Disgusted

[CluelessShowjumper]

A friend called me on Friday night and asked me to help her daughter at an unaffiliated local show at a well known venue.
I haven’t been to an unaffiliated show for a while as historically I hate seeing how kids treat their ponies at these shows. I wasn’t disappointed….

Ponies being ridden my multiple riders in multiple classes.
Ponies being tacked up and sat on with kids not getting off the whole day (I saw one particular pony with a rider on it for 3.5 hours).
Kinds ragging them around pony club kicking and smacking with a crop to go faster and faster so they can jump 10-12 jumps in under 30 seconds (not making this up).
Kids coming out crying because they didn’t win or knocked a pole. Pony forgotten for getting them around safely and not even a pat.
Kids on their phones saying oh look mom I’m still ahead of that person in the league.
Kids coming out and announcing to the gate steward and whomever will listen that they got 4 rosettes in 4 classes.

The warm up was even worse! And why on earth do you need to warm up for ages for all your classes when you are riding 3-4 classes consecutively.

The next day some of those same kids were back for the 2nd day of the show.
When I left I passed ponies that had been in the earlier classes hours before and should have gone home and they were left standing on the lorry whilst the riders socialised.

Why are there no rules and stewards at these shows?
Why are parents not teaching their kids horsemanship and that winning is not everything?

I won’t be going to an unaffiliated again.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Sadly this is going on all over the country.

On the positive side, a certain Riding Club locally has been pro-active with this, by sending their people "incognito" around the back of the showground when there's something on that they've organised. They keep a look-out for good horsemanship skills being exercised, i.e. a child making sure their pony is taken care of, is comfy & rugged etc when they come out of the ring and looking after it properly, and also looking out for any nastiness as well.

They run a little "Awards" section at their shows for those individuals who they want to say a "well done" to. This does several things; it firstly lets it be known that "a watchful eye" is being kept on everything that goes on behind the horsebox lines, and secondly it recognises and applauds good management.

It would be nice to think this practice could be adopted elsewhere.

 

[CJoe]

A friend called me on Friday night and asked me to help her daughter at an unaffiliated local show at a well known venue.
I haven’t been to an unaffiliated show for a while as historically I hate seeing how kids treat their ponies at these shows. I wasn’t disappointed….

Ponies being ridden my multiple riders in multiple classes.
Ponies being tacked up and sat on with kids not getting off the whole day (I saw one particular pony with a rider on it for 3.5 hours).
Kinds ragging them around pony club kicking and smacking with a crop to go faster and faster so they can jump 10-12 jumps in under 30 seconds (not making this up).
Kids coming out crying because they didn’t win or knocked a pole. Pony forgotten for getting them around safely and not even a pat.
Kids on their phones saying oh look mom I’m still ahead of that person in the league.
Kids coming out and announcing to the gate steward and whomever will listen that they got 4 rosettes in 4 classes.

The warm up was even worse! And why on earth do you need to warm up for ages for all your classes when you are riding 3-4 classes consecutively.

The next day some of those same kids were back for the 2nd day of the show.
When I left I passed ponies that had been in the earlier classes hours before and should have gone home and they were left standing on the lorry whilst the riders socialised.

Why are there no rules and stewards at these shows?
Why are parents not teaching their kids horsemanship and that winning is not everything?

I won’t be going to an unaffiliated again.

A friend called me on Friday night and asked me to help her daughter at an unaffiliated local show at a well known venue.
I haven’t been to an unaffiliated show for a while as historically I hate seeing how kids treat their ponies at these shows. I wasn’t disappointed….

Ponies being ridden my multiple riders in multiple classes.
Ponies being tacked up and sat on with kids not getting off the whole day (I saw one particular pony with a rider on it for 3.5 hours).
Kinds ragging them around pony club kicking and smacking with a crop to go faster and faster so they can jump 10-12 jumps in under 30 seconds (not making this up).
Kids coming out crying because they didn’t win or knocked a pole. Pony forgotten for getting them around safely and not even a pat.
Kids on their phones saying oh look mom I’m still ahead of that person in the league.
Kids coming out and announcing to the gate steward and whomever will listen that they got 4 rosettes in 4 classes.

The warm up was even worse! And why on earth do you need to warm up for ages for all your classes when you are riding 3-4 classes consecutively.

The next day some of those same kids were back for the 2nd day of the show.
When I left I passed ponies that had been in the earlier classes hours before and should have gone home and they were left standing on the lorry whilst the riders socialised.

Why are there no rules and stewards at these shows?
Why are parents not teaching their kids horsemanship and that winning is not everything?

I won’t be going to an unaffiliated again.

This isnt confined to unaffiliated sadly! goes on everywhere, I have seen worse at affiliated in fairness as far as kids are concerned....

 

[CanteringCarrot]

It's this kind of stuff that makes me wonder WTF are we doing.

I looked around a showground once (it was an affiliated competition) and saw miserable horses and riders. I just wondered, why?!

Granted, my resting face is probably a look of misery too, and I get that not everyone enjoys every second of competition, but still.

I would've been scolded so hard as a child if I treated my horse in ways that I see happen at some competitions. Just on a horsemanship level such as offering water, not staying on their back all day, rewarding them, being thankful, allowing them to be comfortable, putting the horse first, etc

I guess it just depends on your upbringing.

 

[reynold]

Sadly I saw the exact same 20 years ago (gosh is it that long!) at the local pony club.

In the end at one particular annual show I saw a child doing all of the OPs complaints to a very willing and able pony. In addition this child was overweight/oversized for the pony and was wearing spurs (open show so no PClub control).

In the end I complained to the steward/secretary. Turns out the child was the daughter of a committee member. The mother got the huff about her precious daughter being singled out (the child had acted in that way at multiple shows before I complained and was by far the worst as she had classes on the same pony the entire day).

The mother resigned from the branch committee in a huff but I found out a couple of months later that she was begged to come back to the committee (as she was a big donor to the branch....!) and the child continued the same awful behaviour.

Ironically the now early 20s 'child' turned up as a livery where I had my 2 oldies retired about 12 years later. She was exactly the same - came up - didn't really groom horse but just threw tack on and then went out hacking (from the state horse came back in it was galloped into the ground on every ride). The poor horse was often still blowing hard when it got back. Tack off and chucked into stable, not washed off.

Not my place to cause ructions but the YO never said a word....

I'm very sad - but sadly not surprised - that the same is going on to this day and despite the 'welfare' and 'social license' campaigns at the moment nothing seems to ever get better for the poor horses.

I seem to recall there was either a comment piece or something on the letters page about child behaviour at shows in an issue of H&H in the last month but I pass my issues on to my YO so I can't look it up.

 

[RachelFerd]

I maintain that for u16s and for anything under 90cm we should not be jumping against the clock - judge on style - equitation jumping. Reward good riding. Would lead to such a better picture.

 

[LEC]

I maintain that for u16s and for anything under 90cm we should not be jumping against the clock - judge on style - equitation jumping. Reward good riding. Would lead to such a better picture.

Well America and NZ have this system - they don't really do ponies. The riding is much better and a huge focus on style but there are a heap of issues with it as well.
I actually think with the wider accessibility of affiliated competition that unaffiliated has got worse. The numbers participating are definitely lower than used to be. Which is actually kind of good as more people are falling into a 'standard' with NSEA, RC, PC, BE, BS etc
I am not sure there is a solution. Most of the EC round here which run aff have a better standard at unaff than those which don't.

 

[Gloi]

I remember back in the seventies a man who did junior showjumping with his kids constantly hollering at them. One time the pony had fences down in the jump off and when they came out of the ring he took the crop off the rider and thrashed both pony and kid with it .
I was a junior at the time and kept well out of his way.

 

[RachelFerd]

Well America and NZ have this system - they don't really do ponies. The riding is much better and a huge focus on style but there are a heap of issues with it as well.
I actually think with the wider accessibility of affiliated competition that unaffiliated has got worse. The numbers participating are definitely lower than used to be. Which is actually kind of good as more people are falling into a 'standard' with NSEA, RC, PC, BE, BS etc
I am not sure there is a solution. Most of the EC round here which run aff have a better standard at unaff than those which don't.

I think unaffiliated has always been dire - but probably my awareness of the direness has always been there. Don't get me wrong - see plenty of awfulness at the lower level BS stuff too. I don't bother going BS or showjumping in general because it just makes me feel a bit depressed. They run some unaffiliated at my livery yard and the riding sights are often pretty disgusting. I just don't know why people can't see what's right in front of them.

At least when you go eventing, even at the lower levels, the visual impression in the SJ tends to be much better because people are just trying to jump clear rounds (and they've already had to do a dressage test and have probably attempted to school their horses at some point)

 

[Gropony]

I maintain that for u16s and for anything under 90cm we should not be jumping against the clock - judge on style - equitation jumping. Reward good riding. Would lead to such a better picture.

They just got rid of the clock for all Club 4 classes in France (60cm) but kept it for the rest. You also get 10 points for a clear round in all classes even if you are not placed to try to encourage taking time etc.

Do they do Hunter style classes in the UK? Here you have Hunter classes (with all the different levels) and there is a mix of jumps, obligatory gait transitions in zones, certain leg leads in canter, you name the number of strides you are going to do between two fences and keep to it etc, and the judging is heavily on regularity of the horses tempo, rider position, the partnership horse/rider, elegence of the aids, the line taken to the jump etc. So you can go clear and do all the obligatory items but if you are stiff or pulling on the horse etc you are heavily marked down. The judge gives a summary of your performance (publicly, in excruciating detail over the tannoy ) at the end with tips on where to improve and you get a printed sheet with comments per section. I don't compete but I find it much nicer to watch than pure CSO.

Maybe it wouldn't fly in the UK to have your flaws boomed out over a megaphone for the entire show ground to hear!

 

[dorsetladette]

Sadly this is going on all over the country.

On the positive side, a certain Riding Club locally has been pro-active with this, by sending their people "incognito" around the back of the showground when there's something on that they've organised. They keep a look-out for good horsemanship skills being exercised, i.e. a child making sure their pony is taken care of, is comfy & rugged etc when they come out of the ring and looking after it properly, and also looking out for any nastiness as well.

They run a little "Awards" section at their shows for those individuals who they want to say a "well done" to. This does several things; it firstly lets it be known that "a watchful eye" is being kept on everything that goes on behind the horsebox lines, and secondly it recognises and applauds good management.

It would be nice to think this practice could be adopted elsewhere.

Can you pm me which club this is please? I'd like to suggest it for a couple of local clubs.

 

[Trot_on]

I maintain that for u16s and for anything under 90cm we should not be jumping against the clock - judge on style - equitation jumping. Reward good riding. Would lead to such a better picture.

So agree with this - always thought the low level BS classes (anything under 1.10cm) where horses can just be charged round as fast as they can teach riders nothing of balance, impulsion and kindness. Hate watching them - and it seems to have brought with it traning where it's just forward forward forward, push push push... with little concern for actually creating balance first.

 

[MissTyc]

You'd think we might have moved on by 2025. I remember sitting with my pony in the shade of the big lorry back in the 80s. He grazed while I snacked. No phones. Soemtimes I brought a book. The big lorry was otherwise full of tacked up ponies waiting for their next class. I don't have a single friend from that time, because I don't think I was ever part of the gang, opting to untack, not re-load, wander about with my pony rather than spend time with any of the other kids. Always loved just being with my pony and when I turned 15ish I moved to a less competitive yard and kept that pony until he died. We were same age, me and my pony. We were both 27 when he died and still wandering around together.

 

[humblepie]

I think it’s interesting as to how things have changed and if it’s better or not that affiliated starts much lower and there’s lots of other quasi-affiliated classes. Does that mean that unaffiliated standards have dropped? I’m not necessarily referring to the ponies being left tacked up and ridden by different children that would’ve happened then particularly where riding schools might take a lorry load of ponies for their clients to ride but more the jumping classes themselves. When I was showjumping we would have open classes at 4’ or more and quite often they would be won by ponies. I once won the open class at unaffiliated show and got quite a major write up in the local papers as a 10-year-old child on her pony had beaten all the adults. The prize was presented by somebody quite well-known which helped. We would mix affiliated and unaffiliated mainly because they wouldn’t be that many affiliated shows around and it kept costs down. As a grass routes rider it was quite an achievement to move affiliated as the first class was pretty much newcomers although discovery and then British novice came in so I think that potentially kept standards up locally.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Its so sad to read but it doesnt surprise me. Its why I wont sell my outgrown little sec b. Im under no illusion that hes a world beater but hes a little sweetheart and will try his best for you. I had awful visions of him being ragged around by some spoilt little brat, especially as he is now older and wouldnt be the quickest any more. He lives with my own riding pony and comes out for in hand walks with us, Id never forgive myself if I sold him on and then found out he was being abused like this

 

[Marshpiper]

A friend called me on Friday night and asked me to help her daughter at an unaffiliated local show at a well known venue.
I haven’t been to an unaffiliated show for a while as historically I hate seeing how kids treat their ponies at these shows. I wasn’t disappointed….

Ponies being ridden my multiple riders in multiple classes.
Ponies being tacked up and sat on with kids not getting off the whole day (I saw one particular pony with a rider on it for 3.5 hours).
Kinds ragging them around pony club kicking and smacking with a crop to go faster and faster so they can jump 10-12 jumps in under 30 seconds (not making this up).
Kids coming out crying because they didn’t win or knocked a pole. Pony forgotten for getting them around safely and not even a pat.
Kids on their phones saying oh look mom I’m still ahead of that person in the league.
Kids coming out and announcing to the gate steward and whomever will listen that they got 4 rosettes in 4 classes.

The warm up was even worse! And why on earth do you need to warm up for ages for all your classes when you are riding 3-4 classes consecutively.

The next day some of those same kids were back for the 2nd day of the show.
When I left I passed ponies that had been in the earlier classes hours before and should have gone home and they were left standing on the lorry whilst the riders socialised.

Why are there no rules and stewards at these shows?
Why are parents not teaching their kids horsemanship and that winning is not everything?

I won’t be going to an unaffiliated again.

I went to a showground on Saturday to deliver something…it’s huge with lots of arenas…schools showjumping qualifiers taking place….It was dreadful… from horrific riding to watching a poor miserable dull coated pony being led to its next round…
There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for this being allowed to happen….its all about money, money being made by the people owning/running these shows….
Where are the stewards…..who enforces the rules?
People moan about welfare in dressage….well let’s start cleaning up showjumping……I also know talented, horse loving, kind riders….

 

[Gropony]

They just got rid of the clock for all Club 4 classes in France (60cm) but kept it for the rest. You also get 10 points for a clear round in all classes even if you are not placed to try to encourage taking time etc.

Do they do Hunter style classes in the UK? Here you have Hunter classes (with all the different levels) and there is a mix of jumps, obligatory gait transitions in zones, certain leg leads in canter, you name the number of strides you are going to do between two fences and keep to it etc, and the judging is heavily on regularity of the horses tempo, rider position, the partnership horse/rider, elegence of the aids, the line taken to the jump etc. So you can go clear and do all the obligatory items but if you are stiff or pulling on the horse etc you are heavily marked down. The judge gives a summary of your performance (publicly, in excruciating detail over the tannoy ) at the end with tips on where to improve and you get a printed sheet with comments per section. I don't compete but I find it much nicer to watch than pure CSO.

Maybe it wouldn't fly in the UK to have your flaws boomed out over a megaphone for the entire show ground to hear!

Just in case anyone fancied having a go at a Hunter course (fairly badly translated!).