To think that equestrian events are ridiculous

Ride not write! Haha

I love dressage and all the equestrian events. I haven’t ridden for years but I really miss it,

This thread has been eye opening to the utter stupidity of some people - even after some have patiently explained the concept of dressage and how cared for these horses are.

Yes, there has also been some arrogance shown on the other side, but as previous posters said, the OP was so rude and dismissive to start with,

I disagree that riding isn’t accessible to all as a sport. I used to write once or twice a month, it was all we could afford. As I grew up, I used to spend summers working at the stables helping out in a bid to “earn” a free ride. I suspect that’s what most people do.

Wherever you go on holiday, there’s often a chance to have a “pony ride” - just last week my daughter had a 15 min pony ride at centerparcs. So it is something that people can try as a one-off from almost any age.

The most exclusive sport of all has to be car racing/rally driving surely? I saw that Lewis Hamilton was trying to make F1 more accessible but that is a sport that requires millions of pounds to get started. On Mn that doesn’t get accused of being elitist or “toffs pretending to be athletes”…

@MagicSummer we use our whole body to control the horse. At level the slightest twitch of a bum cheek can result in a different movement. If you watch the dressage, the riders legs are often in different places, near the front end, sometimes nearer the backend. The riders hands will move fractionally which will tell the horse to either Extend ( big flowing trot) or collect ( on the spot bouncy trot). A small press of your leg on the horses side will say move side ways.

Fair enough. I'm wrong. (About that). There's still an appreciable difference between them jumping in their own self-interest and jumping around Olympia with several stones on their back.

Or maybe they are so ignorant that they don't know how google works.

"Ignorant" isn't so much an insult as an observation.

@LobotomisedIceSkatingFan foals jump though. It's what they do to get over obstacles

Here's a 12 week old one

If you lead a foal up to a puddle/stream, it will likely jump over it

It’s interesting that ‘horsey people’ are largely deriding people who don’t agree that horses should be travelled to the other side of the world to compete in high heat, high stress environments. When actually it is more the none horsey people, who acting on the instinct, that are probably more correct and show a better understanding for what is good and not good for horses!

‘Horsey people’ can easily become numb to the ill treatment of ‘much beloved’ equines. Spurs, whips, tight nosebands, wicked bits can all be very abusive and harmful and yet no one bats an eyelid. Keeping horses with no or very limited / solo turnout is terribly cruel for animals which are designed to live in herds and walk miles a day. Just recently an international competitor stated she never let her horses have any turnout .
High stress environments with lots of change and travel causing high amounts of stomach ulcers in horses that compete.

It’s sad many elements of the ‘horsey community’ are too busy getting on their ‘high horse’ and dismissing others for having lack of knowledge than acknowledging the real issues in equine sports.

The dancing horses in Vienna are not treated kindly and I'll leave it at that.

Missed half a sentence out, there.

It is hard to talk to people who know and love horses sometimes, not always but sometimes. I was told by my Tory MP that I didn't understand hunting (he's v pro) because I have the wrong background. A v different conversation of course but it does effectively shut down dissent if you point out superiority of thought as an answer rather than engaging with the question. My eldest went on a school trip to one of our most prestigious horseracing stables and came home upset because they were shown and told about the gold plated care and dd had through natural curiosity asked what happens when they can't race anymore or were injured badly and she got in trouble for it. She was in primary school and there was no edge to her question. She genuinely wondered. I read a thread on here only the other day where a poster said a horse refusing to jump deserved the "skelp" it got due to being a "pig". As a non horse sport lover, that sounds awful as a statement but I actually don't dare ask or challenge the notion of an animal being hit when it won't perform because I've been patronised before when trying to talk to some people about horses. Maybe there's no middle ground. Horse lovers tell me that their horses don't mind being skelped, they like the discipline, they respond well to it, they aren't actually hitting them really and so on and I can't fathom the difference between that and a non-verbal child. I don't think how well any living creature is treated 90% of the time is licence to hit it or destroy it when it won't or can't do what you want any longer. Maybe there's just a natural impasse there and maybe it is want of understanding on my part.

Well, I'd be tremendously surprised if a horse spontaneously decides to jump over an obstacle. Possibly one that's already been 'taught' (viz, made) to jump.

I don't think any 'sport' which requires a sentient but ultimately non-consenting animal to be pressed into service is at best incredibly self-indulgent, and at worst, barbarous.

I love watching all the equestrian events, and I think the dressage is fantastic and very skilled. Could someone 'horsey' explain just how the rider controls the horse? I know they use their knees in some way but how does that translate into different movements for the horse? Also, does the horse 'learn' the routine and practise it or does the rider rely on instructions every time?

OP, if you don't like 'dancing horses' you would have a fit if you went to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna!

So rather than insult people why don't you explain? Unless you can't.

@Needapoodle You can’t be surprised when people bite back in the face of deliberately rude and ignorant comments. If someone is genuinely interested, maybe they could start here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_dressage

Now though, the ponies cost a bomb, so does the equipment and the livery. Feed costs more etc. The ponies and horses now are molly coddled more than back then, which costs more money. But having money doesn't mean you are good, and teams like gb, Germany etc will not take you for your money. They want the gold medal. They won't take your average rider just because they managed to buy an expensive horse. If you aren't getting the good scores, you're out. And getting those good scores takes a lot.

Wow, all the replies on here are unlikely to have helped the OP understand, all you've all done is effectively yelled at them and slammed other sports instead. Calling someone ignorant is pointless, horseriding, particularly dressage is hardly something the majority get to experience so how could we understand it?

@ElvenDreamer But OP didn’t phrase their post as “I don’t know how dressage works, can anyone enlighten me”, did they? No, they weighed in with a statement that it is “ridiculous” followed up by other similarly ignorant posters who claim that the horses are treated badly or that it’s wrong because it’s an elite sport (as so many are, but equestrianism always gets singled out). So don’t be surprised if the response is as blunt as OP’s post.

If someone is genuinely interested this thread shows that there are plenty willing to explain it, and there’s lots of YouTube videos etc out there too.

Horses unknown to the rider are however provided for the modern pentathlon showjumping and the difference is obvious

I agree with OP. I’m against these horses being transported around the world in the name of sport.
I am also against horse racing, dog racing and fox hunting. I don’t think animals should be used or controlled for human entertainment.

"There are historical reasons for dressage but the ignorant don't know this."

So rather than insult people why don't you explain? Unless you can't.

Even the Aussie and Kiwi riders are largely based in Europe as that is where the majority of competitions are.

I think team games are utter shite. Nothing more ridiculous than pampered boys chasing a ball around for silly amounts of money.

Also cycling is tedious and very boring.

There are historical reasons for dressage but the ignorant don't know this.

The pairing is the rider plus their own horse that they have built a relationship with and been heavily involved in the training of. Building that takes months and years. It isn't rider plus a random horse flung together at the last minute on arrival at the event!

Icelandic horses can never return to the country and are left behind after international competitions.

Icelandic horses don't compete at the Olympics, they're a small tough breed suited to harsh terrain. Dressage horses are generally pretty delicate and are much bigger. Icelandic horses do get exported from Iceland and you're right they're not allowed back in - this is because they're a very distinct and hardy breed who have never been exposed to horse diseases from the rest of the world so they wouldn't have any immunity. If they leave iceland, they're normally sold to Icelandic horse enthusiasts around the world who have their own communities and breeding programmes outside Iceland. And yes there are competitions but nobody in their right mind would leave their very valuable horse behind. A competition horse would be worth thousands of pounds. Heck even buying a bog standard one for just riding around on could set you back up to £5k.