Dressage WTF

[OrkneyGirl]

I have just been watching Olympic dressage...a poor horse moving its hooves in time to 'Another one bites the dust'...surely this is done for human entertainment only. The horse wouldn't do this naturally. Commentator saying the horse 'clearly loves moving to the beat'. What a load of crap. Years of making the horse move unnaturally. Probably with a stick or whip. AIBU that this sport is about privileged humans dominating a beautiful animal. Makes me so sad...and angry!

I know that most horsey people treat their animals well, but they can't deny that the whole horse world only exists for human pleasure

So do the vast, vast majority of domestic pets - I'm curious as to why you think pet ownership is okay but keeping ridden horses isn't? You talk about their relationship with humans but we wouldn't have been able to domesticate the horse if it didn't want to be - there's a reason you don't see many people riding zebras...

It's not natural for them to be whipped while they're doing it though - the only sport with horses in the uk where you're allowed to use a whip I believe. Plus you know horses are treated awfully and die every year in the big horse races like the Grand National? No horse ever died doing dressage as far as I'm aware, horse racing is as cruel as it gets IMO.

In Dressage it looks to me like it's a lot of normal movements but exaggerated, they're basically walking, trotting and cantering in a slow deliberate way and going round in a circle - the music is neither here nor there really. Side ways movement isn't natural to a horse though and I don't really see the point in any of it - but i think there are a lot worse things happening in the horse world. Horses most often die in the cross country event in the Olympics. It's only because of CD that people are so suddenly horrified by Dressage when there's much worse going on.

Pretty sure the Olympic horses live the life of absolute luxury. Well, at least until they are no longer good at it when they get shot and turned into pet food, but that is the same with most horses. But then many people kill their family member dogs when they get old.

I'm truly amazed by how many think that dressage is ok. I get the historical connection. I get the natural movements. I get stimulation of a beautiful, strong, intelligent, sensitive creature. Putting the pop music to one side, how long do you think it takes to teach piaffe or leg-yield? Truly, is it done for the horse's mental well-being? Or - the point I am making - is it purely about human need rather than horse need? It's not about wealth and privilege - although, when I have to think twice about buying two or three tins of cat food, please don't try to convince me that you don't have money to burn preparing a horse for Olympian dressage. BTW my cat is wild and I feel a human need to look after it rather than make it moonwalk to Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal.

I don't know which dressage yards you've been hanging out at but abusive practice is not rife. Unless of course you're in the camp of it is abusive to carry and/or correctly use a whip ....There's so much nonsense on this thread

@sunsetsandboardwalks @TheNinthLock Thank you for replying re the crossy legs move ('plaiting'). It was the move that made me most uncomfortable. I like dressage (and all equine sports) but I love horses and hate the thought of them being mistreated.

I want the horses to have been trained ethically. I hope all those involved in dressage start watching for and reporting anything cruel.

Very unlikely to happen with dressage horses.

Horses are herd animals and it’s this instinct that is used in horse racing. This is why they carry on running when the rider falls off.
Running on the flat I can tolerate but steeplechase is horrible.

Dressage should not be competitive as it just pushes owners to use unnecessary means to get their horse to a high standard.

However it’s a rich man’s sport so will not be stopped.

I’ll let the videos speak for themselves
www.epona.tv/post/why-the-olympics

So it’s less animal welfare concerns, more jealousy about someone’s material wealth- I see.

if you want to champion animal welfare, start posts on appalling industrial farming or calves being ripped away from their mothers to allow for milk production.

Many people do not kill their old dogs. What a ridiculous statement.
What they do is spend a fortune on vets fees until they’re told the dog is past help and in chronic pain.
Then they make the awful decision to have the dog pts. So many dog owners have to be persuaded to do this too.

Or these pictures idraetsmonitor.dk/nyheder/art10005785/Photos-reveal-potential-horse-abuse?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2mWg0IxeuoDvvTZdq6T4eZh2BqjXsgJDBggc7Tw73DX836b_5JY0cAJ6I_aem_OomUGRD_jlYspy1cCUovGA

this thread is full of idiots who know fuck all about horses, pontificating on opinions with no knowledge to back them up.

Pure idiocy.

Show them a video of a gaited foal and they'd accuse them of being beaten into doing it.

You know putting them to sleep is just a euphuism for killing them right? Just a injection not a bullet.

This thread has jumped the shark…

You always get people in elite horse sport wanging on about the nutrition and horse boxes, but these are human concepts of luxury and just deflect from the murky truth about the training practices. The fancy transport arrangements are about protecting investments, not the welfare of the horses.

Does someone who puts a horse on a plane, takes it to an unfamiliar stable, then makes it jump over obstacles way higher than it would naturally do, in the searing heat of Summer, really give a shit about what the horse wants? All so its rider can win a load of money and a shiny medal, and its owner can make millions breeding and trading. When there's that much money involved all kinds of shit happens routinely.

really? you mean they don't just go to sleep forever?!?

OH No, whatever will we do with this revelation!!! 😱😱

I've met a few retired showjumpers and dressage horses over the years. A very common thing is once the horse starts to get a little old for the top level competing it goes out on loan to a young rider as a "schoolmaster", then when they get a bit older they end up turned out in a field for most of the time, well fed and brought in during bad weather, getting vet treatment, their feet trimmed when necessary etc - basically kept as well loved (expensive to keep) pets.

I've had lessons riding an ex-international dressage pony that my teacher had taken to international level when she was in that age group, he was about 22 (pretty old for any horse or pony) and if he didn't get wheeled out & ridden now & again he would fret.

We also had a horse who was a family all rounder, who I show jumped at local level. When she got arthritis and was retired, I would occasionally hack her over to a local show 10 minutes ride away where she would get all excited & start dancing about every time we went near a ring. It could be hard to persuade her to go home.

But then many people kill their family member dogs when they get old.

When they get old, infirm and their quality of life isn't good. I had to pts an 8 year old cat because he was dying of CKD, broke my heart doing it but he was miserable & confused and had very little quality of life, so it was the kindest thing I could do - a few more weeks or months with him getting skinnier & skinnier, unhappy, crying out in the night, vomiting what little food I could persuade him to eat, or going to sleep peacefully in my arms surrounded by love. Animals live in the moment mostly, and keeping them alive for the sake of it is more cruel than PTS when they get to a certain stage.

YANBU. The Charlotte Dujardin scandal is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dressage (and not only dressage). Anyone who believes she is an outlier must be living in cloud cuckoo land. If anything positive comes from that horrendous situation, I hope it will be a true reckoning within the riding world. Not just platitudes and keeping their heads down, but real soul searching and cracking down on riders and trainers who abuse their animals.

It used to be considered acceptable to beat dogs and to use aversive tools and techniques. Now ethical dog trainers use only force-free methods. The riding community is far behind in this respect. But hopefully the spotlight on dressage due to Charlotte Dujardin's cruelty will provide the impetus necessary for some real changes, not just for top professional riders but for everyone who rides at any level. If you can't communicate properly with your horse using natural aids, without spurs, whips, and excessive hardware, the problem lies with you, not with the horse.

It's a ridiculous and outdated notion. We're too used to it with horses. Imagine if it was a giraffe, elephant, etc.

I'd much rather put an animal to sleep painlessly and quickly, rather than wait for them to die a slow, painful but natural death. Maybe you feel differently though!

our government, which means my taxes,go towards an elitest "sport" which in turn is worth millions, at a conservative guess, & has nothing to do do with our national exchecquer..

A rich mans game with zero returns to our economy
Ah sure Willie mullins

Would you say that it is best for the horse.to be backed? And ridden? Do you keep horses just to look at them?

There’s no special ‘symbiosis’ with dogs, it’s just they are small enough to be domestic companions. That doesn’t work for horses, cattle, sheep, elephants, camels, llamas, dolphins…

(Confining and training dolphins or other cetaceans is disgraceful exploitation IMO.)

All domesticated animals evolved in the wild as social animals, used to living in groups and communicating with each other, usually by body language. Humans just learned how to communicate with them, the instinct for interaction is already naturally there. Then many generations of selective breeding for traits useful to us.

(Lions are the only felines that live socially, so cats generally just train their “owners”. Plus they are carnivores, which makes things a bit more risky.)

Watch the eventing then. They do dressage without the music. The music isn't needed. Turn off the sound if it bothers you, or don't watch.

OP, I can't quite understand your major gripe. What is it you MOST object to?

Training animals in general? A farmer training his dogs for herding? A Policeman with a drug/bomb dog. Both training a naturally occuring skill for human benefit. Something that has been done ever since animals started living with humans.

Or do you just object because you believe only monied/ posh people are involved in equestrian fields. Which is absolutely not the case. It just shows your own misguided prejudices.