bad horsemanship?

[BroadfordQueen]

i went to watch the advanced pony club championships at sansaw park on thursday. we where standing at the water jump, which was causing alot of problems.

its was a very narrow barrel fence, followed by two strides downhill to a drop into the water. we watched several people stop and fall off, and then take the "L" option.

we then happened to see a bloke (well he was about 23 i think) attempt the water jump. his horse stopped blind the first time, so he turned and tried it again. it again stopped blind. so, surely, he should of taken the L option? if he tried the main one again and stopped he would get eliminated... but he tried it again. the horse stopped, again, but ran into the jump, and came away hopping lame, delaying the competition as someone called for a vet, as the horse couldnt put his foot down on the ground.

surely he should of done the L option? his horse wasnt even attempting to jump it, and i would of thought he was experienced enough to not try it for the third time? or would you have done the same? can i have your opinions please, as i thought that this was an example of bad horsemanship?

 

[baybeejay01]

Unfortunately it can be difficult to think sensibly when you are competiing and the adrenalin is pulsing! Can sympathise with the bloke, it must be very frustrating when you have trained for this day and your horse decides (for whatever reason) not to play - you don't say that he abused his horse in any way so am assuming he just kept trying unsuccessfully (?). In hindsight, yes it would have been a better idea to try the long route, hopefully get over and finish the course on a good note (with a sound horse) and go and do some homework, but who can honestly say that they haven't made bad decisions in the heat of the moment?!

 

[MissDeMeena]

I wouldn't so much call it bad horsemanship.. but more just being totally stupid!!!
Lets hope he has learnt from his mistake!
(and that the horse is obviously ok)

 

[GTs]

I would not say it was an example of bad horsemanship but bad luck. If it had happened on the first try would you have said it was bad horsemanship? Because one would imagine if the horse had stopped their twice before it was capable of stopping their a third time without injuring itself.

 

[MissDeMeena]

How can you call that bad luck.. seeing as the horse has stoped there 2 times already, chances are, it'll probably stop again the 3rd time (which it did)
I'm guessing this guy was in a team of some sort??
And for the good of the team, you get round! ie take the easy option!!
If you're schooling a baby round a hunter trial course of some sort, then by all means keep trying till you get it over said fence!!

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

Not necesarily mad horsemanship but a complete lack of common sense!!!He was probably wound up by the adrenaline and couldnt think straight, though a very stupid decision to make!

 

[GTs]

I was not saying the horse stopping was bad luck - that the horse hurt itself was. I think the thread was far more geared towards the injury, rather than 3 stops.

We can make 1,000,000 presumption, maybe the longer way round had an obstacle that the rider knew from previous experience was going to wig out the horse, and trying this for the third time was the lesser of 2 evils.