It's NOT cool to have a naughty horse...

Starman

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...got that, kids? So why come up to me and tell me all about how 'quirky' your horse is. How he bucks and broncs ALL the time, how you're always getting took off with out on hacks, and can't control it out hunting so you're always taking over the master. And not be asking for advice. You're telling me this because you think it is impressive?!


I've got much more respect for a rider on a calm, happy, relaxed horse than for someone desperately attempting to cling on to their spinning and frothing beast. Yes, you look terrified whilst your riding it, we all see it, so don't then attempt to laugh it off afterwards and BOAST about how you sooo nearly fell off. And then blame it all on the horse of course (which will usually be being referred to as 'it'). Bugger off and buy a horse that likes you and that you can manage. And don't go hunting on it and attempt to stop it by ramming it up my horses arse and therefore causing my horse to overreach. Or go show jumping with it and lose control of it in the lorry park so i, being the respectable gentleman, have to go and get it for you and end up getting kicked in the thigh.
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Teach it some bloody manners before you inflict it on the rest of us who have trained our horses properly.


Oh and whilst i'm on a roll - this is to another person: Don't buy a 5 year old warmblood that hunts every week, competes every week and is otherwise ridden every day; and then attempt to hack him out once a week calmly. Ain't gonna happen. DON'T buy one of the best natured horses i've ever broken in, and then tell all your comrades in their matching Joules polo shirts how naughty he is. Don't get on said horse and jab him with your spurs whilst hauling him in the mouth, just to get him to move around and look 'fresh'. Don't deliberately make the horse dance around at the traffic lights just because someone you know is driving past, and you want to look like you're a good rider riding a mental horse. Don't tell everyone how bad the horse is to hunt, when he wouldn't ever run off with you even if you shoved a hedgehog up his arse. Oh, and when you haven't even hunted him yourself! And don't then tell them that you bought him from me, and that you think he mustn't have been 'fit and healthy' when you bought him, which is why it's being so flighty and naughty to ride now, since you've built him up to 'perfect health and fitness'. (Please refer back to "hunting every week, competing every week, ridden every day" - that's what the horse was doing with me.) Oh and then don't ring me on a Saturday night questioning where i got the horse from, saying you think he must have previous issues and have been handled badly in the past. No love, i bought him from the breeders as a 3 year old - he's being badly handled in the present, that's what the sodding problem is. And by the way, someone from your yard has been keeping me up to date with all the above observations so don't try and act like Mother fecking Theresa and simper down the phone to me. Oh and just because you've competed up to pre-novice doesn't put you on a par with Mark Todd.



Can you tell i've just got in from the pub? Best wishes to you all.
 
Great post! Can agree with you on above! Bloody hate people that think they are all that because they have a so called "crazy" horse, when they actually just make it that way themselves. And then come to riding lessons where the instructor has to spend the majority of the lesson teaching them how to control their horse when you are left trotting around in circles!
 
Feel better now??

Fab post - this is one of those things that I thought only applied to (some) pony club brats but I'm seeing it more and more with supposedly sensible adults!

It's not funny when they're bad mouthing your business because of their incompetence though.
 
What annoys me most about people who insist on riding horses they can't control, is when they put my well behaved horses at risk, by bringing them out in public
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its not just kids on the first issue- many livery yards are full of people who love to boast about how many issues their horses have- like its impressive!
 
Great Post! Saw it all the time with the kids on the yard - very annoying when they were projecting their fantasies onto well mannered, long suffering riding school horses and ponies. You would get on well with my old instructor - she used to shout things like,' Get off my/your horse and go away!!' or 'It's not the horse, it's you!! Get off and go away'
 
So true! What a great post!
Could you not submit an edited version to the H&H letters section?

I hate seeing people buy perfectly good horses that end up with bad name for stopping/bucking/'bolting' (read - trotted slightly faster) becasue the new rider can not ride and doesn't work them enough. And as a result puts a horse with a lovely soft mouth in a hard bit and wonders why they throw their head in the air!
This is why I hate so many of the new combination bits, in the wrong hands (and so many do end up in the wrong hands) they can be really severe. The damage that can be done with a snaffle and flash is limited.

I often get asked to ride 'problem horses' at yards, I will admit (boast?) that I am a good/better rider than the horses owners often are but if I can ride a difficult / 'unstoppable' horse in a snaffle on a light contact /loose rein most of the time the rider has a lot to answer for!!!

Unfortunatly so few riding instructors today (unlike Chicomio's YO who sounds great!) have the gut to say straight up you cannot ride that horse! Get off, go to a riding school that will give you lessons on the lunge till you learn to use your leg and trot without hanging onto the reins!

And adults are the worst they dont like to hear / are incapable of taking on the fact that they may be 30 but the 14yr old kid on the pony next door is a better rider!

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant, posssibly becasue I was riding some ones 'difficult' horse out for them today (he is a total sweetie, nothing wrong with him).

OK, better stop!
 
I agree with most of this bar the bit about bringing them out in public. Alot of green horses behave badly on their first few outings but i suppose the way youd handle this is wat we are contemplating. NOt everyone can afford a bombproof horses and some are generally just hard to ride. keep that in mind next time your ranting at a poor kid on a pony he/she cant stop
 
Agree with everything said!!
I worked for a dealer who sold a really nice Irish gelding to lady who was informed that he was ridden everyday as he was the sort of horse who needed work...(stupidly intelligent) he was ridden everyday by us, could hack for miles, jump the moon, would be an ace hunter....

Well lady bought she rode then went on holiday for two weeks and wondered why he kept throwing her on the floor when she got back.....he came back to us for some schooling etc...think he went back and wasnt ridden again....as far as I know he could still be in the field.......I hope not what a waste of a good horse
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Spot on starman!

Ripred - A lot of the time IMHO, most horses are not hard to ride, but just wrongly managed. I have the most delightful hunter who is a real star - stands, gallops, jumps in a snaffle....... but if you shorten your reins and hang onto his mouth, he is the horse from hell and very difficult to stop.

Most horses are not worked hard enough and are fed too much for the work they do - and then the owners complain they can't ride them, put stronger bits in, and use more gadgets to make up for the fact that the horse is designed to walk for hours a day, not stand in the stable!

I'm delighted when my horses stand still at road junctions - or the meet - and mortified if they mess about. Yes, a young/green horse will be unsettled - but they'll settle quicker if given a chance to behave, rather than wound up for the owner's ego.

Bombproof horses are made by the rider - they don't have to be expensive, just well managed and trained with time spent on them. I admit some horses have more suitable temperaments for the jobs we ask them to do, and some a more natural aptitude - but I would still say that how we treat/train/feed and generally manage them is more influential than how much money we spend on them.
 
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Spot on starman!

Ripred - A lot of the time IMHO, most horses are not hard to ride, but just wrongly managed. I have the most delightful hunter who is a real star - stands, gallops, jumps in a snaffle....... but if you shorten your reins and hang onto his mouth, he is the horse from hell and very difficult to stop.

Most horses are not worked hard enough and are fed too much for the work they do - and then the owners complain they can't ride them, put stronger bits in, and use more gadgets to make up for the fact that the horse is designed to walk for hours a day, not stand in the stable!

I'm delighted when my horses stand still at road junctions - or the meet - and mortified if they mess about. Yes, a young/green horse will be unsettled - but they'll settle quicker if given a chance to behave, rather than wound up for the owner's ego.

Bombproof horses are made by the rider - they don't have to be expensive, just well managed and trained with time spent on them. I admit some horses have more suitable temperaments for the jobs we ask them to do, and some a more natural aptitude - but I would still say that how we treat/train/feed and generally manage them is more influential than how much money we spend on them.

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I was going to type a response to the OP, but this says it all.

My thoughts are that these days: Horses are too cheap. People have too much money. Ego's are too fragile, and instructors are too soft.
 
Starman - what were you doing going to the pub? I hope you got a babysitter and didn't leave the OH at home with the wee one???

Seriously though you do have a point and it sounds like someone is taking the p with one of your horses so I'm not surprised you're a bit worked up.
 
nice one Starman, i totally agree. it sounds as if you should have the horse back though, for its own sake. please send your rant to H&H letters, a nice bottle of champers might calm you down!
horses are too cheap, and there isn't the knowledge there was in the past to protect them from well-meaning but uneducated riders. also, the "you can have anything if you want it enough" modern zeitgeist means there are a lot of very crap cocky teenagers out there all convinced they are going to be the next World Champion because they want it and are prepared to try hard.
poor horses.
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its not just kids on the first issue- many livery yards are full of people who love to boast about how many issues their horses have- like its impressive!

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Totally agree here. At our livery yard, peopl buy ex-racehorses as a fashion item, and then try and show off about it. But at the end of the day, these people want to hack, and so wonder why they end up with broken limbs from their whizzy ex-racer
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Some people are nitwits!
 
Wow, we have one of these on our yard! It's very upsetting to watch. The horse is a saint, but there's only so much it can take. I keep waiting for the explosion. The shame of it all is that the rider is not actually a bad person; just very immature.

I hope you sort things out with this silly woman you appear to be dealing with at the moment!
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I agree totally but sometimes the horse was genuinely a loon before the rider got it! Our pony is amazing and completely genuine (albeit grumpy as hell) but her previous two riders couldn't get her to jump. They were very good riders, but she just decided she wasn't playing, so our boast is that Ellie is the pony "who doesn't jump".

What irritates me is the assumption that the horse who everyone assumes to be a pushbutton darling who's never naughty is like that because of someone else- no way could the numpty on top be any good/ work hard!
 
too true!!!!!!!!

and golden-match spot on!!!!! I am fed up with magazine articles telling ppl how easy x-racers are!!!!!!! i see ppl buying them now and they (the ppl) are fresh from riding schools!!!!

some x-racers are great but many arn't and should be left to the capable riders who want to work and use them which is what they are meant for. Not to have inconsistent owners who can't understand why they get chucked off when they attemp to go for a 'gallop' after they haven't sat on it for a week!!

I school 'problem' horses and its no fun. The owners make you look bad because most of the horses are saints, maybe just misunderstood and lacking consistancy. They go great for me, i attempt to educate the owner but often the horse goes back- the riders carry on as before and it looks like i havent done my job!!!!!!
I hav to be so careful to cover my own back!!
 
Fantasic post Starman.

OH and I have been criticised for taking our youngesters too slowly, but we have happy sane horses, I know which I would prefer. I am now in the postion that i feel my 14yr old daughter will soon be able to take over the ride on my baby homebred TB, yes he is sharp but beautifully behaved off site.

I feel so sorry for these poor creatures who are pushed so hard they blow their brains why do people think it is cool?

Saying that have just been to watch one of OH's clients riding his ex racer in his first dressage test at a local show. Last year the horse was on the "transfer" list the instructor at the time had his owner hanging on to it mouth, using brute strenght to try to restain it, while the horse ran the wall of death around the school. Today it has been calm and confident trusting his novice rider and coming a respectable 5th.

On the other hand had to be restrained when a person in the same class, while in the warm up her horse bucked, she jumped off and thumped it in the head!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr..................
 
Good point to OP and Aregona.

Ive worked in racing yards and yes there are a lot of horses that rehomed with people who know what their doing and have the experiene with ex racehorses have a successfull result. What drives me mad are the horses that arent suitable to be rehomed (and these do exsit, not many but there are definately a few that cant be retrained even by the best riders) that do gooders will accept that the kindest thing is to have them PTS. Expercened riders wont take on these horses for that reason but yet someone else comes along and rekons they can do better and it all ends in tears.

Im well aware that not everyone will agree with me but Ive seen horses that arent safe to be rehomed but are because someone wants the status of having a unridable ex racer to look good on and tell tales.
 
I saw a girl (that i knew but not as a friend) advertising herself to ride other peoples ponies, the advert contained the wording "specialising in naughty unrideable ponies" as her current pony was this :confussed:
Well it never refused (no matter what stride/height etc) never bolted/reared/bucked/threw its head around it was perfectly well manared ! and was the same with its previous owners! (knew them to
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odd as i dont know many people at all really)
The girl was about 10 and had had 2 ponies in her life time
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...

bet she got a shock if anybody did take her up on her offer
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Not sure why but it made me really mad when i read it
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Oh I love this!!!

I've been on a hunt fun ride today, and when I got back several people on my yard said 'Oh, I'd be far too scared to go on one of those, my horse is SO NAUGHTY!!!' when the horse in question just needs a bit more work, a little less feed and a lot less Parelli!!!!

Mine has the nickname of 'the well schooled loose screw' which is completely affectionate, as shes as good as gold to hunt/jump/hack, she just does it all very quick!!
 
What a terrific post, and sooooo accurate! Someone has obviously pushed you just that wee bit too far - thank you for offloading on here, with any luck the message might filter back to the cause of your angst! In the meantime, look forward to reading edited version in Dog and Donkey - enjoy the champagne,you deserve it!
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Though, thinking again, my sister's made money from these 'naughty' ponies! She advertised as a specialist in the little buckers, and recently we saw one she used to ride out winning the jockey's first crosspole class on her! Very sweet!
 
I do agree with the OP, but what do cheap horses have to do with anything? Are you trying to say that anyone who is not wealthy cannot possibly be a good rider? I find the opposite is true, its quite often those with plenty of money that buy horses that are above their ability. Dare I mention KP?
 
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