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Original poster

To think that equestrian events are ridiculous

936 replies

BFrazzled · 02/08/2021 23:05

In the Olympics.

Poor horses. This ridiculous dancing in dressage, who the hell thought of that?

There was one winner of the dressage contest who supposedly also won in the nineties. No mention of the horse, guess it was with a different one then Hmm

OP posts:
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Original poster
BFrazzled · 03/08/2021 10:38

@j712adrian

.........walking horses sideways and having them jump in the air for the amusement of rich people all over the world and Austrians.

What's possibly odd about that?

Very precise. Also Germans…
OP posts:
Polkadotties · 03/08/2021 10:33

I find it really sad that just because people don’t enjoy a sport they refuse to acknowledge the hard work and effort that goes into it. Take archery for example. I don’t watch it, don’t enjoy it, but can appreciate that to do it at Olympic level requires hard work, dedication, time, sacrifice etc

Original poster
BFrazzled · 03/08/2021 10:33

@CoalCraft

I can't get over OP being surprised that someone who rode in the 1990' has a different horse in the 2020s...

OP you do realise that a horse of top level competition age in the nineties (so about ten years at the earliest) would have passed away peacefully of old age about ten years ago?

Let’s hope so. Do they really let those horses die of old age?
OP posts:
CoalCraft · 03/08/2021 10:28

I can't get over OP being surprised that someone who rode in the 1990' has a different horse in the 2020s...

OP you do realise that a horse of top level competition age in the nineties (so about ten years at the earliest) would have passed away peacefully of old age about ten years ago?

VeryLongBeeeep · 03/08/2021 10:28

Sorry, but this doesn't make any sense to me. If you are vegan how can you put up with exploitation of the horses essentially "for fun"? This is completely opposed to philosophy of any vegan person I know.

The current Director of Policy at the RSPCA is a vegan who owns a horse and rides, so it's obviously not completely antithetical for all.

rantymcrantface66 · 03/08/2021 10:27

@Ifailed

some of the sneering on here does little to challenge the idea that horsey people are rich & entitled.

Very few people in the UK are in the fortunate position to afford a horse and have any experience of dressage, it is presented by the media (and the sport itself in some cases) as dancing horses, so it's hardly surprising that many will see it as such.

Most of us will have ridden a bike, swum, run, jumped etc. so have some idea of how difficult these would be at an Olympian level; horse riding , and probably sailing, are not something that the majority will have experienced.

Fwiw I earn 9k a year as a single parent and I make sure my dc are able to ride as it's what they want to do. It takes a significant effort on my part but It's not impossible. People all have their own priorities.
DancesWithTortoises · 03/08/2021 10:27

@BFrazzled

Look, you live in a bubble.

Like 99,999.... percent of people watching the olympics would never have an idea cross their minds that they could "ask for a pony".

So of course they are jealous in the sense that for them it is completely unattainable, but I think this is a valid reason why this sport isn't popular with many.

Don't be silly. At primary school, very ordinary village state school, almost every little girl in my classes wanted a pony. They used to love coming up to the field to ride mine. And they all wanted their own most little girls do. To pretend otherwise is daft.

As for it not being popular, maybe you should look at the viewing figures to see how wrong you are.

Inverted snobbery is always ugly.

plominoagain · 03/08/2021 10:23

I think people being encouraged to knock each other out and risk injury is far odder to be honest . Or chasing a bag of wind for the amusement of Russian oligarchs ( far better off than any equestrian I know ) . Or throwing yourself off a perfectly good plank of wood , to screw your self into all sorts of odd shapes and get wet , just to get out again. Not all of us are rich , or old . I work a shitload of overtime as a police officer to fund my daughters dressage habit and have done since she was 11

MagicSummer · 03/08/2021 10:21

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

The Olympics is just boring.

Why is sport the be all and end all?

Why not have a sewing Olympics or a car mechanics one. Why does sport rule everything?

I would agree with you if you were talking about football, darts, snooker, cricket and rugby - these sports (particularly football) are on every week, every weekend, with some competition or other every summer so we don't even get a break from the blessed game. However, the Olympics is only on every 4 years - for me it's good that I get to see some of the sports which never seem to be covered in the UK, such as diving, rowing, canoeing, gymnastics, even weightlifting! Even if you don't have any interest in the sport itself, surely you can admire the dedication and effort these people have put into training for their sport. My particular favourites are the men who do gymnastics on the rings - their strength and stamina is fantastic to see.
mbosnz · 03/08/2021 10:16

OP, do you know the name of Mark Todd's horse, Charisma, on which he won two Olympic Golds? Paddock name, Podge. Very short little horse, and full of guts and character. What you perhaps don't understand, not liking the sport, and wishing to shape the narrative to suit your opinion, is that most (not all) riders, and certainly afficiandos of the sport, very, very much, give full credit to the participation of the horse, and revere and idolise the horses - far more than the riders, actually!

Also, I'm guessing that you've never ridden a horse that doesn't want to jump? It won't jump. It will run out, it will refuse, it will neatly dispose of its rider. I can tell you this, because I have, including one that refused to so much as entertain the notion of going over a trotting pole laid flat on the ground. These horses are athletes, as are their riders. They are a team. It's very obvious to a rider, particularly an advanced one (I'm not), when they are not working as a team - there's a million and one little signs of resistance and conflict, and they will not do as well as if they were in sync'.

VeryLongBeeeep · 03/08/2021 10:13

@CarlottaValdez

Interesting thread.

I don’t know much about dressage but I’m (tangentially) professionally involved with horse racing. To say you can’t coerce a horse to do something is really stupid. Have you ever watched a jockey race? They have whips.

Look up AP McCoy on Deano's Beeno, or Mad Moose in some of his races, and come back to me about how even a jockey's (air cushioned) whip can make a horse go if it doesn't want to.
1990s · 03/08/2021 10:07

[quote BFrazzled]@1990s
Well what happens is that when you look at any sport entirely as an outsider and are not preconditioned to accept it as something normal you are prone to see strange things about it with a fresh eye so to say.

For me the strange thing is that the horse is at least as active a participant as the rider but one: is clearly exploited and two: the rider somehow gets all the credit. Of course it would also be ridiculous to credit the horse with things it didn’t want to do to begin with…[/quote]

As others have said, anyone who's taken the time to understand what's involved in the sport gives the horse "credit".

I'm not interested in football, in my opinion it's players are far overpaid, football matches cause violence in various forms etc etc.

I don't really know what else to say other than what others have said - different people like and value different things for different reasons.

Wouldn't it be better to accept this and not dismiss each other so harshly?

This thread has made me really sad.

HandforthParishCouncilClerk · 03/08/2021 10:06

Horse riding absolutely is expensive at competitive level, but no more so than the costs of competing, training and equipment in many other sports.

I competed as a teenager, and I got up at 4:30 every morning and put in 3 hours of work before school at a local yard mucking out, sweeping up, skipping out fields etc, and the same for 2 hours in the evenings after school, as well as babysitting evenings to fund it. It’s really costly but it is doable.

j712adrian · 03/08/2021 10:04

.........walking horses sideways and having them jump in the air for the amusement of rich people all over the world and Austrians.

What's possibly odd about that?

UrAWizHarry · 03/08/2021 10:02

I'm sure there is some skill in dressage but honestly, is it a sport? It's horse dancing, and tbh it looks pretty stupid.

Original poster
BFrazzled · 03/08/2021 10:01

By the way, I do get it that horse riding has ancient origins and that controlling your horse was vital in the military up to the end of the 19th century. The thing is that we now live in the 21st century and what’s left of this ancient art are rich older people dancing the foaming horse to the sounds of the show must go on. This might have its place at the country fair but not as an Olympic sport.

OP posts:
HandforthParishCouncilClerk · 03/08/2021 10:01

@BFrazzled people have addressed the ‘credit’ misconception several times on this thread. Perhaps if you weren’t so busy sneering and took the time to read your own thread, you’d have noticed….? Hmm

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 03/08/2021 10:00

The Olympics is just boring.

Why is sport the be all and end all?

Why not have a sewing Olympics or a car mechanics one. Why does sport rule everything?

GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin · 03/08/2021 10:00

@BFrazzled

Well what happens is that when you look at any sport entirely as an outsider and are not preconditioned to accept it as something normal you are prone to see strange things about it with a fresh eye so to say.

But there was no need to be rude, which your “ridiculous” comment was. Question intelligently, yes. Sling insults, no.

Oblomov21 · 03/08/2021 10:00

What? You could pick holes in mist sports. Don't bother.

Polkadotties · 03/08/2021 09:56

[quote MagicSummer]**@DotBall* and @Polkadotties* - thanks for explaining. I never realised it was so finely-tuned. Those horses are wonderful! I always wanted to ride but never got around to it - too old to start now though!![/quote]
You are never too old. Please please give it a try if you can.

Original poster
BFrazzled · 03/08/2021 09:56

@1990s
Well what happens is that when you look at any sport entirely as an outsider and are not preconditioned to accept it as something normal you are prone to see strange things about it with a fresh eye so to say.

For me the strange thing is that the horse is at least as active a participant as the rider but one: is clearly exploited and two: the rider somehow gets all the credit. Of course it would also be ridiculous to credit the horse with things it didn’t want to do to begin with…

OP posts:
countrygirl99 · 03/08/2021 09:54

Theme parks not time

countrygirl99 · 03/08/2021 09:53

@mbosnz

If some people have the opinion that equestrian sports are ridiculous, that's okay. It's a perfectly valid opinion. It doesn't make it a fact that they are ridiculous, or that it's not perfectly legitimate to understand or enjoy them.

Different strokes, and all that. . .

Exactly. I can't for the life of me understand why people like spa days or time parks. To me they would be a boring waste of money. But I don't go round insulting people for liking those things just because I don't like them.
countrygirl99 · 03/08/2021 09:50

[quote MagicSummer]**@DotBall* and @Polkadotties* - thanks for explaining. I never realised it was so finely-tuned. Those horses are wonderful! I always wanted to ride but never got around to it - too old to start now though!![/quote]
You are never too old. I started at 40 and I know someonewho gad his first ride asa 70th birthday present.