To think that equestrian events are ridiculous

[BFrazzled]

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

The worst thing about the Olympics so far is the amount of ignorant shite on social media about the equestrian events.

Fair play to all posters responding calmly and informatively about dressage and horses, all the faux ignorance - or to be honest real ignorance which I understand isn't people's fault - just pisses me off.

This might be true that horses are the stars, and they deserve to be at least on par with the riders, but Olympics are for human competition.

Well put it this way you wouldn't get the horse to perform like that, nether would I and I have 35 years experience including some classical dressage experience, let alone be able to train or to that level in the first place

Keeping horses with no solo turnout is terribly cruel for animals

To pick up on this side point, my horse has preferred being on her own. She gets stressed when crowded by other horses, or being unable to get away from them, so she goes out on her own. She’s been out with other horses but always grazes alone. So she has the next best thing which is horses in the next field with whom she can interact, but from whom she can walk away and they can’t follow her.

She regularly sleeps flat out in the field, deeply asleep. Horses, being flight animals, don’t do that unless they’re relaxed and feeling secure.

As with so many of the assumptions and statements made on this thread (usually by people who don’t know much about horses), it’s not a one size fits all rule. Horses for courses if you will.

And I don’t know why a previous poster was so denigrating about the idea that horses like music. My old horse used to nod along in time with the yard radio and my current horse knows ‘her’ freestyle music. She perks up when she hears it and powers off down the centre lines, but then she does love to show off!

One of mine has to go out on his own because he bullies the others. As long as he can see them he's OK. He prefers people to horses anyway.

I was once given a private lesson in a very well trained dressage horse (county level though not Olympic standard)
I spent half the lesson getting the bloody thing to move at all!

When I went to work for a classical dressage rider I'd previously been riding 5 horses per day for work as well as competing my own in local level things including dressage and doing pretty well. I also couldn't get the horses to move at first and then couldn't get them to turn a circle, they'd head diagonally across the school instead 😆. I remember being so embarrassed but was assured this happens to nearly everyone at first.

Sorry, the cropped quote should say “with solo turnout”.

In awe of the show jumpers. Can’t wait to jump some cross poles later 😂

@Tippexy

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

There are only Icelandic Horses (the breed) in Iceland. They do not have an olympic equestrian team, so im really not sure how this is relevant.

No Icelandic horses compete in eventing, show jumping or dressage at Olympic level so not sure what the point is?

Most of it is ridiculous if you stop to think about it.

I

This is an Icelandic horse. I can’t see this being able to go round an eventing course.

@Smartiepants79

‘The horse does all the work’ So if I put you on a dressage trained horse you’d be good to go then?? I’m not a dressage fan but this kind of comment is nonsense.

I'd had my own and ridden for twenty years before taking on a neglect case that turned out to be an advanced medium dressage horse when we looked his details up. Once he was recovered and rideable again , and we restarted schooling , my instructor would be in hysterics as I would be trying to ask for a canter circle , only to find myself bunnyhopping sideways across the school in flying changes because I'd moved one leg two inches too far back. It's all very well having a push button horse, but you have to have the knowledge and skill to push the right buttons

Do these naturally dancing horses have any preference for specific types of music? How fussy are they?

There are only Icelandic Horses (the breed) in Iceland. They do not have an olympic equestrian team, so im really not sure how this is relevant.

Even if they did they certainly would not be using Icelandic horses. I can just imagine the ponies waddling round the arena with their unique gait in between horses like Gio and London 52 😆

@Polkadotties

This is an Icelandic horse. I can’t see this being able to go round an eventing course.

Lol and Awwh in equal measure

@Polkadotties

This is an Icelandic horse. I can’t see this being able to go round an eventing course.

Tbf I’m sure that’d be a blast to take around a 60cm unaffiliated, and it’d probably not be averse to being let loose on a higher level course as a lawn mower!

@sadperson16

Do these naturally dancing horses have any preference for specific types of music? How fussy are they?

They most certainly do. Picking music for a freestyle is…a process.

On the surface you have to choose music that matches the tempo of your horses gaits. So say you have a gait that you’ve timed at 95 BPM. You then go and find a song that hits that mark. Then you do the same for all of the other gaits.

Then you get it into the arena and start working the gaits to the music. The horse may like or dislike certain songs and respond with cues - picking up their ears, sitting back, and moving with enthusiasm as opposed to just moving. Repeat until you have a few fitting songs that work for both horse and rider AND have a bit of a central theme, then you start stitching the whole lot into your freestyle.

Previous horse liked The Killers, Devin Townsend, and an 80’s medley. Current horse quite likes Sisters of Mercy and does not like Queen.

Dd always schools her horse with music on her phone. She likes it and he certaintly seems to.

I also school with music playing. It keeps my horse’s attention to me rather then listening to all the other sounds going on

I agree with @gwenneh - there’s also having to work out your floor plan (your routine) to show the required movements, and make it flowing, and design it to best show off your horse’s abilities.

And horses do like different types of music - some I’ve known have liked classical and find it relaxing. I tend to use big band music because it’s rhythmical and suits my horse’s personality. I saw a freestyle recently where all the music was from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and it really suited the horse which was of a finer build and had quite a delicate way of going.

Now I really want to see an olympic team of Icies... tolting at various speeds for the dressage.. er, not sure how they'd tackle the cross country jumps or show jumping, probably shut eyes and tolt straight through things...

Dds horses fave is the Hamilton soundtrack

Yeah I agree. I don’t really like the Olympic events that only rich countries can afford to compete in and equestrian events are the epitome of that.

If it were up to me I’d also get rid of team sports (anything involving more than four people) and anything where there’s a major competition that’s more prestigious than the Olympics (tennis, golf etc). It feels like there are more ridiculous events added every time.

@Bryonyshcmyony

The worst thing about the Olympics so far is the amount of ignorant shite on social media about the equestrian events.

Fair play to all posters responding calmly and informatively about dressage and horses, all the faux ignorance - or to be honest real ignorance which I understand isn't people's fault - just pisses me off.

Yes!!

This!

DD hates dressage, so avoids it it like the plague unless she has to do it for a ODE, so it’s never something I’ve really got into but I love watching it. Even I understand it’s not just prancing about with the horses doing all the work

Do these naturally dancing horses have any preference for specific types of music? How fussy are they?

When DD is doing flatwork or schooling with her pony, she has music on on her phone and seems to like it. She’s more stridey and enthusiastic and seems to prefer dance music. It also blocks out other noises that she likes to listen out for to spook at

Blimey,they have dubious taste in music.