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!

Awesome isn't it

Check thread before commenting. Rich idiots. Nope. Just idiots with a love of cheesy music and a lunge whip.

I know people who do dressage. Horses are their life they wouldn't harm them and treat theirs like kings. And they do love it - they get excited when they see their owners/riders and get saddled.
I'm sure there is abuse in the equestrian world but don't single out one area.

...didn't work...ran a farm...investments...

Normal life, clearly.

Pleeeeeeese.

Not sure the biologists, anthropologists and anthrozoologists who study this field would appreciate their research being dismissed as speculation.

So much sense put so simply and clearly.

OK. Let’s call it “postulating theories in the absence of empirical evidence” and agree to disagree.

Great use of thesaurus guys

Might start a thread about the link between horses and private education...and dressage, of course.

Sorry...just checked...there's no link whatsoever.

Shame on anyone who'd dare think a single prejudiced thought agaisnt those whipping an innocent animal for no reason.

...didn't work...ran a farm...investments...

The dressage friend did work, hard. OK it was "horsy" work, but getting up & mucking out 10 horses at livery, feeding them, turning them out etc before even starting with your own, then again in the evenings. Kind of job that pays minimum wage. And teaching in all her "spare" time in all weathers

"Ran" a farm (rented)? Oh yes - feeding the cattle, mucking out (again), hauling feed around, moving the cattle, hauling seaweed up from the beach & spreading it as NT insisted on no artificial fertilisation of the land, mending fences, clearing weeds and undergrowth, maintaining buildings, fixing roofs, treating any injuries the animals had, helping with milking & calving, helping look after her disabled father, yeah really easy privileged life...

Investments, you know things like ISAs, electricity shares etc. We aren't talking thousands a year here maybe a few hundred income max. Topping up my father's moderate salary. We just didn't do anything more expensive than camping for holidays, outings like the cinema were a real treat maybe a couple of times a year, never ate out etc. Or are you really suggesting that anyone with an ISA is "wealthy & posh"?

😆

Tell us you don't know anything about dressage without telling us you don't know anything about dressage.

Tell us you use tired old MN cliches because you don't have an argument, without telling us you use tired old MN cliches because you don't have an argument.

Since the horses apparently naturally spend their time rejoicing in poncing around fields dressage stylee, why are they made to do it with a rider on their back? - surely you just need to fill in the entry forms for them, book their tickets and send them off to do their thing.

Returning to the OP...watch a dressage horse...take in the surroundings...listen to the music...and ask yourself: Is this really a 21st century Olympic sport?

Then ask yourself how did they get such a naturally intelligent, powerful, magnificent, sensitive creature to move its legs in time to Love Shack. All for the horse's welfare? Ignore the irrelevant comments about obvious wealth.

Just focus on the horse and the process that's got them to this point. AIBU?

You've completely missed all those previous pps who have told you that the music comes AFTER the moves. The music matches the movement, not the other way round. Soooo..... Dressage without music is a series of movements, dressage with music is a series of movements that just happens to have music set around it.

One person.

Try reading a few of the replies, the ones that say the music is chosen to match the horse's natural movement rate NOT the other way round. They teach the horse the routine without music, then choose music to fit the routine & the natural paces - this has been said multiple times.

So they just add the music afterwards...ohhhhhhhhh...they don't keep making the horse move to the beat in readiness for competition....they just change the music if the horse decides to dance at a different tempo...they really don't care if it's out of time...just keep making the horse repeat apparently 'natural' movements in a field then just add the music at the end. Ohhhhhh. Sorry I got confused.

I'm sorry but you are just being ignorant and judgemental about something you know absolutely nothing about.

If you have ever seen a horse at liberty in the field, they will 100% do a version of passage, pirouettes, half pass and flying changes, holding themselves in this frame you see when playing and galloping around.
Dressage is about harmony with the horse and refining these movements. Yes, we all have seen the recent video and were horrified but I can promise you that the vast majority of horse riders adore their horses and they want for nothing.
If a horse doesn't want to do something, it won't. Period. No matter how much you beat or shout at it. These horses are bred for a job and would be miserable if they were just left in a field their whole lives.

Rollkur...so natural...seen in every field every day...they love it. They really do....now, what piece of music can I find (afterwards...not before) from my music collection (professionally produced...not from Spotify) to accompany this beautiful, natural movement? How about Do you really want to hurt me?' by Culture Club?

And regarding the "wealth" thing, a very large proportion of top level athletes in many sports only got there because their parents supported them when they were children - getting up at 4am to drive them to swim meets, or athletics training, paying through the nose for the training etc, until their child is old enough & hopefully good enough to make the grade. At which time the athletes full time job IS the sport they are doing.

So arguing that the athlete isn't doing whatever it is you consider to be a "proper" job while training and competing is irrelevant, these athletes are the offspring of plumbers, office workers, machinists, people working 2-3 low paid jobs to support their children through their early training, even restaurant Maitre D's in the case of one Olympic medallist this year.

What about the ones there at the Olympics right now, riding in rollkur?

The whole "you can't make a horse do something it doesn't want to do" is absolutely, completely and totally bullshit.

Have you never seen a horse welfare charity advert with broken down horses and donkeys being made to carry or pull loads many times heavier than they should be until they literally collapse and die? Do you think those horses and donkeys want to do that work? Or have humans forced them to do it because horses are prey animals who can be very easily coerced into doing what humans want? I went to rhodes once, i saw tiny donkeys carrying fat people up a huge hill in Lindos, almost buckling under the immense weight. Do those donkeys want to do that? Or would they rather be chilling out under a tree in the shade?

People say this same shite about other animals too.

Do you think elephants in circuses wanted to be there, whipped and ill fed until they complied or died or went mad? Do you think shamu wants to perform tricks for fish at seaworld or would he rather be in the ocean catching his own fish? Do bears want to dance for food? Do tiger cubs want to be cuddled by stupid tourists? Do dolphins want to be rounded up and captured to swim with idiots at discovery cove instead of being in the wild?

Humans have made them do it, and convinced other people that the animals enjoy it despite all evidence to the contrary.

History has shown time and time and time again that it's incredibly easy for humans to force animals into doing all manner of things that they would rather not do for all sorts of reasons. You saying a horse would be bored in a field and that it's not possible to force a horse to do something it doesn't want to do, is a lie you tell yourself so you can keep enjoying watching dressage.

@Standupcitizen but apart from the donkeys, none of those animals you have mentioned are domesticated? So your point is a bit lost there

I agree whole heartedly that abuse of animals should never happen or be acceptable but I think you will find it is only a very small proportion of the horse world that does it. You are just tarring a whole community with the same brush off of your ill informed beliefs.

I have horses, they are treated like royalty. I spend thousands of pounds every year making sure they get everything they want and need and all I ask for in return is one hours work a day where we either relax while hacking or work together as partners when schooling to perform the best we can in harmony in both dressage, showjumping and cross country. I certainly never beat my horses into submission or force them to do anything they don't want to do.