Been unaff SJ today - amazed at the bad standard...

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Starbucks

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.. of riding!!!!!

I know I may get slated for this, but I really felt for the horses and some people were painful to watch!
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I understand that people have to start somewhere, but I really think they should have a basic understanding of how you are supposed to ride/jump.... it looked like some of them didn't even know you were supposed to, at least try, to give with your hands over a fence!
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Poor horsies!
 
Yea I'm not saying it was because it was unaffiliated, I know what you mean.

It's a good venue, just must have been a bad day!
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I mean really bad!!!

It was mixed ponies/horses - the kids were great, it was the adults that were bad!
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but as I get told when I mention that some people are too novice to wn a horse 'everyone has to start somewhere'
IMO its a case of more money than sense and by buying a SJ people think they are Olympic bound!
 
The "painful" ones didn't look anything like SJers!
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They were TB types (as in off the race course TBs) and although they tried hard, they didn't look happy bunnies!
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I'm no great rider, but can keep my hands in a reasonable position and am fairly quiet, there were two women and one bloke who kept going in the clear round again and again, I honestly think if I'd sent my non horsey OH in he'd have done a better job!

Are these people just thick?
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Oh, it doesn't surprise me AT ALL that the kids were better than the adults!! It's the same here; some of the adults are just SCARY to watch (as in I expect them to plough through a fence, fall off and really hurt themeselves because they are SO clueless) or really clumsy and heavy handed.
 
God I hope I am never at a show where you are watching!! What do you suggest novices should do then? Only jump at home when there is no danger of anyone being offended by their awful positions? Everyone has to begin somewhere and nerves will often make people ride a lot worse at shows.
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God I hope I am never at a show where you are watching!! What do you suggest novices should do then? Only jump at home when there is no danger of anyone being offended by their awful positions? Everyone has to begin somewhere and nerves will often make people ride a lot worse at shows.
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People should be established enough to jump a course half decently before they go out competing IMHO!!! Look at the continent where you have to have assessments before you can even go "Unaff"!! So yes, agree with you, complete novices shouldnt go out competing until they are capable of fully controlling the horse, without wobbling off!!
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Starbucks, agree, the amount of clueless and idiotic people even owning horses, never mind competing always gets me!!
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I just don't see why the horses should have to put up with it. A bad position is ok but socking a horse in the mouth over every fence, IMO, is not.

Maybe it's because the people yesterday were on unsuitable horses?? If I were a genuine novice - as in a beginner - I think I'd ride more of a school master til I got the hang of it. If I was just that bad I think I'd rather not bother!
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I have to agree with Starbucks - I have never actually competed SJ
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(Its an aim for this summer! Hopefully!
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) but I have been to many competitions as pretty much all my Cornish friends are horsey and I worked as a SJ groom for a bit. I do wince when I see some people - the horses have no balance, the riders have little (if any) control and it just looks unpleasing to watch - some riders just hawl the poor horse around and kick the crap out of it, or just smack it into the fence
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I have been having jump lessons for the past year and a half (got one this Sunday!
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) and only now do i feel confident enough to be able to do a half decent 2ft6 class. Part of this is because if I am going out in 'public' I would like to look like I know what I am doing and not just sitting their hawling a horse around.
 
I am somewhat inclined to disagree as the rider of a very green horse when it comes to jumping. Although she jumps excellently at home and at familiar venues, because we don't have our own transport it's very seldom we go to new venues and when we do she sometimes gets a bit freaked out by the new sights and sounds. As a result I have to ride rather defensively (hopefully not badly, you understand, but rather 'with caution'
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).

However this does not involve hanging onto her gob or poor position or anything like that, and I wouldn't go out competing if that was the case. Sounds like overhorsed novice riders who've had a few lessons under their belt and think they can take on the world
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I compete mainly unaffiliated, and have to agree that some people really shouldn't be out there - not all of us though I hope!!
I think a lot of the time the problem is that people go out competing and stay at the small heights forever and a day, becasue they spend their time and money competing rather than getting some lessons!!! I can think of a few people round here like that.....some who have horses who could get them round a 2'3 course blindfolded with one leg tied up, and they keep doing OK at that height but if they move up, dreadfully because the horse actually needs some rider input rather than hinderance at that point, so they stay at the small height forever!! You do sometimes just want to scream at them though.
I was watching a warm up the other day, with our YO's daughter who is 14 but a very decent rider, and we were both absolutley driven mad by a girl who had put up an up-to height warm up fence for the class in the ring...2'9 I think. She kept riding towards it at the crappest trot you have ever seen, on a TB that looked like it might have been off the track about a week!! and the horse kept riunning out. She had absolutely no left leg on at all, reins like washing lines, and funnily enough the horse kept going left! She was having a right strop, crying, screaming at her mother....it made me want to offer to have a go because I'm sure that even I could get the horse over that fence and I am no superstar!
Grrr.
 
Jen I think you are doing the right thing and I bet you'll be fab when you go out jumping in the summer!
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blackcobs, good luck with your horsey, hope he/she starts getting used to new things so you don't have to work as hard!
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I love going to my small local shows, purely as an observer, but it does totally wind you up when you watch some godawful riders being 'cruel' in their jumping, I feel so sorry for some of the poor horses, like you say, being jabbed, booted and hauled around with no correct aids, communication or understanding. Esp when the stupid rider then has a tantrum and blames it on the horse with a smack of the whip.
Funny enough, I had the same problem watching a r.lesson the other month, and it was a young instructor, who had NO idea how to teach the child, and was yelling 'dont let her do that, pull on her mouth........ HARD!' I was gobsmacked. I think some of these young girls teaching kids need a lesson or two themselves!!!!!!! It (the general standard) seems worse than it used to be. Or is it just me?
 
I agree, we have taken green horses a few times recently and was SHOCKED at the overall standard of riding and felt very sorry for some of the horses/ponies
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I find this interesting as up here a rider whose riding was hurting / damaging the horse would be told in no uncertain terms to go and get some lessons.

At our local show the riders can all ride. Some better than others of course, but at least they know what they're supposed to be doing. IMHO comes of being a rural area with relatively few incomers and a very strong riding tradition. On the whole, anyone taking up riding will get good advice, and if they don't take it no mercy is shown. There's huge peer pressure that pushes people into learning properly.
 
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