LONDON LITE / FALLING JOCKEY

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girla

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Did you see the London Lite yesterday?

There was an atricle in it telling people that horse riding was the new thing to burn 200 calories an hour and you will benefit with a stomach like a wash board and legs, bum & thighs as hard as steel.

A reporter then went to Lee Valley riding school to have a go at riding (she has never ridden before) and the photographer wanted action shots. I could not believe that this lady had only two riding lessons and the instructure allowed her to canter in an open space and she was allowed to jump the horsee too. Needless to say that after about the 5th jump she fell and ended up going to hospital, thankfully she was just a bit bruised and i think her pride was hurt more than anything.

Just found it hard to believe that a qualified instructure at a public riding school would allow a complete novice to jump so soon and risk injury, if you saw the paper you would see that this person was in no way ready to tackle a jump.

Beggars belief
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I deal with the press on occasions professionally and they can be very...um persuasive. It will have been the reporters idea (or possibly the photographer
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) and they will have been very insistent.
 
i ride nearly every day and do not have a wash board tummy and thighs of steel..... where am i going wrong lol
 
I was having this same conversation with my mate the other day.

We have come to the conclusion that they are all lying as neither of us have washboard stomaches...but do have big bums and wide legs!!!
Lies i tell you, all lies!!
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Yes, thought it was rather a strange article and didn't really sell the entire riding incentive! Bit silly to show the falling photos, and people would think, going to be pushed hard and then get hurt....not good.
 
Was one of the most ludicrous things I've ever read.

Regardless of how persuasive the press may or may not be, a decent instructor would not have allowed someone with that little experience to start jumping - albeit tiny x poles - or cantering in open spaces. How the hell did that fit with their insurance policy??

It was like an anti-advert for riding - the pictures were ghastly.
 
I read that article on the tube last night and was fuming! I then went home and my poor housemates got a half an hour lecture about the article. Firstly I couldn't believe how arrogant the jounalist sounded, as if she expected sitting on half a tonne of horse to be a piece of cake requiring no skill. Secondly I was annoyed with the riding school and instructor for obviously being influenced by the journalist / photographer and letting the woman canter and jump in her second lesson regardless of how good the horse is it just shouldn't be done! The photos are awful - the poor horse looks like it's about to lose its back teeth! It's so sad because I have been to Lee Valley School, I was there for the launch of the Equine Health and Welfare Stratagy there last year where they bussed in 200 east end school kids, most of whom never came into contact with horses and let them meet the horses and do activities etc. It was a great day, Lee Valley do some great work, I think they do RDA and work with local kids and everything and so much could have been highlighted about the benefits that horse riding has in that sense. Sorry on a bit of a rant - I just think the article was so arrogant and condescending and could have been so much better publicity. Riding schools these days are up against it enough with legislation and the fact that riding is a high risk sport without some silly journalist thinking her second lesson ever is an ideal time to try jumping (and I hope someone told the instructor that regardless of who her client is in future she is being paid to be the expert and therefore should not go against common sense).

And breath.....well done if you've got this far!
 
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