The demise of good horsemanship

[twistyizzy]

Thought about posting this on AIBU but couldnt face the backlash of "first world problem" comments 😊
So yet another livery has arrived on the yard: unhorsey parents + teenager who has ridden for 2 years at a riding school and has been bought their first horse. Priority given to have Le Mieux match match over a properly fitted saddle/tack, child isn't having lessons on new horse and is struggling so they have just shoved a Waterford in its mouth.
This is just becoming all too common: people asking for veterinary advice on Facebook instead of calling the vet, horses underworked but having tonnes of feed pumped into them, fashion over good quality well fitting tack etc. It just seems that common sense horsemanship has practically disappeared along with much of the knowledge about horse care etc.
People not even knowing how to take TPR to monitor their horse's health, correct feeding for work bring done, how to treat minor ailments and when to call the vet etc.
All just highly frustrating and as a result I honestly believe that the welfare of many horses is compromised.

I must add though, that there have been big improvements in horse welfare and management.
When I was a child, although it was always ‘ponies comfort first, yourself last’ this was more about untacking and feeding them before you had lunch etc. I had the same saddle for all of my ponies. Teeth were done annually by the farrier 😱
Mild cases of colic were treated with a bran mash with liquid paraffin mix in (WTF???!!!) Vet was only if they were thrashing about. If they looked a bit Lami you just cold hosed and kept them in or on restricted turnout. No bute or anti inflammatory meds. Cushings ponies had no prascend.
My ponies never saw the back lady, or a chiropractor or had a biting service. Snaffles for everyone. If your pony bucked it was because you weren’t riding properly. Never occurred to us it might be the saddle etc
So in that respect things have changed for the better.

They did all live to well beyond thirty though… hardy

This.

how are people who weren’t brought up around horses supposed to learn?
how did the OP learn or is it just inbuilt knowledge!

And definitely this! We’ll said

I taught myself. I had non horsey parents. I wasn’t allowed to ride so I read. And I read and I read. In my late teens I started riding I then did my BHS stage 1 and 2. I got my own horse at 26, I kept him part livery so i knew he would be well cared for and I had a good support network around me. I still read massive amounts of info and always willing to learn.

@Polkadotties absolutely

I accepted that I didnt know anything and I sought out advice and help from qualified instructors, did my pony club badges and then my BHS Stages.
It isn't the fact people are Novices, it is the fact that many nowadays have no interest in learning. I wanted to do the best for my horse and knew that would only happen if I learned all about horse care etc.

I think if you’re a non horsey parent genuinely considering buying a child a pony, get some stable management lessons.
Dont wait until you’ve got a pony that is becoming increasingly dangerous to handle and hasn’t had its feet picked up in a week because everyone’s scared of it to learn.

No-one ever knows everything about horses, every day is a learning day but for the benefit of the horse we should acknowledge this and keep our minds open to learning. Plus learning from qualified/professional people/books etc.

Me too. I read the RSPCA horse care manual from Cover to cover. I got my first pony at 14. I’d helped out on yards and with other people’s horses since seeing an ad for a sharer for a Shetland at 8. He was grumpy and not ridden. He taught me a lot! I think because I was keen and happy to muck out people were happy to take me under their wing.

Is it that they have no interest in learning or is it that they have different ways than you do.

You look after your horse the best way you can. Leave them to their own tack choices. Unless you have riden their pony how do you know it's incorrect ?

I do agree twas ever thus, it's just got more visible now due to social media, all sorts went on in the 80s which would make your hair curl. It was much more common then to just rent a field on some random farmers land to stick a horse in, often with no other horsey company 😮 sometimes no shelter either, maybe just a tree. Way less common to call vet out too and in that arrangement you couldn't rely on yard owner or helpful other liveries to notice developing lameness or whatever. On the plus side genuine 24/7 grazing was much more common and horses probably coped better with benign neglect being chucked out in a field and left than cooped up in a stable. I also remember professional tack fitting being way less of a thing, my ponies wore a whole assortment of fairly ancient saddles that were basically made to fit with padding etc, and I spent a lot of time bareback also. We didn't really use strong bits but only because of lack of availability and similarly every horse only had 2 or maybe 3 rugs max, a new Zealand turnout, a padded stable rug and maybe a stripy racing blanket or waffle cooler if you were particularly fancy, not the extensive wardrobe for every mood and season today's horses own.

I do think maybe the standard of riding ability was higher then esp at riding schools but then again health and safety had barely been invented and risk taking that would have been totally unacceptable when my kids were learning in the early 2000s never mind today was normal, even encouraged. We were sent off on long hacks without any adults from 10ish onwards (and no way of contacting adults if anything went wrong other than finding a payphone or knocking on someone's door and begging to use their landline, falling off and hurting yourself was a regular event and a part of the learning process (I gave myself several concussions and leapt straight back on, never replaced my hat either until i outgrew it!). Basically I think every generation does change and improve and there will probably be things that are normal today we'll look back in horror on in 20 years so don't judge too harshly, lest ye be judged and all that. That being said if you have real welfare concerns and friendly advice isn't working do of course raise it with the yard owner...

Yes! All this. What I was trying to say only better!

A Waterford bit in uneducated hands is very severe. This pony is green NOT strong. Therefore it becomes q welfare issue, a saddle that blatantly doesn't fit is a welfare issue. But hey what do I know 🤷‍♀️
They have no interest because anyone who tries to offer help is ignored. As long as the green pony can jump 80cm for insta then they aren't interested. See my previous comments about it being left all day in stable without hay etc.

OK, so now it sounds like you have beef with one rider at your yard. That is not the same as lamenting that horse standards have gone to hell in a handcart across the board. There has always been poor horsecare and dodgy riding.

No I haven't but I am using this 1 rider as an example. I could give you multiple other examples. I don't have beef with anyone

Also agree with @Lastqueenofscotland2 but would also add the following:

Increasingly difficult health & safety and insurance restraints for riding schools mean kids aren't learning properly any more. There is far less opportunity to ride without stirrups and reins (in all paces and over fences) and also bareback which kids are not learning to balance properly without leaning on their hands. Anything other than 'half dead' doesn't meet the criteria when mummy and daddy might sue if little Petronella falls off when pony spooks at a plastic bag 🙄

This leads into insurance restraints again whereby kids are unable to help or learn to tack up and untack without full supervision. Yards don't have the time or staff to facilitate this (without charging for proper stable management sessions which nobody seems willing to pay for nowadays) which means so many kids are being bought their own ponies without the knowledge (themselves or their parents) to do so.

Couple this with the fact that riding schools now have to charge so much now due to the CoL crisis and the aforementioned extortionate insurance, some parents find it cheaper to buy a cheap pony and whack it on cheap DIY livery somewhere. Once the parents realise the costs don't end at livery, this is when neglect, poor management and badly fitting tack comes in.

It's sad really 😞

@HeadNorth actually i take that back, I have beef with people who don't look after their horses/spend money on fashion items for theor horse over properly fitted tack appropriate to the horse and who have no interest in addressing their lack of knowledge to benefit their horse.

That is not how it sounds. In any case, you could pull out multiple examples of dodgy horsemanship at any time over the past hundreds of years. A lot of the BHS stuff you pride yourself on following is considered pretty outdated and not necessarily the best for every horse. The best horse people I know are the first to acknowledge there is a lot to learn from different approaches - and you should never stop learning. Maybe you could start learning some humility - it is a wonderful trait seen in the best horse people.

Also to add:

We have a riding school locally whose instructors have no qualifications.

Some professional riders have no teaching qualifications but do have knowledge and results to back up their training.

It has to start from the top - teenagers barely out of school teaching total beginners is always going to end badly.

I'm not lauding BHS as the pinnacle but it does give a solid foundation of knowledge upon which to build. Everyone is continually learning but I'm just sick of seeing horse welfare issues through a lack of interest. I don't claim to know everything but I seek out what I don't know eg from vet/physio etc to expand my knowledge.
I don't think I'm wrong to criticise people where horse welfare is concerned and the owners have no interest in learning from anyone else (not necessarily me obviously).

Back to the rising school and insurance issue. It really is a massive problem. Rising is so inaccessible for children with non horsey parents. And add in low income , then it’s near on impossible.

the local riding school when I was a kid, had all sorts there. The girls with smart ponies on full livery, and children from the local kids home, all mucking in together. And it was great. The lower income children could work for rides. And older children helped. Now this is not possible. You have to pay for a pony day at £40. So the yards that used to keep kids of the street and out of mischief and learning hard work and a live of horses and life long friendships, can’t do it anymore. Before I had my own pony I used to spend all day every day on the weekend and school holidays 9am to 5pm at the stables. Helping out and making life long friendships. There is no way my parents would have afforded an own a pony day once a week even.

our local horsey fb groups are full of teenagers looking for a part loan/share . You can see from the way the ad is written they have local riding school experience but non horsey parents. It’s a shame but anyone looking for a sharer wants some help. Not an I inexperienced young teen to have to supervise and basically teach for free 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’m sorry but I do blame the litigious culture. DD school friends are always asking to come and ride. But frankly it’s a massive pita looking after novice kids around ponies and I’m very particular about which ones I take and it’s mainly due to the parents and how I think they’d react if there was an ‘incident’ . One parent who pays for their child to have group lessons once a fortnight was grumbling because of slow progress and the child wanting to learn to canter. She said to me ‘oh you could teach DD to canter on your Dpony’ . Ummm that will be a no from me.

sorry that was a long rant

I refuse to hack out with children. I don’t want to be responsible for them.

I don't think I'm wrong to criticise people where horse welfare is concerned and the owners have no interest in learning from anyone else (not necessarily me obviously).

But that is very different from lamenting the 'demise of good horsemanship' across the board. Again, when were the heady of days of good horsemanship, exactly? All I have heard from the past 40 + years is people moaning that horsemanship is not as good as in their day. I just think that is both factually incorrect and a negative lens with which to view the world.

In many ways things have improved. I was taught not to offer food or water before or after exercise - proven to be utter nonsense and a colic risk. When my pony got laminitis, I was told by the vet to walk her - poor pony. Saddle fitters were unheard of, you had to show the pony 'who was boss', no one brought up pain as the reason for poor behaviour. This was all standard BHS Pony Club stuff.

I bet you do lot's of things with your horses I would not do with mine and vice-versa. The difference is I try not to judge others but understand that it is hard and a bit of encouragement and kindness can go a long way to help, rather than sneering and judging. We all want what is best for our ponies, but none of us is the expert on what that is - we are all trying in our own way and we will all get it wrong sometimes - even you.

@Thatbloomindog agreed