in and out of competition, why are puffs worthy of disqualifation, any where on the grounds.
I don’t know, since I didn’t make the rule. Perhaps if there are enough people who feel that earplugs should be allowed they can lobby for a rule change. :yes:
In all my years in the hunter world I have never heard of an ear infection related to a lost ear pom.
Who does nothing with their horse for a full month after a show such that a pom can be left their that long unnoticed?
You nailed it on the head.
Which is clearly hard for some people to understand.
I didn’t say it was anyone I respect that did this… :no: in one situation, they were stuffing additional poms into the horse’s ears for it’s daily rides, which is why the unnoticed infected pom got shoved down so far.
Sorry but in all my years of riding in the hunters, including many years of being a professional groom and a free lance braider and I’ve never heard of a horse getting an ear infection from a stuffie. That must have been a one off thing.
I agree 100%. They don’t harm the horse and don’t give anyone an unfair advantage so I don’t see the harm.
To the OP since this sport is supposed to be fun, why don’t you look for show opportunities (schooling or non rated) where you can dampen the noise for your horse and enjoy the competition experience?
It that wasn’t your argument - your argument was that if the horse was that reactive at shows it was miserable, and if it was miserable it shouldn’t be snowing. The OP was looking for a way to make the horse less miserable at shows.
Again, apparently the people who made the rule (that the OP feels is unfair) feel that a dressage horse is unsuitable if it is so reactive to noise that is has to be ridden with ear plugs. I said nothing about horses being “miserable”. Just that they are not suitable for competition dressage according to the people that wrote the rules.
The opportunities in the arse end of nowhere are limited!
Reading some of the replies I prefer to think they belong to the general ‘YOU’ the ‘YOU’ at large…
This one however…see she is not miserable at shows, no more than she is miserable anywhere else, in fact the other day when the barn was as busy as I have seen it, she was actually more relaxed, maybe because of the general hubbub of people and horses…a general noisy but steady environment.
We are actually doing pretty well at shows, started out in 2015 with Walk Trot classes, first one ever together, “tense horse and tense rider” was the comment, moved up a level in 2016, and again last year, dabbling at first level, where a couple of times we got “Sympathetically ridden” which I was very pleased with.
Again, there is not much choice around here so we take what is on offer 
And this mare has taught me so much in the last 2 1/2 years, it has been fantastic…I am a heck of a lot better rider than I have ever been, because she demands that of me.
Yes I will pursue a rule change, it is a multi pronged attack, the shows we go to are run under Provincial Association Rules, Sanctioned by Equine Canada, and also by Western Dressage Association of Canada, and following some arguments last year, they are making it clearer in the show rules, which trumps…one small instance, WSDAC recommends, but does not mandate the wearing of hard hats. Any shows sanctioned by SHF this year over rides that and requires all Western Riders to wear Hard Hats, but other wise the WSDAC rules apply.
I would certainly prefer to have poms for her, but most rides we are fine, until we aren’t!!!
My horse wears ear plugs and he wears them every day. So, despite the opinions of the HT DQs, this does not make me a bad person or a bad rider. It means I use the appropriate equipment for my horse and my level of skill and ability. If you can ride the dancing, leaping, spinning unicorns -go for it. The rest of us will continue to do the best we can with what we’ve got!
Sigh.
I have ridden over 1,000 horses, everything from a list of grade horses that came out of an auction in the back hills the day before to quarter million stallions that got a write up in Eurodreassage when they left for America.
The fact is, some of these 1200 lb flight animals go better, and are in fact HAPPIER AND MORE RELAXED, when the cacophony is dulled a little for them. Much like humans who prefer noise cancelling headphones for their commute.
99% of horses it doesnt matter but for the ones it helps it really helps.
Why don’t you drive around a while with the music turned up in the car a little louder than is comfortable? How about going sporting clays shooting with no earplugs? If you have a close bond with the person driving the car or shooting next to you do your ears feel any better about it???
I have ridden over 1000 horses and I have a rainman like ability to dial in and soothe even the most fractious equine. Just because I CAN ride the reactive horse doesn’t mean that making the horse more comfortable is bad horsemanship. I CAN probably ride effectively enough to get good performance out of a horse woth a poorly fitting saddle, but the horse still goes better and is happier when it is more comfortable.
I’ve also taught amateurs of all levels of bravery and timidity and if ear plugs can make both parties enjoy the ride rather than dread every drip of rain on the roof halleluia.
Making a flight animal with a brain the size of a grape fruit “take it” instead of just letting it be more comfortable with an ear plug ala half the human concert goers…
What a dumb thing to be a hero about.
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