Classical dressage training????? :-O

The instructor did not beat seven shaded out of the horse, what a huge exaggeration! When she did use her stick she used it once and the horse went forward. She then must have felt him drop behind the leg so used it again, once, horse went forward again. I am not getting into the soundness etc. Issues as for all we know he has been seen by the best vet in the world and having taught in a riding school for ten years I am perfectly aware of how the soundess horse in the world can look very lame when not ridden forward and straight. However to state the instructor beat the horse is totally incorrect.
If you had the horse to ride what would you do (assuming he is not in pain)?
 
I feel so so sorry for the women having the lesson. She seemingly wants to learn, isn't perfect right away on what looks to be a tricky horse for her so gets a slating for it. People have to learn they have to practice to improve, some start out with good core balance/strength so end up with a reasonable seat fairly quickly. Others take much longer and in the meantime there legs will do odd things and there icons will wobble. I agree with Amymay.
 
I feel sorry for rider #1 as well, it's very difficult trying to maintain balance and position when the horse won't move at all. There look to be a number of reasons why he didn't want to. I'd have got off well before the start of the video, but I'm a bit unfit and would probably have wilted into a sweaty puddle way before the horse did. Leaving everything else aside, imho riding horses that are dead to the leg is exhausting and misery inducing for new riders, and teaches nothing but bad position. This horse should only be ridden by someone with lots of experience and thighs of steel. I couldn't do the wallop myself, but won't scream outrage at the principle of backing up legs with whip at those who want to. Interesting debate!
 
Amazona I think you may have hit the nail on the head!

We had an evening Polox Demo at PC Camp. A very forward-going pony we know well took part. As the Demo progressed she looked lame/very stiff behind (she was a known to have arthritis but instead of loosening up she was worsening). She sweated up, kicked out and rested back legs just as this horse does. Then she struggled to move forwards and it was similar to how this horse appears nappy. Being the honest pony she is she would lurch forward in an attempt to canter.
Thirty people were watching and it was only when she refused to budge that it clicked.
Bearing in mind this pony normally doesn't have good brakes!
 
Ok can I ask something?

To everyone who get's their horses moving forward when they are napping like that without giving them a whack, what do you do?

Now then, firstly I want to remove the fact that the horse may or may not be lame, is sweaty, overweight and frothing etc.
Now then, if my perfectly sound and happy pony decided to nap like that (which he has!) he would also get a similar treatment, admittedly I wouldn't use a whip on him as he is a mard a*se and a simple shout would be enough to send him forwards.
However, in my experience when a horse is being a bit of an ass and deciding not to move forwards when prompted then yes, they get a smack.
One sharp smack is a lot better than lots of useless flapping and constant kicking.

However, not everything was done right on that video although I do agree with the trainer's basic idea.
Firstly the first rider was totally useless and needs to ride something less challenging as that horse is clearly taking the mick with her at the minute. She either needs to buck up her ideas or ride something else before she ruins a nice horse. Second, the trainer didn't need to 'pat' the horse so hard and aggressively, she just looked like a bit of a t*t in my opinion when she did that. Thirdly the kicking and pulling in the mouth needs sorting, if the trainer was any good then she would have told her client that she is doing the total wrong thing so that needs to be sorted out.

However, now we enter the grey area.
Is there something other than this horse being an ass, such as the ill fitting saddle or potential lameness? Or even the fact that it looks knackered!

Frankly they need to get the saddle re fitted or get a new one, have the horse fully checked out to make sure that it's sound and then start to gradually get it fit. Once that has been taken care of, if the horse is still napping then yes, give it a whack. The horse is clearly a fast learner and one or two well timed smacks should eradicate the problem, assuming that all of the aforementioned points are in order.
 
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