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| Hampton as a young 3 year old! |
At risk of sounding like Andy Rooney here ...
You know what really bothers me?
When people blame their lack of work and training with their horse on anything other than themselves.
A few years ago I was at a dressage show with Hampton. The facility was lovely, and a couple of vendors had set up tents to display their products. The tents were not even close to the show rings. On Friday evening, I was out schooling Hamp and a lady started bitching to management about how a tent was spooking her horse and they should take it down immediately.
No, that's HER PROBLEM. Her lack of training with her horse. It's not the show's problem, or the sponsor's problem. As a rider, THAT'S YOUR JOB to deal with things like this, and to teach your horse to deal with it too.
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| Maybe the worse thing he ever did while starting him? |
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Recently a friend was competing and the judge stopped her in the middle of the test. I guess the judge lost her place, and was trying to get her ducks back in a row. My friend was pissed that she had to stop, and blamed the judge for "ruining her test" and thus her score for the event.
Yes the situations sucks, but as the rider IT'S YOUR JOB to teach the horse that sometimes we stop, and then we go right back to work. It should not be an issue IN DRESSAGE, especially lower levels, to pick right back up and keep going. Judges make mistakes, too. If your test was ruined, that's on YOU.
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| His first horse show. I was so happy nothing disastrous happened. |
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We all have unpredictable situations happen both on and off the farm. Of course I would speak up if someone was doing something completely dangerous and inappropriate, but otherwise I deal with the environment. And teach my horse that no matter what, he needs to keep listening to me. Am I always successful? No. That's horses. But I am certainly not going to blame show management, sponsors, friends, judges, etc. for something that happens to me.
Like when we got dive bombed by a horse fly in the middle of a test. Bad luck? Yup, but I handled it.
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| Smacking the shit out of that damn horse fly. |
Or when a plastic bag blew into the arena right where we were doing a turn on the haunches. Hampton peeked, but stayed right with me.
Or when a loose horse galloped by us as we waited outside the ring. Hampton stood stock still. Other riders had to stop their test because the horse was running through other rings. Crappy luck? Yep, but you deal with it.
I have had Hampton spook, stop, buck and stumble during tests. No one to blame but myself. Not people on the rail, not my coach, not even really my horse.
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| Hot mess express right here |
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| Umm err this movement not required in tests |
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| He wanted to spook at the judge here, and then protested when I dug my spur into him. oops. lol |
It's MY job, not anyone else's.
So true. I once went to a H/J schooling show where a trainer was complaining to the show manager that the flowers under the jumps were spooking her students horses and could they remove the flowers. The show manager came to ask if I would be okay with that and I said no. It's a schooling show! School the damned flowers.
ReplyDeletePreach it sister!! I need to get you out to my barn so we can cackle at the crazies. 😂
ReplyDeleteTrue! I’ve had so many moments like that and truthfully got chided for exactly this once upon a time by an Olympic clinician because she heard me ask someone (albeit, nicely!) to move her dog. The clinician was like “No way, YOU gotta deal with riding your horse despite the dumb dog”...& she was 100% correct. Ironically at my next show at a major venue, a chihuahua came tearing into the ring during my SJ round! LOL! We were able to not smush the dog and jump clean ;)
ReplyDeleteYes! Hence the reason anytime anyone spooks Connor during my rides, I tell them don't apologize and keep doing what they're doing. It's a great training opportunity to have something like that happen at home during a test. How you respond to a situation like that matters almost as much as anything else.
ReplyDelete100% agree!!! Fergie bucked me off during out first ever dressage test when people started clapping for another rider. I never once blamed anyone but myself for not thinking to expose her to clapping. 2nd time she bucked me off was during a lesson when a horse being lunged reared and bolted. Again, my fault for not getting her out more. I was so very proud this past Sunday when during our lesson, a horse being lunged laid down and rolled. Fergie looked but kept going as if nothing was out of the ordinary - personal win :)
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the only perks of my sketchy backyard barn -- my horses see so much weird shit that shows seem completely normal 😂
ReplyDeleteI am baffled every time my current trainer asks me if she needs to have the workers stop doing something. Yes my horse is a total goober and wants to look at everything, and yes he will use the opportunity to spook if I am asking for something difficult. No that doesn't mean he can't deal with it.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lady at my barn who anytime she doesn't like something in the environment she lectures the person she considers most responsible. Example: a mini donkey lives on the property and the owner likes to walk it around the arena. Some of the horses get freaked out by it (my guy is most definitely suspicious). Crazy lady goes into full on pissed off assault mode "DON'T YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T BRING MINI DONKEYS AROUND HORSES?!?! IT'S DANGEROUS!!". No - what's dangerous is that you refuse to school your horse through scary/new situations.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely right, it is our job to get them out there and exposed to as much as possible and then handle it!
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha. Yup. If you/your horse can't handle the show environment, don't show.
ReplyDeleteEverything we do at home is geared towards "what if it happens in public." There are very few times when I get after people to stop doing something, because of precisely that- I'm going to lose his attention eventually in public. If he's having an already frazzled and bad day at home though, I sometimes say something to try and salvage the ride enough to wrap up on a good note. Never at a show, I just deal with it!
ReplyDeleteAgree so much! I've got a spooky idiot to ride a lot of the time and I'm hell bent on turning him into a solid citizen. The way to do that isn't to try to create a vacuum to ride in though. So like yesterday when the tree trimmers were out, instead of freaking out like some of my barn mates would have, I was like "oh goody" because now he's not weird about tree trimming!
ReplyDeleteI agree! Though I would be a bit peeved if a judge stopped me in my test like that, not because my horse might protest, but as someone who struggles to memorize things (in all aspects of life) it would throw my concentration off. Yes, it is something I work on and *should* expect at all times, but in a low level test there are not THAT many movements for a judge to watch! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe second to last pic is an absolute gem. You need to frame that one.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest, right there with you. The ONE caveat is off-leash dogs. Keep your damn dog on a leash (especially at a show) because I really do not enjoy when my horse spooks during a test because your intact off-leash male dog is literally shredding another dog right next to the arena. Thanks but no.