Further on the subject of modern eventing . . .
- Thread starter TarrSteps
- Start date
Magister
Well-Known Member
Wow. Brilliant article.Every event rider should read this!.
tigers_eye
Well-Known Member
What a superb article, very well thought out and articulate.
Baydale
Well-Known Member
<font color="blue">Certainly we need great movers and powerful jumpers, but above all we need a partner, not a slave. We need horses who are supremely courageous, fiercely independent and phenomenally agile.
Find such a horse and treasure him. Teach him that you will trust him with your life. Give him the education he will need, and then sit quietly while he does the job you have very skillfully and very patiently taught him. He won't let you down. We owe all this and more to our horses." </font>
That brought a lump to my throat; as riders we should be humbled by our horses and what they will do for us.
It's a fantastic article TarrSteps, real food for thought. He seems to have been able to stand back and survey the changes better than anyone who has voiced their opinion so far.
<font color="blue">"A good feeling after the round is better than any ribbon." </font>
Most of us on here would echo that, but do the professionals? Or are they so driven by results and the effect they have on their careers?
<font color="blue"> Eric Smiley's lovely phrase, "take ownership of the fence." </font>
That should ring in our ears as we go cross country.
Find such a horse and treasure him. Teach him that you will trust him with your life. Give him the education he will need, and then sit quietly while he does the job you have very skillfully and very patiently taught him. He won't let you down. We owe all this and more to our horses." </font>
That brought a lump to my throat; as riders we should be humbled by our horses and what they will do for us.
It's a fantastic article TarrSteps, real food for thought. He seems to have been able to stand back and survey the changes better than anyone who has voiced their opinion so far.
<font color="blue">"A good feeling after the round is better than any ribbon." </font>
Most of us on here would echo that, but do the professionals? Or are they so driven by results and the effect they have on their careers?
<font color="blue"> Eric Smiley's lovely phrase, "take ownership of the fence." </font>
That should ring in our ears as we go cross country.
LEC
Opinions are like bum holes, everyone has one.
This for me makes complete sense
Riders are riding faster than ever, over courses that are, supposedly, specifically designed to produce "slower and safer riding"--yet falls are increasing in frequency and severity? In my opinion, the answer is simple. The more you make riders slow down to jump complicated, show jumping-like combinations, the faster they will ride somewhere else on the course in order to avoid time faults. The inevitable result of this is that riders are now jumping the plain fences at very high rates of speed. In effect the experts have designed a new sport, where riders steeplechase over solid jumps.
I am guilty of this on a big horse.
Riders are riding faster than ever, over courses that are, supposedly, specifically designed to produce "slower and safer riding"--yet falls are increasing in frequency and severity? In my opinion, the answer is simple. The more you make riders slow down to jump complicated, show jumping-like combinations, the faster they will ride somewhere else on the course in order to avoid time faults. The inevitable result of this is that riders are now jumping the plain fences at very high rates of speed. In effect the experts have designed a new sport, where riders steeplechase over solid jumps.
I am guilty of this on a big horse.
gloster_image
Well-Known Member
Absolutely fantastic article - every event rider should read this!
Gamebird
Well-Known Member
Wow, that made a lot of sense. I think the people who really know what they are doing are absolutely right with that approach - the Eric Smileys, Lucinda Greens and suchlike who want our horses to be able to jump XC from a walk, and always to be able to sort their legs and feet out if they are wrong. I may go and try all that myself this weekend, though it's something I've never really done.
I certainly saw at least one top professional guilty of dictating every last stride to her horse at Badminton, then when it couldn't work out what to do for itself it went completely wrong. The one blessing is that perhaps, as amateurs, we are slightly better off. We are rarely so refined with the dressage that we are performing the very advanced moves that rob a horse of its independence, we are rarely dictating every last stride to our horse on approach to a fence, we are far more likely to be humbled by a horse which has helped us out when we are in pickle or more delighted by a good round than a rosette.
Although we are inevitably less proficient riders might we perhaps, as a bonus, be more likely to have horses that can think for themselves and be more likely to have developed a 'partnership' than a master/slave relationship??
I certainly saw at least one top professional guilty of dictating every last stride to her horse at Badminton, then when it couldn't work out what to do for itself it went completely wrong. The one blessing is that perhaps, as amateurs, we are slightly better off. We are rarely so refined with the dressage that we are performing the very advanced moves that rob a horse of its independence, we are rarely dictating every last stride to our horse on approach to a fence, we are far more likely to be humbled by a horse which has helped us out when we are in pickle or more delighted by a good round than a rosette.
Although we are inevitably less proficient riders might we perhaps, as a bonus, be more likely to have horses that can think for themselves and be more likely to have developed a 'partnership' than a master/slave relationship??
Eccles
Well-Known Member
That was absolutely fascinating but also made me wonder whether the sport of eventing has gone too far in the wrong direction to ever get itself back to the test it was originally designed to be
Over2You
Well-Known Member
Thanks for posting the link. It is about time the horses' welfare was taking front seat again. I also wish Zara Phillips had read and absorbed his words. Her riding of Glenbuck at Badminton was absolutely appalling. She should have pulled him up 3/4 of the way round instead of "nursing" him home. The poor horse was about ready to drop. I always admired her, but not now. Guess she got away with it because of who she is.
kerilli
Well-Known Member
Over2You, he was tired, not exhausted - he still had tons of jump left. if he'd been clouting fences i honestly believe she's smart enough to have pulled him up. she just let him lope along under her and pop the fences in his own time, didn't ride him hard or try to get him to go faster. as i've said elsewhere, i'm not her biggest fan, and thank god he didn't fall, but i don't think it was a bad piece of riding, just a bad piece of judgement to let him go so fast at the beginning and run out of steam tbh. she said he'll have learnt from it - hopefully she will too. when someone as experienced as Matt Ryan says that his horse finished with lots of energy and he wished he'd gone faster at the beginning, you can tell how deceptive that course was, but thank goodness Matt erred well on the side of caution, as a good considerate rider should.