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!

Agreed. Hopefully with the Charlotte Dujardin scandal this 'sport' will be on its way out.

That's not what they do, though. The competitions are just a tiny snapshot of their lives.

Professional riders all own multiple horses and will spend a couple of hours a day training each horse - and not all of that will include ridden work. There is plenty to do "from the ground" too, so the horses won't be being ridden the entire time either.

But you have to remember that high level competition horses are bred to thrive in environments like this. If you don't work a horse like this, they become fizzy, hot to handle and dangerous to be around. They need to work.

It's how dressage people deal with unresponsive horses, who they supposedly love, not doing what they want. I simply thought it might have other applications, so only a suggestion.

Again, do you feel the same way about working dogs?

Again, was Charlotte Dujardin caught on video calling her horse a good boy and giving it treats when it did as she asked?

They can do the movements without a rider but yes, need a rider to do a test.

I'm not talking about Charlotte's behaviour - she's not one of the riders being discussed here as she's, thankfully, been banned from the Olympics.

I have no knowledge of horses but the thread from back when the Household Calvary horses ran off in London earlier a few months ago opened my eyes to how temperamental they are, I recall one poster saying their horse spooked themselves by farting, it was an insight because you'd think (I did!) being huge mammals they'd be fairly robust

anyone whipping or hurting any animal shouldn't be near one

Snoop Dogg’s commentary is the only one that makes sense

@Scorchio84 I care for a horse who is terrified of money spiders

@mrsdineen2 WTAF are you talking about? You sound completely ignorant and ridiculous.

Nowhere have I said I condone what Charlotte did.
Nowhere have I said I'm a dressage rider or involved in dressage.
If you think you can get an Olympic level performance from a dressage horse by beating it then you're wrong. You can't. Dressage is about the relationship between horse and rider and is based on trust. Not abuse

Didn't she compete in the Olympics 3 years ago when the abusive behaviour was filmed 4 years ago? Did you watch her then? Did you cheer her on then?

Come and see my pony who does dressage in a field with other horses, you’d be able to pick him out. Even with no knowledge of horses because his gait is naturally bouncy and ‘dancy’ it’s why he was the one we chose to do dressage with.
im not rich by the way. I have 3 horses and the cost of all 3 was less than a half decent car. I bought my first pony at auction for £50 20 years ago, I trained him and sold him for a bit of profit after a few years and spent a bit more on another and that’s how I was able over many years to afford a horse that was £2000 last time I bought one. Twenty years of graft and work to get the horse I wanted.
this myth that only Rich people rise is nonsense

This.

Mine was an eventer, not a dressage horse but we'd school for 30 mins twice a week, hack six times a week (which included galloping for fitness). He spent more time in the field than he did being ridden!

And in 20+ years of owning and riding horses, I can count on two fingers how many times I've hit one.

Twice. One for trying to barge past me to get out of his stable (which is super dangerous and could kill someone)and once on another horse who decided he didn't want to leave the yard and was rapidly backing up towards a bloody big ditch. He got a couple of hard smacks because he wasn't listening to my leg aids and we'd have both been hurt falling in the ditch.

I don't know why you're so angry - I don't even watch the Olympics. I'm just an amateur level rider who loves being around horses and has never, ever needed to hit or kick one to get it do what I want.

There is abuse in all levels of all sports up and down the country - you can agree with the sport without agreeing with the behaviour of all the participants.

I agree with you OP, and why it's considered sport is beyond me!
However, I doubt you'll convince a certain element of society.

I'm not sure how many 'working animals' are trained to high levels with C'mon Eileen in the background...over and over again until the human thinks that's good enough to get a gold medal.

'Element of society'...great turn of phrase.

Some humans love dancing around to cheesy pop.
Others would rather hack off their feet with a tooth pick than dance in public.

I figure horses are much the same.

Making animals dance or perform purely for human entertainment is abusive.

Totally agree.

Why do you keep focusing on the music when it's been explained multiple times that the music is picked to fit the horses natural gait?

It's almost like you don't actually care about horse welfare at all.

I do low level (prelim, novice) online unaffiliated dressage with my little gypsy cob (who is about as far removed from an Olympic dressage horse as you can get).

In the two years I’ve been working on schooling her (intermittently, in between the hacking, long reining, carriage driving, jumping and generally tooling about with her), she’s gone from being a downhill, heavy on the forehand, pull the reins out of your hands unbalanced ride to something with lovely paces at good tempo with developing lateral (sideways) work who is much lighter in the hand.

Schooling / dressage work encourages the horse to work more easily in their body, it’s teaching them the techniques to use their muscles effectively and when it goes right, you can feel the difference. She’s never going to be high standard because of her breed shape but she’s a million times better than she was.

It’s no different to you or I going to the gym and being coached by a personal trainer. I carry a dressage whip but it’s only used to enhance leg instructions by holding against her side in lateral work when learning moves.

What Dujardin was doing is unethical in the extreme and she deserved to be outed, can’t fault the timing of the person who had it in for her.

I'm sure we could stimulate a bored horse to learn how to use a saw....play a bit of 'Crazy Horses' by Osmonds whilst they are considering their options.

How much good money? I have several videos of my horses dancing of their accord in the fields 😊