How much is too much?

[Breezesbenefactor]

I keep reading posts all over the place in regards to the use of whips however at what point does it become wrong? I prefer not to kick my horse to death and so use a whip to reenforce my leg aid. Since I own the worlds most stubborn horse somedays it takes more reenforcement than others.

My question though is what is overuse and give examples...many thanks

 

[Alimac19]

I would say that if your leg aids are completly failing anf he is not listening that one smack should be enough to make him listen but you also need to let him know equally when he is being good as when he is being bad otherwise he won't understand what he is expected to do. Most of the time I just tap my own thigh with the schooling whip so it jiggles and dosent even touch my horse and this is enough to make him go "OK I'm listening now". I think that what infuriates most including myself is the excessive use of whips for seemingly no apparent reason; i.e., you didn't go clear beacuse you placed the horse wrong at the jump or didn;t provide enough impulsion so give the horse a smack more from frustration. If you did something wrong that caused him to knock a fence down it's not his fault in fact he was only doing as you asked him. What is dangerous though is the though that if you just carry a whip your bad. I sometimes just hold the whip on the shoulder if horse is falling in or if training lateral movements you can just rub the end of the schooling whip behing your leg to back up your aids. Not all whip use is bad.

 

[ihatework]

It's sometimes very difficult to know unless you are on the horse. My chap is well schooled and responsive to the leg. I normally carry a schooling whip for both hacking and schooling and only every now and again will I tap him up lightly.
Jumping I have never had to smack/whip him until once recently. He is a very genuine and good showjumper. Took him to the OTECC thingy, went in the ring and his eyes nearly came out of his head, he went completely backwards on me and it was like riding a green 4yo!
The jumps were tiny and I think this was part of the problem, barely scraped over fence 1, I gave him a couple of good cracks behind the saddle in an attempt to get him going forwards, didn't work and I repeated this after scraping over fence 2 - still absolutely no response from him so for the rest of it I just kept him between hand and leg and went the unstylish route. Jumped all the showjumps and then he planted infront of the XC. No point in smacking him at this point, he wasn't going anywhere, sometimes you have to know when to quit

Naughty naughty horse. I don't regret giving him a couple of decent smacks early on though and would do it again on him, not necessarily another horse though.

 

[kerilli]

loss of temper = too much. using real strength in the arm = too much.
for a really bad disobedience (e.g. a naughty run out or stop at a fence when i know the presentation was correct, or napping) then two or three hard slaps. never with the full force of rider's arm. should never leave a mark.
this is with a jumping whip, btw. a dressage whip should only ever be used to rub, stroke, or flick the horse. if you hit a horse with a dressage whip you could cut the skin.

 

[Alimac19]

Yes forgot to say that. Never "smack" with a schooling whip. If you don't beleive me try the diference between schooling whip and jumping whip on your own leg! (Not that I'm into weird S&M or anything!!) I remember as a kid messing about in the yard someone got me from a distance with the end of a lunging whip! Wow that hurt and left a big red mark.

 

[Cobland]

I hate seeing people lunge horses and are constantly cracking the whip. I do crack it if the horse slows down without being asked or they wont pick up a gear.

I use a schooling whip with mae and she only gets a tap if she doesnt listen to my leg aids, i really only have to put it to her bum and she starts listening

Ive seen people at shows who have smacked the crap out of their horses for them refusing or knocking a jump down. Many of these people have been holding the horse back to the last minute or the horse has been made to approach the jump wrong. One girl fell off infront of me, she got into the jumping position too early and the horse refused, she got up and started smacking it around the neck and head. Hubby and friends got embarassed when i shouted "Oiiii you, stop bloody doing that"

 

[Lill]

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I hate seeing people lunge horses and are constantly cracking the whip.


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Ooops that'd be me then when i lunge Blue.

He just ignores the whip its like i'm not even holding it!

He was also completely immune to a schooling/jumping whip when we first got him. Made no difference to him if you smacked him or not you got no response!

We think he was beaten with a whip until he did what people wanted before we got him.... bought him from travellers at market.

He is better now as i barely use a stick, more often than not i will carry one but i hardly ever use it so now, when i do use it i get the desired reaction from him, not no reaction like i did 4 years ago!!