Best/worst comment about your riding you have heard at a comp

None of these are at a comp but I'm usually too busy worrying to hear anything over myself saying now bloody well sit up and ride!
When I was training for my BHS stages my instructor was trying to improve my balance on the lunge and said 'I don't understand why you don't fall off more often, your balance is terrible' (She's now one of my closest friends and it's a bit of a recurring joke since she asks me to ride her rather tricky mare - I usually respond with are you sure I won't wobble off)
Somebody once said about me (to a friend who decided I should know) 'she'll never be able to ride as long as she has a hole in her a**e, which I thought was a very strange saying, especially after she had offered me a job riding for her.

The only compliment I can remember that's worth telling was when I was schooling my horse at a yard where Andrew Gould had come to school a horse, and my rather exuberant horse decided to buck/squeal/leap across the diagonal when I was trying to change the rein in trot and we ended up heading straight towards AG and his horse. 'Well, I haven't seen half pass done like that before, well sat'. I managed to mumble thanks/sorry and made a very red-faced, swift exit before I ended biting the dust!
 
During my early teens I was often 'a bit low', due to this sentance being quite common about me ' Ruth is such a lovely rider, shame she doesn't have the horse to do her justice'.
Yes, thats a big complement and I later learnt to be proud of it, but at the time it was depressing as I never got 'the horse', and even more depressing is that dispite me being 'such a lovely rider' no -one offered me a nice horse to ride either. I always considered it to be just my luck, so near yet so far. BUT without it, I wouldn't be who Iam today, so Iam lucky really!
Now, my biggest problem is the fact that I get looked down on, as I ride a small horse. I don't think some take me seriously, and as time is going on, Iam getting more consious about it. Silly really, as Meg is a wonderful horse.
 
In a puissance class my sister heard a girl saying to her friend "The only competition I have is that girl" pointing to me. Haha, we drew.
 
hmm, well, I tend to forget the bad ones and move on :p

Worst comment was probably when my dressage instructor called me fat! Thats the most recent one anyways - always get told my hands are awful etc. but they are a work in progress :p

Best comment was probably when lots of people came up to me at a county show after we jumped in the workers, telling me that they love my horse :D

Also when well known person here came up to me and said "Ive never watched you jump properly before, but just wanted to say what a foot perfect round and fantastic rhythmn, and you ride very well and he goes very well for you" :D :D

And at camp last week; we all swapped horses and everyone that rode my horse said "wow, he really is lazy - when you ride him he dosent look lazy at all!" :p
 
Ive had worst but here's two I can remember xD


Basically was today, and I was in the small breeds ridden on my Shetland, he's five and it was his first ever ridden outing. Someone outside the ring said "Well I'll be in the champs, the only real competition is you" to here friend.
Biscuit wen lovely and only went and got second! Beating the girl. She then Got off and just left her pony outside the ring, muttering "I can't believe that thing beat me!" referring to me.



The other one was when a top dressage rider who also produces dressage and Eventers asked me to ride for her when I was 16 (I was 11(?) at the time)
 
I think the worst comment I heard about was on a video of mine, was that "She really scares me"...This was a pairs, and I do it frequently.
And one of the best comments I have gotten was yesterday's comment stressage competition [report soon] and was to myself and the horse I was riding, Splash who a throughly love. 'Inexperienced horse but loads of potention. Well done, promising combination :)'.
 
From Polly Stockton: 'you and that mare are two explosive personalities that either clash or work very, very well, keep at it!'


when I was 9 on my 13hh dun connie, maybe I was slightly overhorsed, pony was in dutch gag on second ring (before I learnt correct bitting :P ) and was over bent and very very excited, bouncing around a rally like a loon. Someone said 'children so young shouldn't have stallions, especially when someone could get hurt!' mother was quick to point out she was in fact a mare :)


On riding my old mare, she was showing her 'explosive side' and hurtling round SJing despite Dr. Bristol, so overjumping everything I felt like we were going into orbit and I clung on, bounced out the ring to someone going 'bloody hell that looks like suicide!'

On mare going XC 'bloody professionals shouldn't be allowed...'
 
My worst was when I was about 12, and borrowed my sister's dressage pony for a test. I came equal last, after what I thought was a decent test, and was told to try a lower level! We were doing Prelim 1.1....the lowest level offered. I was absolutely gutted! I later found out that the two ponies doing that test came equal last because the judge didn't feel ponies should do dressage :rolleyes:

"You handle him beautifully, ignore anyone who tells you differently" My DC from pony club who came over to me to talk about Tally after he had a massive wild tantrum about going into a show-jumping ring and kept leaping all over the place and rearing. We did eventually get in, but I was mortified about it all and did a shocking round.
 
At an inhand show, I had someone comment that if I just gout out of my horse's mouth, it'd all be fine and she'd settle. If they actually knew the horse, they would know actually she'd blast past me, cowkick and disappear over the horizon, but the comment has still stuck with me and tbh it still pisses me off!

Best comment was about a dressage test 'tactfully ridden.'
 
Honestly can't remember any comments good or bad at a competition - and mainly what is on my dressage sheets tend to be rather encouraging rather than negative (other than stuff about the actual movements).

Comments good and bad that stick with me (as they should) have mostly come from my RI.

The worst: You are suddenly sitting like something out of a 1930's hunt scene with your arse hanging out the back and your legs round the ears - what's up with that???? LOL (I wasn't jumping btw, just having a moment on a newish horse in my dressage saddle!!!) :eek:

Best: You're a very good pilot :)
 
My worst came from a girl who's mummy and daddy spent £17K on her horse and she said "Why don't you take your cr@p pony and your equally as sh!+ riding and go somewhere else" ---Well we went and won the class (only an unaff. 90cms class and she was eliminated :rolleyes: )but it still hurt to hear someone say that about him as well as me.



My best was:

"You make that pony look so beautiful and easy...but I wouldn't want to get on him"
I know it doesn't sound brilliant but it made me remember that a partnership with your horse can take you a long way.
 
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I haven't heard any bad comments at a competition, people have probably been too polite or I've been out of earshot.

I had one horrid girl at Hartpury watching me while I was schooling my new horse, I overheard her saying to her friend 'that horse would be nice if it was being ridden properly', I felt like saying 'you get on him then and let's see how he goes!'.

I was told by a friend I look like a hobbit when I ride an my sister (who hasn't ridden properly for years!) cheerfully told me that I hunch my back and my wrists are too stiff.

Nice comments, I had one at a clinic yesterday! A lady said I rode my horse very well and another said I had a good seat lol.

I've had a couple of people say I've ridden well and a couple of people have come upto me after a class and said that was a nice round or a good test which was lovely. My teenage jumping horse was in his teens/20's when I had him and he was beautiful to watch jump, a total pro so I think he helped me to look good!

If I think someone has done well I always try and tell them that as I think people are too quick to criticise and it's nice to hear when it goes well :).
 
At the same comp, hadn't realised that the arena eventing I had entered on a very looky extremely sharp baby TB was going to be so 'in your face' with loads of jumps that he had never seen before. So after a very 'interesting' dressage where the comments 'well sat' and 'tactfully ridden' featured highly, I was in two minds if I should actually jump.

So went into the judges box and withdrew, but asked if I could use my allocated time slot to go into the arena and use the time as a schooling session, riding around the jumps and perhaps popping a few, well I had paid my entry fee and all that..... Judge said that was fine if I was so afraid of my horse I was welcome to do that

Went in, jumped all of the sj's and the majority of the xc fences, not in the best style and with a few gasps from the onlookers, the best bit was around of applause from them a I left the ring and complete strangers coming up to me afterwards and saying how nicely I had ridden a very obviously green baby. Made my week.
 
the best was in a show jumping lesson when i had just finished a course of jumps and got a 'perfect' from my instructor, he is usually quite harsh so i was pretty happy! another time was when i was trying out a loan pony for the first time, after ten mins of figuring out which buttons to push, i got her going and someone else also riding her horse in the school said "youve got her going wonderfully" that was nice, as it was the first time id sat on the pony!

the worst was probably when the lines to my fences where called crap, and when i was first learning to do sitting trot! i bounced like a jelly!
 
My best on Cheeky was being complimented on our style in a jump off! And at a clinic he was held up as the perfect little horse for the entire day, gave everyone leads and at the end I was told we were "obviously the perfect partnership, keep enjoying him". Made my year as he was a bit mad and people noticing that I dealt with that was nice :)

Worst was someone saying "They only keep winning because their mum's the secretary" and also "She just sits there". Mainly because the second one was true- but if you did much else he'd be an arse! Whatever I said he'd do the opposite to wind me up, so I found sitting quietly and keeping my leg softly on yielded the nicest rounds. Explaining that is pretty hard though!
 
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Best: can't remember

Worst: I was very young, just starting out in dressage and I went to my very first multi-day National competition (equivalent to today's Premier Leagues in the UK...very high standards even back then). Did two tests and came third both days, with good scores, in what were very tough, huge classes. Back then I was lucky enough to have the ride on my trainer's little thoroughbred-like Russian warmblood, a really, really sharp (crazy!) little horse who had amazing paces (which were especially striking back then, in the 1990s, as there weren't as many big-moving imported German warmbloods as there are now...).

Anyway I was so proud of our achievements that I used my savings to buy the VHS tapes from both days and once I got home and put the cassette into the player, at the very end of one of my tests I could overhear the very recognisable voice of one of the country's top top trainers (a foreigner, so I am 100% sure it was him as he's got a very distinctive voice / accent) say to somebody "Nice little horse, pity the person at the helm is lacking somewhat". It was right after the final halt so he was definitely referring to me / to my test.

It totally destroyed me and I didn't recover for ages. He was totally right, and I was only little so, as my first National, I was always going to be super tense / nervous / not quite effective during the test, but it still hurt so much. Even now, after so many years I am really uncomfortable when I first play new videos of myself riding - just in case I fortuitously overhear a similarly negative comment.

Oh but this is so therapeutic ;) ;) ;)
 
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My instructor/YO doesn't really 'do' cobs but calls MollyMoomin the yards 'secret dressage weapon'. She comes off the wagon looking a bit donkey-esque until it's time to tack up, when she channels her inner dressage-demon.

'We' are the only cob on a yard full of dressage horses (all WBs/TBs except for one arab) and one of the other liveries, looking out over the fields the other day turned to me and said 'if someone came onto this yard and we asked them to show us which horse had won/placed in every test its ever done and has qualified for the Trailblazers Finals, no one in their right mind would pick MollyMoomin'.

Still not entirely sure how to take that comment?!
 
Well it wasn't a comment on my riding more about my tack! I was so upset to here someone saying why does she need all that when I'd tried so hard to get him in a snaffle but he just hated them!he was a difficult pony and a pacer so knew she would also comment on him being lame wham she saw him in the ring! Though she got shot down quickly by fellow liveries! :D pony did me proud and we went double clear and came fourth not bad for a 22year old .he also cantered round on the bit when we got our rosette something he didn't do very often!
 
God I have had loads of comments about my riding that upset me. Someone told me I rode like my mother which really upset me!!
I just work harder then to improve.

I got told the other day by a very very critical friend that I rode nicely and very quietly.
 
'Your dressage is crap' as a 16yo on a very reary unruly TB.

'You ride like ****' off an old PC instructor a couple of years ago - both constructive criticisms then :rolleyes:

People used to comment that they wouldn't let their kids ride my sisters pony, same pony was sent back early from a schooling week with a professional SJer. Apparently he ditched him on the floor and rider stormed off :D I have had little respect for the guy ever since, I used to ride the pony roun HTs ffs. Still never charged us for it ;)

Good - that a have a good seat :)
 
I try not to listen in on any conversations about my riding to be honest! But the nicest thing someone has said to me was last year at a BE event, at the prize giving a lady came over to me and said how she'd watched me on the circuit and commented how nicely I rode and how wonderful it was to see a horse with simple tack doing cross country (ie. cavesson noseband, snaffle bit, no martingale etc.). I thought that was such a lovely thing for a stranger to say!

Worst thing, was probably the odd snide comment when I used to compete a 14.2hh as an adult (late teens/early 20's), I'd had him ages and he had a reputation for winning things but he also had his limit jumping-wise (couldn't cope with open for example) so I had to stick around at the lower levels, as a result I got the odd stroppy comment that I was "pot hunting" and shouldnt I be onto horses anyway. I did move onto horses eventually but I enjoyed my little pony so wasnt in a hurry to move up! Another thing which has stuck in my mind was during SJ training - its always BSJA riders at it (which is fine as I am one), all the other horses were immaculate - it was winter and they clearly lived in their polished stables - mine is grey and lives out 24/7. I rode past someone watching and overheard her saying "god, look at the stains on that horse and she's even wearing scruffy boots". So childish because who cares when its only training in the middle of winter but it annoyed me as I felt like saying "well at least my horse is happy living out, not cooped up in a stable for months".

I couldnt care less what people think about how I ride. As long as the results are coming in - I can't be THAT horrific, although I'm the first to admit I have a lot to improve on ;)
 
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RuthnMeg said:
Now, my biggest problem is the fact that I get looked down on, as I ride a small horse. I don't think some take me seriously, and as time is going on, Iam getting more consious about it. Silly really, as Meg is a wonderful horse.
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Size shouldnt make people look down on you, if anything you should feel prouder when you beat them ;) I know how you feel though - I feel very small on my little unassuming horse when I'm warming up for BE dressage alongside big, flashy warmblood types. It makes you feel pretty rubbish and zaps your confidence. I dont feel that when I'm jumping though which is strange, but I'm much more confident at that so I guess that has a big effect.
 
I've been told I have a nice seat and soft hands. I don't pay attention to people who don't know me, only to my instructor and a few trusted people. I think people who don't know the full picture can't comment, they haven't seen me shaking with fear before I ride and they don't know how hard it is somedays just to put my foot in the stirrup. I know whether I am doing well or not, and that is what I judge myself by. I beat myself up enough, don't need anyone else to do it!!
 
I ride what could be called a 'big (16.3) flashy type' and look at the kids on ponies/adults on smaller horses and think how easier it must be fitting all the moves in to a DR arena!
And sigh about how they all seem to be going beautifully while Beau does his best llama on stilts act :cool:

So the size envy goes both ways! :)
 
Felicity_09 said:
I ride what could be called a 'big (16.3) flashy type' and look at the kids on ponies/adults on smaller horses and think how easier it must be fitting all the moves in to a DR arena!
And sigh about how they all seem to be going beautifully while Beau does his best llama on stilts act :cool:

So the size envy goes both ways! :)
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After having done dressage on a Welsh Cob that was 15.1hh, and steering and brakes were always lacking I always wonder how the big moving 17 handers EVER manage! LOL Of course, they might have a bit of what my mare lacked for starters, and balance to boot!

These days I ride a wee(er) pb arab that is the same height, but much more compact. He does have brakes, steering and lovely balance, and I don't envy anyone - except after today I found myself most envious of a medium trot, which we are surely lacking! :eek:
 
Worst: 'And this is why novice riders shouldn't have novice horses', from my pony club DC whilst in a lesson. Tbh it was probably a fair comment, I had a 4 yr old who constantly put me on the floor and I wasn't very experienced. But it still hurt when I was only 14 and I thought the world of my horse.

Best: 'wow I wasn't expecting that' from a sj steward when the same horse a few years later jumped a very quick, tidy round around a 1.20 course. I was so proud of him that day. That little horse has taught me so much.
 
I remember my first ever SJ competition when I was very small, and rode an incredibly nasty bucker/general evil little pony. Why my parents thought that it was a good plan, I have no idea..
I had spent all day trying to bath the little **** who had a fear of water, brushes and people touching his mane, but I was a determined child and in the end, his white bits were white, and he was plaited up and looking smart.
When we arrived at the comp, he bucked me around the practice ring, knocked down every jump I put him over, and I think I actually fell off a couple of times. When it occured to me that there was no way in hell that he was going to make it to the end of the course, I made him go over the practice fence one more time properly, had a complete circuit with no bucks, then jumped off and walked out. As I was leaving, a man told me that I was the real winner that day.
That has stayed with me forever. I'm sure that most people that day were whispering about what an awful pair we were.


The thing that I hate about a lot of people is how they assume that my horse is a kick along, push button easy ride cob, and that I just sit there and wobble about. For example, today, my mum came down to the yard and was washing my bit under a tap (dutch gag with two reins) and someone commented on how 'my horse shouldn't need that surely?' I just take this as a compliment because obviously I make riding him look easy ;) Someone else has also commented on how I was too inexperienced to use two reins. If I don't use them, how do I get the experience?... and how someone was watching me while I schooled and he had a bit of a buck and tried to take off with me (Hence the gag. I call it 'character', he likes to embarrass me in front of people!) and told me I should never get on him again :eek: I love him ot bits, and no one could ever say anything to change that!
 
I'm not sure i can remember the worst comment i am my own worst enemy so they all come from me or what i assume other people are saying.
i was told i was a great little jockey when i was 11 :) not sure i've improved an awful lot since then i was a lot braver
 
I'm always told that I have 'beautiful hands' - I love that comment!!

Last stressage test with the mad one, one Of the comments was ' beautiful horse with bags of potential, who is lucky enough to have such a quiet, understanding rider to bring it out. A combination to watch out for!'

And ' wouldn't think Lumi was a stallion - quiet riding = quiet, settled horse putting in some beautiful work. Very very well ridden'

Then I get people telling me I cant ride him .... Urgh!!!
 
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