Horse tunout at Olympia - no one likes an armchair critic.....

justabob said:
Such a simple observation from Ravenwood has turned into frenzy of vitriole against the OP. I for one was not aware that the IN thing in dressage was to have long and unkempt tails, but then again I am not a dressage follower. I love the *look* of a pulled tail and with the tools we are lucky to have now, no hair need ever be pulled out of a follicle. To me a shaped tail shows off a horses back end to the positive and looks elegant. If that is a fashion faux pas in the dressage world then stupid me. Fashions change, show jumpers always used to plait, now they chop manes with scissors, race horses never had plaited tails, now some do. So for those of you with hairy cobs that are so proud to never touch a hair on their horses bodies, shame because it might improve the look of 'em.
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Did you know that some of the classes at olympia have a mark for presentation.If like me you take a show cob then hogging and a pulled tail cut short and probley clipped at that time of year is a must.my horse could not stand a mane and tail he would itch he loves it being pulled and stops itching when it is done. If he was unhappy doing anything he would not have it done.Who cares what anyone does as long
as the horse is happy.But i would never take my horse to olympia unless he was spotless or anywere for that matter as we have our standards.
 
Chan said:
Same. My personal opinion is that pulled tails look like bog brushes, even a well lolled one. I prefer plaited.
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Well iam glad you dont own my horse and you would not have had the honour of going to olympia.
Plus he would be itching like mad till you pulled it. Unless you did not read it propery like i said as long as they are HAPPY.
 
lizbet said:
Well iam glad you dont own my horse and you would not have had the honour of going to olympia.
Plus he would be itching like mad till you pulled it. Unless you did not read it propery like i said as long as they are HAPPY.
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Eh?

I don't own your horse, my horse doesn't need/want it and I've never taken part in Olympia, but I doubt that's down to not liking a pulled tail...that wasn't aimed at you :S I just really dislike the look.
 
lizbet said:
There is some thick ********** on hear read a book on turnout/showing
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Wow your taking this awfully personal dude.

I'm into showing :) so everything gets clipped out, trimmed up plaited and chalked to within an inch of it's life for parties lol :) but anyone else saying they don't like it isn't going to upset me, only myself and the judges have to like it after all ;)
 
Exactly so why bring old posts up move on no objection to plaits etc long as horse is happy. Putting two posts on re pulled tails Isaid did it to make horse happy yeah i take it personal when she puts old and new quote on.They look like bog brush.
 
lizbet said:
Exactly so why bring old posts up move on no objection to plaits etc long as horse is happy. Putting two posts on re pulled tails Isaid did it to make horse happy yeah i take it personal when she puts old and new quote on.They look like bog brush.
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That's fine, if other people do that it's up to them. There have been things I've said in the past I wouldn't do only to change my mind lol ;)

As long as you know why your doing summat then leave others to theirs :) after all it's only an internet hitum no need to get your blood pressure up :)
 
As an old grump....surely if you are competing in almost any type of competition, but especially showing or dressage, you turn your horse out to the best of your ability? OK at the top levels it is the grooms that do this, not the rider or owner, but then isn't a good turnout the mark of a good groom? I agree that being a groom is a way of life not a major corporate career, but then a good groom would be able to plait up and turn out at a top level in probably 10
 
umm.. firstly plaiting isn't mandatory in sj

i wouldn't say they wre all untidy/scruffy (if hey didn't have plaits) as their msnes were pulled to perdecion and every inch of them was gleaming furthermore the tails of the dressage horses were all beautifully brushed
 
I hate pulled tails, I think they look horrible and scrawny :o all of mine have full tails apart from one that looks quite well pulled- she had sweetitch all summer! I pull manes and then trim the wispy bits with scissors, I think manes look pretty bad otherwise, however my ISH needs half of his mane hogged off and the rest pulled as he has two super thick manes, I've tried everything else and that is the only thing that works! Tails can never be wispy, and must hang just below the hock when lifted up. I also agree it is not the groom's fault, they are paid to follow orders (from what I've been told, never worked as one).
 
ok so grooms don't get a to choose how the horse is turned out but what aboutbthe noseband on valegro on tuesday. can someone give the groom some glasses. seriously not to difficult to make sure that is on straight! poor horse :D
 
The point of pulling and trimming tails is to show off a horse's back end conformation for showing. Since sj or dressage isn't showing, there's no point in doing it.

I personally think a nice long clean, well brushed unpulled tail looks great, and im sure horses prefer it too, particularly if they hack or hunt in winter too.

Ditto I can't see any problem with a tidy unplaited mane lying on one side of the neck. Surely pulling manes is either personal preference or to make it easier to plait?

I wondered how long it would take for someone to start criticising female showjumpers with long pony tails. Have there ever actually been any serious accidents in recent memory caused by a pony tail? Or is it just an excuse to bitch about someone's appearance?
 
cptrayes said:
Personally I'm glad that the fashion for ripping hair out of horses manes and tails is dying off. Many of them find it very painful and are forced to ensure it for no more reason than Kate Moss wears sunglasses indoors.

What's wrong with a mane and tail as nature intended if it doesn't interfere with what the horse is being asked to do?
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Quite right too, maybe if people had their hair style decided by the amount that was yanked out there would be a lot more going for the natural look.
 
lizbet said:
There is some thick ********** on hear read a book on turnout/showing
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You really are taking it far too personally.
That's fine if you have to do it for medical reasons, a friend of mine has to and she also has to hog the mane as short as humanly possible.
I just don't like the look of a pulled tail. I also love a long mane, which my beloved Ned doesn't have, but that doesn't make me love him any less.

I hope that comment isn't aimed at me. I'm not think because I don't like a pulled tail. I bet you wouldn't like some things I do to my horse.

lizbet said:
Exactly so why bring old posts up move on no objection to plaits etc long as horse is happy. Putting two posts on re pulled tails Isaid did it to make horse happy yeah i take it personal when she puts old and new quote on.They look like bog brush.
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Bring up old posts? Old and new quote? I'm sorry but I really have no idea what this post is about :S
FYI - I didn't actually read your post before I commented, the last post I read was the one I quoted, which was on the page before yours. So you're taking offence over something completely irrelevant.
 
I actually think a horse with a neat unplaited mane can look very smart. Lots of grooms win the best turned out prize at the races with an unplaited horse. I think it is more important that the coat is gleaming, the socks all white and the hair groomed through. Plaiting is ancillary to turnout for me.

Furthermore, being able to grab on to of the mane for balance or in an emergency situation is invaluable. I always try and unplait my horse's mane before going XC for this reason. Although at one days sometimes there is not time to do it!

Also, well done to all the grooms for their hard work :-)
 
I was there on Tuesday night for the dressage and Thursday night for the jumping. What I saw was a lot of beautifully toned glossy equine athletes. The whole mane/tail/plaited/pulled thing never occurred to me.
I didn't see any of the showing classes but I'm sure that those horses and ponies were correctly presented for showing.
I didn't see a single scruffy horse...the mini Shetland mascot was a little furry but very clean and nicely presented!
 
Mithras said:
The point of pulling and trimming tails is to show off a horse's back end conformation for showing. Since sj or dressage isn't showing, there's no point in doing it.

I personally think a nice long clean, well brushed unpulled tail looks great, and im sure horses prefer it too, particularly if they hack or hunt in winter too.

Ditto I can't see any problem with a tidy unplaited mane lying on one side of the neck. Surely pulling manes is either personal preference or to make it easier to plait?

I wondered how long it would take for someone to start criticising female showjumpers with long pony tails. Have there ever actually been any serious accidents in recent memory caused by a pony tail? Or is it just an excuse to bitch about someone's appearance?
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I agree with his. Showing, Dressage, SJ, eventing and hunting are all different and horses are turned out as so. As long as horse healthy and happy and smart and turned out as agreed by owner/rider then everyone is happy
 
Ravenwood said:
Am I the only one who was cringing at the turnout of horses at Olympia so far?

No one likes an armchair critic and never in my life will I ride at that level - LOL, but OMG I would shoot the grooms for turnout!

I loved every single minute of the Freestyle dressage to music and watching Charlotte break the world record but all I could think was, at least her groom pulls the horse's tail!

Good Grief - I wanted to cut at least 6 inches off all those horse's tails and why doesn't anyone plait tails anymore? If you can't be bothered to plait at least pull the tail! Elberg's horses tail was plaited but what a mess!


Then onto the Puissance - fabulous viewing, I rode and jumped every stride with them but at the same time I was screaming out - FFS, plait that mane/tail!

I can't understand it - surely the groom, who is so priviledged to work to such a high standard, would want to turn their horse out to the highest degree? So why does no one plait anymore or trim or at least tidy them up? They all look such a mess!

Oh dear - warning, old biddy hits the forum time :o


PS: Sorry - I don't seem to be able to edit the title to correct the typo!
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Thankfully old fashioned attitudes to pulling and tightly knotting manes and tails is no longer so popular. If you have a healthy athlete you don't need to yank its hair out to make it look good. The horse is magnificent already.
 
lizbet said:
Getting your blood pressure up and having correct standards is what makes a winner christmas kia
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Lol well I have some lovely red rosettes on my wall that I can look at right now that didn't involve me getting stressed with high blood pressure? If that's what horses was all about id have had to give up years ago since I have an anxiety disorder and can't let my blood pressure get too high (permanent meds)? But if that's how you roll I can't see you living to ripe old age so just chill out a little :)
 
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