feel guilty - what would you do?

Storminateacup

Storminateacup

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I was at a small training show a few weeks ago, and whilst walking the course and under instruction, a young girl was trying to make her pony trot or canter in circles just next to the arena. She was socking it in the mouth, hurling abuse, kicking it savagely and beating it with a stick. There was about 12 of us from all walks of life,on the course, some young some older and some well known instructors and members of the local riding clubs. We were all looking at this spectacle and saying nothing, probably all wanting to speak up, - but afraid. None of us could see what the pony was doing wrong. Suddenly a woman boomed out a tirade about how naughty the pony was and appeared to be justifying the abuse. I noticed that everyone smartly looked away, and only one person said to me "what a fine example of riding skills" sarcastically to which I agreed.
I am shocked and surprised that no one spoke out against the behaviour. I guess I didn't 'cos I am a classed as a foreigner already up here, and because of that I didn't feel brave enough to stick my head "above the parapet", so to speak.
I 've never seen anything like it before.
Most places I am familiar with would have chucked her off the grounds and I would total agree with the decision. :s
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One of my favourite quotes from Mark Rashid is 'There is no helping a horse person, untill that person asks', and in my experience it is true, had you have said anything, I imagine you would have got poo hooed, and they would have carried on compalining about the person that thinks they know their horse even though its the first time theyve ever seen it. Its very very hard, and i understand how you feel, but, you would have been wasting your energy, but i agree, the organisers should have promptly kicked them out.
 
There was another similar thread a little while ago and I'm afraid poor riders punishing horses / ponies for their lack of riding ability is not uncommon. I saw a teenager doing the same sort of thing at a Hunter Trial I was photographing only a few weeks ago, and like at your event, nothing was done (although a friend and I both voiced our opinions to a jump judge!).
 
Well I guess it depends on the circumstances, but the only time I have experienced this I was a ring steward for the show jumping at a local one day event. There was a girl on a chesnut which had warmed up lovely and then he was really nappy in the ring and refused almost everything. She got increasingly angry/frustrated with it in the ring, spuring and whipping etc... She went a bit OTT in MHO, but the horse was being a git (compared to how it had warmed up), then once it was eliminated it jumped one on the way out as sweet as anything. Obviously although I wasn't happy with her actions in the ring I felt they were just about excuseable......... However having left the ring she then started jumping the practise fence and really laying into him, so I went and had a quiet word, and warned her that if she continued she would be asked to dismount and leave the showground immediately. Her mother then asked if she was allowed to use use spurs then? To which I reply absolutely as long as they were used in a correct and appropiate manner, and I appreciated her daughters frustration, hence I had just observed and not warned her about her actions immediately, but comtinued abuse of whip and spur, was absolute inexcuseable. Thus she had been warned, show organiser also advised she had been warned, so she would be being watch and any repeat, would result in her being asked to leave.
 
I think i would have asked nicely what the pony had done. Said something like "They can be little monsters at time can't they" to get the persons attention in a friendly way and then say "we cope with this in this way, shall we try?" When the situation was calm and the person listening i would then explain how their behaviour was wrong etc.
It does work most of the time. Can be hard not saying what comes to mind but it does normally work. People that react like this do need to told the right way. Although i am no Angel and did explode once. Someone on a yard i was on led a youngster through a slall gateway. The gate hook got stuck on the horse, the horse panicked and got a beating. I was seething over another matter at the time and just exploded. It was sorted after and we laugh about my explosion now.
It is worth saying something.
 
You should have reported it to the stewards/organisers. The problem these days is that if you complain directly, you are just as likely to get a punch in the face. There are some incredibly violent people in the horse world. Especially parents of children.
 
I think it's a really difficult one. I completely agree that the behaviour is unacceptanle and something should be done about it, but it is not immediately clear to me what that is. If a show organiser gets involved, it is fair to say "If you behave this way you have to leave my show". However if it is a member of the public it's a bit more difficult. Suppose, and I am really playing devil's advocate, you stop and give some advice, the child takes it, things go wrong and she gets thrown off the pony - the person giving the advice was not asked for it, nor were they working as an instructor, but they caused an accident. That situation could be really difficult.
 
It's the same in all walks of life these days, people are just too scared to make a fuss and complain.
 
It is a shame when the organisers aren't bothered, and it makes it very hard to register an effective protest.
I was at Felbridge last year watching some jumping. A teenage girl on a lovely pony got dumped twice. This was because she was kicking the poor thing on, but hanging on it's mouth as well, so the pony was constantly being told to stop/go and put in a couple of refusals. Of course mum was stood beside me yelling "Hit it" (which I think should be grounds for a reprimand in itself.
I actually couldn't bear to watch, so started walking off. But the family got the pony out of the ring, and in front of many watchers, mum got on the pony screeching about "showing 'im" and proceeded to immediately give him some hard whacks with the crop while jabbing him in the mouth to stand still. As someone who worked at Felbridge was among the watchers - this was obviously considered acceptable behaviour. Pony hasn't got a clue has it? He thinks that now when someone gets on his back he might be in for an immediate beating...
I'm not a violent person, but sometimes I have mad fantasies of grabbing a rider, throwing them off and laying into them with a crop...
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