People round me who have only kept natives call my native ‘sharp’: they don’t know the meaning of the word.I do think there's a massive problem with the competitiveness of equestrianism now. I'm not sure if that's your point, but I'm basing this off your second sentence.
So many people seem to want a big, flash horse to move up the levels, and big, flash horses these days are often a very different kettle of fish to ride and handle. I'm not sure that's good for horses or owners. I have a lot of concerns about high end sport horse breeding (in terms of both soundness and temperament), but when you couple that with a "normal" budget, it can get disastrous for horse and rider really quickly.
I think if a lot of people were more sensible in their requirements, and more old fashioned horses were available, the lower training budgets would be less of an issue. I've backed and broken a fair few native types, but I would need serious professional help, and a much larger budget, with a lot of modern warmblood types (I mean, I'd need a rider - I couldn't ride one side of one probably!). That's not to say that cobs and natives are always easy and warmbloods are always sharp, but there are general trends, and a sharp native is unlikely to be on the same scale as a sharp sports horse.
Agree with this. Too many people think they can do the job when in fact they cant! They only need to get hold of a horse who is a bit sharp and they then become scared of it and the horse then becomes confused and worried and no one gets anywhere. Its the same with instructors!I'm not sure we all under value skills. I'm happy to pay for someone more skilled than myself to work with my horses. Its finding that skilled person that I struggle with. the prices people charge vary so much and the person charging the most doesn't necessarily offer the best quality service.
I think a bigger problem (for me anyway) is people overestimating their own skills and selling themselves as something they are not.
ETA - it's a real minefield trying to wade through the good and the bad, One I'm currently navigating for ridden work for Reggie and driving work for both (I think the driving is sorted now).
^^^ this in spades^^^^I have a friend who is training in the current system - she’s done her stage 3 and is training for stage 4. Most instructors have stage 3 - which includes nothing about training a horse, just about maintaining training of an established horse. There is some inclusion of the idea of training a horse stage 4 up - but most instructors don’t get that far. I can confidently say that my 12 year old son knows more about training a green horse than someone who has done their AI with no other experience. Only including training a horse at that level means the vast majority of the BHS instructor base have no idea.
In modern society when everyone and his friend is taking on a project and backing them, or taking on a green horse/pony because that is all they can afford, your standard instructor NEEDS that knowledge. If the change needed is that they have to take stage 4 to qualify or if they add some of that information in lower down then whatever works. But people trust the BHS qualification system and it’s failing them. The pony I have on my yard now spent months scaring its people because no one down the line, despite having BHS instructors out, had a clue!
I think so much of backing is the personality of the rider (& horse) (combined with experience); ultimately qualifications are never going to count for much as there are some things you can’t teach.Agree with this. Too many people think they can do the job when in fact they cant! They only need to get hold of a horse who is a bit sharp and they then become scared of it and the horse then becomes confused and worried and no one gets anywhere. Its the same with instructors!
Personality - my son cannot do the initial sits. Everything evicts him the second he sits down no matter how much we desensitise. His sister can scramble on, kick them in the bottom by accident, wriggle around…they all just shrug, check she’s ok and off we go. I get them to walk and trot with her and then know her brother will be able to get on safely. He is by far the better rider. He’s just somehow scary to a pony who hasn’t been ridden before - where she isn’t.w
I think so much of backing is the personality of the rider (& horse) (combined with experience); ultimately qualifications are never going to count for much as there are some things you can’t teach.
You can learn several exercises for encouraging a horse to pick up the correct canter lead, but it’s having the sensitivity to listen to the horse about what motivates them, and then choosing the right exercise.
Even Becky Moody admits that her sister is better at backing horses and riding youngsters - the most technically correct rider is often not the most sensitive or persuasive.