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

😂 ahh this just gets even funnier

And how come none of my horses have ever had dental issues caused by bits or bone spurs?

Clearly a conspiracy of Big Equine Dental and the bit manufacturers.

My tiny Arabian would not go in a bit for love nor money, so we tried a Dr. Cook's bitless with her before settling in a hackamore. As a tool, it's fine -- same as any other, applied badly, it can cause plenty of damage.

It's not the bridle that's the problem, it's the conflict of interest. There's a reason his "hot take" hasn't taken the entire equestrian world by storm -- believe me, if there were a product that made the horse happier and go better, dressage riders would buy a dozen. With the amount of money we spend on equine equipment and services (chiro, physio, vet care, dental care, and in some notable cases psychic communicators) something as simple as changing out the bridle and bit would be a bargain.

@Bryonyshcmyonyand @Polkadotties

Come on...explain how you think at bit works. It's great to continually shit on people without providing your own expert knowledge.

I agree with conflict of interest. But I don't care about buying stuff for horses I no longer ride. My point is that all bits are designed in the same way. And if you can't control as horse witout a bit (which is mainly why people don't use bitless bridles) that surely says something?

@Thatsjustwhatithink

I agree with conflict of interest. But I don't care about buying stuff for horses I no longer ride. My point is that all bits are designed in the same way. And if you can't control as horse witout a bit (which is mainly why people don't use bitless bridles) that surely says something?

Some horses absolutely hate bitless bridles. How do you square that?

@Bryonyshcmyony

Explain how you know they 'hate' them in behavioural terms, and how this could also be interpreted as the rider no longer having control and horse choosing not to do as the rider wishes.

But come on horse genius....how do you think a bit works?

Of course this horse may have looked you in the eye and said "Bryony...please put that bit of metal back in my mouth"

@ellyeth

There was a time when it was thought acceptable to have elephants, bears and tigers performing all sorts of ridiculous tricks to entertain people. Now it is generally felt that it is wrong to exploit and degrade them in this way. Why is it OK to do the same to horses?

I think it is generally because horses are cattle. We are much more tolerant to cruelty and physical abuse of cattle than other animals.

Hence a lot of horse lovers on this thread not thinking twice of gently whipping the horse but would report anyone gently kicking his dog to RSPCA.

@Thatsjustwhatithink

Of course this horse may have looked you in the eye and said "Bryony...please put that bit of metal back in my mouth"

I'm surprised that you don't actually think this is how horses work, tbh

@Hopeisallineed

I rode for over 10 years. I would never do so now. I find most of the horsey world extremely elitist and cold hearted. Lots of the comments on this thread have totally confirmed that for me. Its really upsetting that so many horses, young and fit ones too, are disposed of so easily.

I find most of the horsey world - that I have had contact with - neither elitist nor cold hearted. I was talking literally last week with a young woman who works for a stables where horses are regularly sold on. She said the horses were used to living in a herd, and that they would never sell a horse that really enjoyed herd life to a home where it would be in a group of fewer than 3 or 4 horses. Really, really cold-hearted.

Similarly, I ride at a stables where a mare they had purchased was found to be in foal. Being cold-hearted evil people, they took her out of work at once, turned her out, looked after her, and let her rear her foal to weaning. The now-adult foal now lives a very happy life on the livery side of the yard where her mother lives on the riding stables side. I mean, the bastards. They could have spared themselves the trouble and called the knacker-man, but they were just too horrible...

You know which horses bother me? The cobs turned out in scrubby fields (you see them next to motorways) with often inadequate grazing with loads of litter blowing about, or just very poorly fenced. In the part of the country where I live, some of these poor sods got out one night, and ended up cantering along a dual carriageway where they caused a fatal RTA. Several of them were injured in the collision and had to be PTS.

But they don't have the class war aspect, so they get ignored.

And when people start banging on that pressure = pain, you know your odds of an intelligent discussion have fallen to about zero. It's like saying that speaking to a child is the same as shouting at it, or that holding someone's hand is the same as squeezing all the blood out of it.

There’s a lot of laughing and sniggering and ‘oh, we’ll they don’t ride , what do they know’ and evading questions because they don’t want to examine their own narrative… and not a lot of actual answers or adult debate.

Which question has been evaded? The action of the bit and what a properly fitted bit does has been discussed extensively upthread.

@gwenneh

Which question has been evaded? The action of the bit and what a properly fitted bit does has been discussed extensively upthread.

The bit where you explain how a bit works. It's designed to put pressure on facial/dental nerves to induce a reaction that's possible to the rider but detrimental to the horse.

Unless of course you can provide country evidence

*positive

@gwenneh, I think maybe the question about putting on a bit yourself along with a 30kg backpack and running about and seeing how you liked it. Nobody rose to that one.

Given that my head, mouth and dental architecture are nothing like a horses, and I weigh less than twice the 30kg backpack, I decided this was so ridiculous that I wasn't wasting my time.

I strongly suspect that many other posters felt the same.

@Hopeisallineed

There’s a lot of laughing and sniggering and ‘oh, we’ll they don’t ride , what do they know’ and evading questions because they don’t want to examine their own narrative… and not a lot of actual answers or adult debate.

This is just not true. Yes, I've been laughing at you, but you've had lots of intelligent explanations and examples from posters who are more patient than I am

And no, I don't need to "examine my own narrative" because some numpty on the Internet doesn't understand how horses work.

It's designed to put pressure on facial/dental nerves to induce a reaction that's possible to the rider but detrimental to the horse.

And it's been explained to you, repeatedly, that this is not what a bit is designed to do nor is it how a properly fitted bit functions.

Your decision not to believe that, and to cite Dr. Cook as a source, makes it pretty clear that you're not looking for evidence, you're looking for a "GOTCHA, ENTIRE EQUESTRIAN WORLD!" that you're not going to find.

@Polkadotties

😂 ahh this just gets even funnier

Nah. I find the thread genuinely sad in more ways than one. But very educational I guess.

Have to admit I never gave any thought to horse abuse before reading all this. The dressage competition looked ridiculous and violent, but reading the thread really made me think more.

..And the bit where there’s apparently no abuse happening with dressage horses. Anywhere. Even though I posted this about an Olympian dressage rider. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/horsesport.com/horse-news/dressage-olympian-banned-three-years-abusing-daughters-pony/ But it was just ignored because it doesn’t suit your narrative of all the horses being loved and adored by their riders/owners and gently put out to pasture once they retire.

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, what do you expect when this was your opening post?

@Hopeisallineed

..And the bit where there’s apparently no abuse happening with dressage horses. Anywhere. Even though I posted this about an Olympian dressage rider. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/horsesport.com/horse-news/dressage-olympian-banned-three-years-abusing-daughters-pony/ But it was just ignored because it doesn’t suit your narrative of all the horses being loved and adored by their riders/owners and gently put out to pasture once they retire.

Showing that the FEI is not afraid to censure abuse when it is found and reported isn't making the point you think you're making.

That’s what I mean @Bryonyshcmyony you illustrated my point excellently. You have to be rude and snide and resort to insults, you can’t conduct an adult conversation without name calling.

@gwenneh yes it is.

@Hopeisallineed

That’s what I mean *@Bryonyshcmyony* you illustrated my point excellently. You have to be rude and snide and resort to insults, you can’t conduct an adult conversation without name calling.

Plenty of other posters have been perfectly polite and intelligent, but you seem to be skipping past those.