seabiscuit
Well-Known Member
Just got back from Highclere having done day before dressage. Was absolutely incensed by the state of the arena it was impossible to ride in. Poor horse could hardly move let alone trot. It was a good foot deep in places and all sticky. if he did trot he was slowing down to walk half the time- it was a good foot deep of mud in there. Was impossible to do centre lines straight,, or do accurate circles, or ride into the corners as the mud was worse there and he was just floundering in it.
I'll be lucky if he hasnt pulled a tendon in that mud and if he had pulled a shoe off that would have been awful because his feet are so bad that a pulled shoe wouldve meant half his hoof wouldve come off. So it was dangerous to ride them in that sort of conditions.
They obv just plonked the arenas down on a bit of marshland and did not think about what they were doing. Im surprised that the dressage judge agreed to judge any horses on an arena like that. The pony club would NEVER have tolerated this. The judge was not in the least bit accomadating about her marking and wrote very rude things like horse not in balance..um hello?? how on earth do you expect him to be in balance when he is trying to wade through a foot deep of sticky mud??
There is absolutely NO excuse as there are 1000's of acres of perfectly dry land there.
On a good note the XC and SJ is fantastic. Beautifully built courses and good going. Really looking forward to that but just so upset about the dressage as horse warmed up the best ever and was going more beautifully then he has ever gone in his life.But so upset about today I could cry. Is this what we pay all this money for.
I'll be lucky if he hasnt pulled a tendon in that mud and if he had pulled a shoe off that would have been awful because his feet are so bad that a pulled shoe wouldve meant half his hoof wouldve come off. So it was dangerous to ride them in that sort of conditions.
They obv just plonked the arenas down on a bit of marshland and did not think about what they were doing. Im surprised that the dressage judge agreed to judge any horses on an arena like that. The pony club would NEVER have tolerated this. The judge was not in the least bit accomadating about her marking and wrote very rude things like horse not in balance..um hello?? how on earth do you expect him to be in balance when he is trying to wade through a foot deep of sticky mud??
There is absolutely NO excuse as there are 1000's of acres of perfectly dry land there.
On a good note the XC and SJ is fantastic. Beautifully built courses and good going. Really looking forward to that but just so upset about the dressage as horse warmed up the best ever and was going more beautifully then he has ever gone in his life.But so upset about today I could cry. Is this what we pay all this money for.
