Front page H&H today - hunting with no bridle

cptrayes

cptrayes

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 March 2008
Messages
14,748
Visit site

If you don't get the magazine, check out the home page on this site for a picture of the front cover of this weeks issue, with Chris Armour hunting River with no bridle on. It's an awesome pic, but there's a big BUT

The picture was not taken while Chris was hunting. The ones the hunt took are on the website below. The hedge is one of the five footers, it's been cropped for the cover photo but you can still see how big it was by the way River is jumping. The hunt pics weren't a high enough quality for a cover shot for H&H. Chris had to recreate the stunt, on his own, in cold blood, for the H&H photographer last week. He says that it was 50 times more difficult than hunting the leg in company after a few port and lemons!

So if you didn't feel he was brave enough to donate to Hope for Heros before, but do now you've seen him do such an awesome hedge in cold blood on the front cover of Hourse and Hound it's here to donate:

http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-Armour

Chris sends his personal thanks to HHO people who don't know him from Adam but have already donated.
 
Is it just me that thinks this was utter stupidity and irresponsible horsemanship in the extreme - particularly under the influence of alcohol?????
I have seen so many posts now saying wow, good on him, etc but I think its crazy and I wouldn't sponsor him for doing this. There must be far more responsible ways of raising money.
 
Don't be ridiculous!

Do you think he should have done a sponsored stroll in the park? That would have been really interesting...NOT!
 
How is it irresponsible, exactly? I don't need a bridle to control my horse either, just a headcollar (and reins attatched). I could probably ride with just a string round the neck too if I put in enough training. The hunt field is filled with people who have far less control than Chris did, even with their horses bitted up to the eyeballs.

As for the 'drinking' a couple of social drinks is hardly classed as 'under the influence' and I can gaurentee there will be plenty at a hunt who were far drunker
wink.gif
 
and it is folks like you that really make this country what it is today.... wrapped up in cotton wool and running to the lawyers when the slightest thing happens.

As a kid I used to go flat out round the field with no tack on, and no hat - and I am still here.

I do always wear a hat now - as I am on larger animals and not always riding on soft grass.

And horror of horrors, I have done a charity fancy dress riding stopping at pubs and drinking glasses of port.

He is a brave chap doing something for others - probably more than you have done.

I hate todays culture - life if a risk and without the occasional risk so very very boring.
 
Don't understand why it's irresponsible. I took a pointer hunting who was a total pain in the ass - from an objective point of view I'd say that was more irresponsible (although I'd like to point out I did stay out of the way and will not be repeating the experience), this guy looks like he has full control. Who says you have to ride with tack, there are plenty of people who ride with loads of tack who have less control. All those beautiful clips of the guy from Olympia standing on his horses with no bridles on whilst cantering along the beach - is he irresponsible?

I think the picture on the fron cover of H&H is awesome! What a super star horse!
 
I think it's bl00dy amazing, good on him. My jaw hit the floor, no exaggeration, when I looked at those pics. I am so impressed that his horse was so well behaved and it must have been the biggest buzz.

Well done Chris
grin.gif


To the poster who thought it was irresponsible... my guess is that the horse is a hunt horse. He probably only has to hunt it in a snaffle anyway, and it will most likely stop when they all stop, go when they all go. He just has to hang on (ah, it sounds so easy doesn't it when you put it like that
wink.gif
) and jump. Great job, horse and rider
grin.gif
 
The horse is an eventer and regular hunter who would go around a cross country course without a bridle for Chris, who has a superb seat and even better hands. He has another horse who he says would have finished the day hunting in Lancs or Staffs if he'd tried it on him. He knew exactly what he was doing.

I also object to the implication that Chris would have put a whole hunt field at any more risk than the average rider in the field, who fall off on a regular basis. He risked himself, and was extremely brave in an effort to help others.

bah humbug to crazyabout dogs, and thanks to everyone who has given money to an extremely worthy cause inspired by a very brave and clever man.
 
[ QUOTE ]
and it is folks like you that really make this country what it is today.... wrapped up in cotton wool and running to the lawyers when the slightest thing happens.

As a kid I used to go flat out round the field with no tack on, and no hat - and I am still here.

I do always wear a hat now - as I am on larger animals and not always riding on soft grass.

And horror of horrors, I have done a charity fancy dress riding stopping at pubs and drinking glasses of port.

He is a brave chap doing something for others - probably more than you have done.

I hate todays culture - life if a risk and without the occasional risk so very very boring.

[/ QUOTE ]

**Standing ovation for Theresa**
Too right!
I think its a fantastic way to raise the charity's profile and have donated. Brave not irresponsible IMHO.
 
Lets remember the charity he is doing this for. It is far less risky for him to hunt a horse with no bridle than it is to be in Afghanistan with a gun in your hand.

He is raising money for amazing people who risk there lives daily and i think it is fitting to do something that carries a risk to raise money for them.

Chris is a brave man.
 
Interesting how most of you focus on the risk to the rider. I am not worried about the risk to the rider - that's his responsibility - but riding as he did - without any form of head control inevitably increases the risk to others (people/horses) and sets a bad example.

I am sure he is a skilled rider and 'brave - but 'braveness' and 'irresponsbility' are not mutually exclusive. I have friends who are 'expert' dog handlers - could drop a dog at 100yrds with a single word, etc but they would not hype a dog up to a high state of arousal and then pratice a 1mile off leash heel work exercise down the hard shoulder of the M4 as a fund raising exercise! I have friends who a brilliant drivers but they wouldn't attempt to drive a car through rush hour with one arm secured behind their back to deliberately make the drive more 'risky'. Particularly not with a few drinks inside of them.

Not doing so doesn't make them 'namby pamby', damaging to today's society, part of the compensation culture, etc - it just makes them adult enough to not indulge in a crass desire to show off their 'skills' in a way that increases their risk of harming others.

I assume he had third part liability insurance covering him in the event of an accident involving others?
 
With apologies for the spelling errors/omissions - I did not preview the reply. But the sentiment remains the same. People everywhere fund raise without such 'crass showmanship'.

I am sure that there are people out there at hunts riding with far less skill and far more alcohol inside of them. However, I would also suggest that having a few ports inside them may also be putting them 'drunk in charge of a horse' and I am sure that you are not condoning that either as responsible horse owners. Having worked with a vet who represented one of the darker sides of hunting being frequently seriously drunk in charge of a horse I am more than aware of how irresponsible some hunt people are without others adding to this culture.

For goodness sake a horse is a live animal that may behave unpredictably irrespective of how well trained the horse is or how skilled a horseman the rider is. Why increase the risk just to raise money when it has been adequately demonstrated by fundraisers everywhere that it is possible to raise money without risking the health/welfare/lives of others in the process?

I would suggest who he is fundraising for is immaterial - war-related or 'save the children' - is doesn't affect the underlying argument I am putting forward.
 
But he isn't riding down the M4??

Have you been hunting before? Hunt horses are usually the most chilled characters - not like horses like mine who only go every now and then - because it's their job. They don't tend to get so worked up and wired like leisure horses who hunt sometimes do.

You seem to be assuming that no one else in the field has "control" of their own horses and that this particular horse would cause chaos? I honestly think you should give the horse himself more credit. Horses can look after themselves, make decisions on their own and aren't just machines (like the cars you used in your own example). This means the horse can get himself out of trouble, and TBH most horses who hunt will regularly do this. The horse will just have followed everyone else, jumping when they jump, stopping when they stop. The hunting field is very very different to the M4 with 6 lanes of traffic all doing (on a good day!) 80mph and 100s of motorists who only care about how late they are for work.

I actually think it's amazing he has such trust in his horse to do this.
 
Just because he has no bridle does not mean that he has no control! There are other ways to control a horse apart from a bit of metal in their mouths! Seat, legs, voice and of course the influence of hands on the neckstrap. Well done on the rider for schooling his horse so well to respond to such subtle aids I say!
 
If you think that a horse can't be ridden safely without a bridle then it might be worth expanding your horizons a bit. This was a great fundraiser, brilliant. He is one of a suprising number of people who can ride their horse with a neck rope, cordero or similar around the neck.
Accusing him of being drunk in charge of a horse isn't even worth replying to, it's obvious it was a light hearted comment.
 
Did you know he did a lot of preparatory work for this event?

He didn't just take his bridle off for the sheer hell of it having never done it before
crazy.gif


He knew his horse, had done his homework. And hats off to him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top