To think that equestrian events are ridiculous

One of the very best events we saw at the 2012 London Olympics, was the disabled dressage. Quite astonishing performances by riders with life changing disabilities.

I watched a you tube video someone posted above and this one came up afterwards - it's so obvious how well these horses are cared for and loved. The german rider has never not flown with her own horse!

So emotional! Horses truly are regal animals.

What a STUNNING horse. Gorgeous

[quote 1990s]Listen to how the horse is discussed in this clip:

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/58083290[/quote]
Aww who's cutting onions 🥲

Listen to how the horse is discussed in this clip:

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/58083290

[quote BFrazzled]@Bryonyshcmyony
Your comments on this thread (including mentioning the lovely person of color) are something else.
I wish you had an idea what impression you make. You are clearly from an older generation so I’ll leave at that.[/quote]
Ageist as well as ignorant. How unsurprising.

I don't agree with everything Bryony has said but
Your comments on this thread (including mentioning the lovely person of color) are something else. is not an accurate rendering of what she did say.

She said it was lovely having a person of colour commentating on equestrian events.

In other words, being positive about increasing diversity in equestrian sports, not being a patronising relic.

alloalloallo I used to share a horse who would hack calmly past a manhole cover on four out of any five hacks, then on the fifth one decide it was the scariest, most spook-worthy horse-eating round flat metal monster in existence. To misquote Buffy: horse logic does not resemble Earth logic.

OP, you showed in your very first post that you have no idea what you're talking about when you suggested it's feasible for someone to ride the same horse at top level for thirty years, and your subsequent posts have confirmed you really have no authority whatsoever to talk about anything equestrian.

Maybe time to stop digging, eh? Lest you end up in Australia 🇦🇺

Yes, dressage and many other horses DO die of old age.
The top-level horses ARE elite athletes.
The GB team all, when interviewed, speak first about how amazing their horse is. They give them most of the credit.

The poster trying to draw a parallel between equestrianism and bullfighting/foxhunting, behave!

Racing, yes, I don't disagree; that is a brutal 'sport'. But very very different, in how its participants approach it and in its economic model, from the equestrian events we're talking about here.

A quick tap behind the saddle with a whip gets the pony listening and under control again, and is far less irritating for the pony than repeated ineffectual flappy legs on its side.

Yes, this.

DD rarely carries a whip, but she was grateful see had hers with her last night when out on a hack her pony took offence at a large rose bush and was twatting about refusing to go past it.

A quick tap - and I mean a tap, DD very rarely uses a whip and is a very gentle rider - got her pony listening to her, pony decided the rose bush wasn’t going to eat her and they were on their way again. They were on the road back to our yard, there’s no room for messing about and 10 minutes of negotiation.

She’s been walking past that same rose bush most days for the 2 years we’ve been at our yard without any issues. Last night she needed reminding of that fact.

I ride with a whip and Spurs. My horse is 700kg of solid muscle with an incredibly intelligent brain. I don’t beat him. I don’t spur him until he bleeds. My whip and Spurs are used to back up my other side, my leg, my weight, voice etc. At times, yes he gets a jab in the ribs if it’s needs. He is a massive animal and needs to behave and do what I say for mine, his and other peoples safety.

Why does it seem ok to you that a child has a whip at all? Why is it ok to let the child hit the horse who is kept there essentially just for purposes of recreation? What are you teaching the child? Do you also let your child hit your dog to train it?

Why are you still posting? You are just embarrassing yourself tbh.

another example, say my horse decided to kick out at a human behind her, or even a horse - would she get a smack? Of course, because that behaviour is incredibly dangerous and not acceptable.

@BFrazzled

Sorry, but are you serious?

"Some dogs are also big. The solution is not to let the child train a big dog it endangers the dog."

Yes, even the smallest of ponies are so much stronger than humans. Yes, they are trained, but sometimes they decide to use their strength against us.

I wanted to hose my mare down the other day (for her benefit as it was a scorching hot day), she's only a pony and I am a full grown adult but she decided to leg it as she doesn't really like the hosepipe. There was no way I could stop her. I wrapped the rope around her nose and insisted that she behaved, for both of our safety.

Whip aids are an interesting topic for the non-equestrian. Is this something you genuinely want to learn about, or are you making a sweeping generalisation that because the object is a whip then the rider must be using it for punishment, or in an abusive manner?

The whip is an aid. It is used to back up the leg aids, which children's ponies often become desensitised to, because as we've established throughout the thread it takes years of training and skill and lots and lots of lessons to be able to become precise enough as a rider to ask a horse to move to the lightest aid. Horses and ponies are trained to move by the application of a leg aid, but some ponies aren't stupid and quickly learn over the years that a 6 stone wringing wet child can't actually make it do anything it doesn't want to, and they switch off to the child's sometimes feeble or uncoordinated leg aids. A quick tap behind the saddle with a whip gets the pony listening and under control again, and is far less irritating for the pony than repeated ineffectual flappy legs on its side.

Well, I carry a whip to flick horse flies of my horse, to push brambles out of the way, to help pull gates shut and because it's bright orange it emphasises my hand signals to riders.

It was the BBC. Nick Luck was one of the commentators and being all professionally cool and collected as usual as he told us the time to beat for gold and the other one (also male, not Rishi) was all "Explosion is the best!! I love him!!". It was quite funny and sweet.

That would have been former international showjumper Andy Austin.

If it was the BBC you were watching on then probably Nick Luck, who usually works in racing. Rishi Persad is the “man on the ground” in Tokyo, he’s also predominantly a racing man - lovely bloke too.

It was the BBC. Nick Luck was one of the commentators and being all professionally cool and collected as usual as he told us the time to beat for gold and the other one (also male, not Rishi) was all "Explosion is the best!! I love him!!". It was quite funny and sweet.

@Bfrazzled
Why does it seem ok to you that a child has a whip at all? Why is it ok to let the child hit the horse who is kept there essentially just for purposes of recreation?

Because horses are BIG and children are small, and sometimes the horses need to be reminded of their manners for safety.