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

I'm sure some horses are euthanized if they retire injured. No eventers or showjumpers put healthy horses to sleep when they are finished with them 🙄

@LobotomisedIceSkatingFan

Looking forward to the searing defence of the German coach who has just been ejected for punching a horse.

Some grinning pillock upthread put some terrible anthropomorphic bollocks along the lines of 'Have you ever tried to make a horse do something it didn't want to do?' as if the balance of power in a horse/rider relationship is somehow equal. Well, here's the answer. Some people obviously do make horses do things they don't want to. Violently. The whole sorry affair is appalling.

It’s literally an example of how you cannot make a horse do something it doesn’t want to do.

Nobody will defend either that rider or that coach. You have totally missed the tone or the viewpoints within this thread in your desperation to cling to your opinion, regardless of the evidence.

That's really not the argument-winner you seem to think it is

Well, as its a perfect example of a horse refusing to do something despite being kicked, whipped and punched, I'm saying it probably is.

Abject nonsense. In the arena of animal cruelty, the frigging fence to die on is surely not how stubborn the horse was in the face of abuse, but that the abuse shouldn't be happening in the first place. Some of these comments are akin to bloody Mary Chipperfield insisting she was 'encouraging (a chimp) with a stick'
rather than, er, beating it. All this bollocks about 'reminding horses of their manners' as if there is parity between horse and rider rather than a massive imbalance of power; as if they have the mental acuity to be able to do any such thing, is frankly revolting.

I haven't misread the tone, and I'm not clinging to an argument. I'm making a valid one, and you know it: there's plenty on this thread who have made their points more forcefully and more frequently. The fact is - horses cannot consent to this treatment and you pursue these pastimes because you want to. It's entirely selfish and the only way it can be justified is by vainly attempting to convince the dissenters among us that you and your beasts are all in it together and they love every minute.

I don't think anyone here has excused the German pentathlete have they? I don't think they should have the show jumping in modern pentathlon full stop.

It was a good example of how horses need to make a bond with their rider though.

Looking forward to the searing defence of the German coach who has just been ejected for punching a horse.

No defence of that behaviour from me. It was an awful display of what I won't even term 'horsemanship'.
I'm further annoyed about the comments from commentators about the 'poor' athletes dreams being ruined by a horse.
That aside, it does show that horses will not perform when they are not happy, this horse wasn't happy and by rights, the rider should have retired before they even got in the ring as apparently the horse 'misbehaved' in the warm up ring and they had problems there.
There's a complete difference in body language and facial expressions between a horse having a leap and a buck when it's fresh and bucking because it's not happy, from what I saw that horse had discomfort and unhappy written all over it, if you have a relationship and knowledge of horses, that should be glaringly obvious.
They tried to force the horse and look at the result, it didn't perform because it wasn't happy. All on the rider and anyone else official that should have stepped in and called a halt to it immediately. Totally unfair on the horse, you can't just get on any horse and expect it to perform, you've got to put time and effort in. Although it should never have happened, it illustrates that.

It's world's apart though, from the standard of the pure equestrian sports we see in the Olympics and you'll find it's being widely condemned here and across the 'horse world'.

One horse in the SJ has been withdrawn because of colic, another because he had a minor injury and continuing (although the write up I read said he would have passed the trot up inspection - he didn't fail the trot up he was withdrawn before) wasn't in the horses best interests and jumping that track would have led to further injury and discomfort.

My horse loves being ridden and loves competing. You can shout about how deluded all horse riders are all you want. You are wrong, plain and simple

Everyone I know in the horsey community is absolutely disgusted with what happened in the pentathlon

@Bryonyshcmyony

My horse loves being ridden and loves competing. You can shout about how deluded all horse riders are all you want. You are wrong, plain and simple

Absolutely and people who want to think otherwise really don’t understand horses.

I sometimes hear people say that horses should just be allowed to relax in a field. For many horses, such a life would be akin to us being in lockdown and stuck at home forever. They’d get bored, stressed and upset. Many horses need a job, need to be busy and engaged.

Also, where will all these non-ridden horses live?!

@Bryonyshcmyony

Also, where will all these non-ridden horses live?!

One lives in field up the road from me 😂 he's retired due to an injury to his leg (which he did himself, in the field 🙄) and now lives out all year round, gets fed twice a day in winter and has to be double fenced because people keep feeding him crap over the fence. I still do in hand work with him from the floor and give him things to 'play' with to occupy his mind because he did not take kindly to being retired at all and declined sharply - many aren't as lucky as me to be able to do that, and that their horse is happy with what he's able to do now he can't have a 'job', if he hadn't been I'd have had an awful decision to make, I don't envy anyone that.

Just leave these horses alone. They don’t need to be prancing around and flown around the world for this or that event. When all is said and done, the world simply doesn’t need any of this and would be a better place without it.

If you want to compete as a human - that is your choice. Do what you want with your own body. Just leave horses out of it. Nobody is impressed and nobody cares what you may or may not do on them. What a load of nonsense the whole thing is.

When all is said and done, the world simply doesn’t need any of this and would be a better place without it

I agree we can all live without the MP showjumping, but totally disagree the world would be a better place without horses in it, as that's what you are advocating.

If there was no equestrian sport there would be no horses. A few wild ponies maybe until they die out.

I don’t think it’s necessary for horses to be transported around the world for events such as the Olympics. Horse racing is grim and show-jumping and dressage pointless, in my view. Individuals would still keep horses for riding lessons; or therapy horses for the disabled, etc. I’m not advocating eradicating horses altogether - just getting rid of stupid and totally unnecessary competitions. The Grand National should be banned for a start.

@catstaff

Just leave these horses alone. They don’t need to be prancing around and flown around the world for this or that event. When all is said and done, the world simply doesn’t need any of this and would be a better place without it.

If you want to compete as a human - that is your choice. Do what you want with your own body. Just leave horses out of it. Nobody is impressed and nobody cares what you may or may not do on them. What a load of nonsense the whole thing is.

I am pretty impressed by lots of riders, personally. The ones who show good horsemanship. So that's not nobody

show-jumping and dressage pointless, in my view

Do you usually want things you don't understand banned?

All sports are pointless if you're looking at or that way. You don't have to race just because you like running. You could just go for a jog or host an exercise group instead of flying round the world competing for medals. Dressage is no more pointless than running or rowing. The rowers found just use their boats to teach sailing instead

Nobody is impressed and nobody cares what you may or may not do on them. What a load of nonsense the whole thing is

Your own opinion is only your own. It doesn't reflect the majority. Loads of people are impressed!

@LobotomisedIceSkatingFan

Looking forward to the searing defence of the German coach who has just been ejected for punching a horse.

Some grinning pillock upthread put some terrible anthropomorphic bollocks along the lines of 'Have you ever tried to make a horse do something it didn't want to do?' as if the balance of power in a horse/rider relationship is somehow equal. Well, here's the answer. Some people obviously do make horses do things they don't want to. Violently. The whole sorry affair is appalling.

Except the horse didn't do it did they? It was appalling to watch and I'm glad the rider was eliminated and her coach ejected from the Olympics because that's not how to treat a horse at any level.

Hopefully even the lay people can tell the difference between that display and the barely noticeable way the top dressage riders, eventers and show jumpers ride.

I used to ride an ex race horse. She's now in her 30s and retired with my parents being looked after even though she's too old to be ridden now. It's possible that if we hadn't had her at 5 years old then she would've ended up slaughtered for not making it as a racer. I'm not a fan of horse racing and would happily see that die out but plenty of horses are given a happy life afterwards. She would've been bored to tears spending the rest of her life in a field.

It's a bit like dogs. They've been domesticated for centuries like horses. I think we'd all agree that having dogs being walked and exercised and cared for in private homes is better than letting them roam and breed and on the streets as they do in some parts of the world.

@liveforsummer but this is not the case for many places I’m afraid. You giving your personal example doesn’t mean that it’s not happening it clearly is and euthanising horses ( as some one said upthread) because they have outlived their usefulness/been injured through our desire for entertainment is pretty disgusting in my book.

Except my experience is vast and spans several countries and disciplines and levels. Does yours?

[quote Hopeisallineed]@liveforsummer but this is not the case for many places I’m afraid. You giving your personal example doesn’t mean that it’s not happening it clearly is and euthanising horses ( as some one said upthread) because they have outlived their usefulness/been injured through our desire for entertainment is pretty disgusting in my book.[/quote]
You keep saying this.

Yes it may have happened in racing, but happens much less now if at all

People do not euthanize healthy ex showjumpers dressage horses and eventers because they don't want to jump or do dressage competitively any more.

No vet would do it for a start!

Fwiw if a horse is injured (which happens far more in fields than being ridden) or develops an illness and it affects their quality of life significantly then yes they may be pts. It's not a bad thing to not want an animal to live out it's life in pain

@JulesRimetStillGleaming we rescued a horse that was treated extremely badly at the rescue centre I used to work at. It was still ridden and jumped but also beaten and whipped and half starved. It did what it was told most of the time do your argument that horses don’t ever do what they don’t want to is bollocks. Horses have different characters , like people, some are more defiant in nature than others. Some will put up with a lot of shit.