People who 'embellish' their abilities/experience

[Goldenstar]

Agree. I follow your fb page even though I loathe dressage - I like to see the boys wrapped up in different colours and it always fascinates me what new bits you find to put bling on. I think of it as a colourful daily education for someone whose favourite saddlecloth colour is black..!

The little black saddlecloth is never out of fashion so you are making a statement by using one .

 

[Dizzle]

Yup, people who go on about doing wonderful things when schooling and how wonderful their horse is, then posting a video of a dressage test that shows the total opposite, of a horse not working though from behind, bordering on looking unsound, inconsistent contact, not what you expect at all from a horse regularly schooling flying changes! Not to mention the 'I'm disappointed in the way the judge scored me' comments!

 

[PolarSkye]

Yup, people who go on about doing wonderful things when schooling and how wonderful their horse is, then posting a video of a dressage test that shows the total opposite, of a horse not working though from behind, bordering on looking unsound, inconsistent contact, not what you expect at all from a horse regularly schooling flying changes! Not to mention the 'I'm disappointed in the way the judge scored me' comments!

Have you been a) stalking me on FB; or b) watching our attempts at competition?

P

 

[PolarSkye]

This is a v british attitude - British people take 'I've done well today' as really meaning 'I've done better than you' or even 'I am better than you.' It doesn't... It means 'I've done well today.'

It is OK to recognise your own achievements and this attitude if not allowing people to do so smacks of insecurity... And probably harks back to low self esteem which is epidemic in the uk...

What an insightful response - so true! At the age of 17, I moved to the States and spent 17 years living there . . . my time there totally changed how I view/deal with success and achievements . . . it's ok to be proud of what you've done/achieved - and it doesn't have to mean that you feel others have done less well/are somehow lacking/inferior to you.

What grinds my gears, though, is those who are overly competitive when it isn't necessary. At a recent competition, I ran into someone who I have known for a good ten years - we started our adult journey at the same equestrian centre - and she was in our class. She took a rather (and to me very baffling) competitive attitude to her score versus ours . . . I found it very odd. We weren't there to compete with HER (or actually anyone else) - we were there to do our best/not disgrace ourselves/continue Kal's competitive journey. However, our score versus hers seemed to matter very much to her. Neither Z nor I would have minded one bit if she had beaten us by 20 points - in fact we would both have congratulated her warmly . . . however she hovered by the scoreboard and seemed most disgruntled by the knowledge that we had beaten her (by a squeak - something like .03).

Baffling. Really.

P

 

[Annagain]

I actually find those kinds of people quite entertaining. My favourite moment to date though was someone who loved to 'one-up' others. I mentioned that my horse was not well with a virus that attacked his liver, I was clearly upset and worried, and she simply replied saying 'Well, that's not as bad as my horse, both of her livers are failing'

What bad luck, not only does her horse have an extra liver, but both of them are failing!

This made me chuckle, When my My OH was at police training school there was a guy they referred to as "two s***s" because no matter what anybody had done, he'd gone one better including one of the boys coming down for breakfast and, as 20 something boys do, proclaiming he was late as he'd been having a really big poo, only for the other to say almost as a reflex action, without thinking "I've had two"

 

[RunToEarth]

The little black saddlecloth is never out of fashion so you are making a statement by using one .

I've never really been 'in fashion' as far as horses go outside of hunting, so this has really cheered me up - my last BS outing I rose a few eyebrows...in my tweed!

 

[Cowpony]

This is a v british attitude - British people take 'I've done well today' as really meaning 'I've done better than you' or even 'I am better than you.' It doesn't... It means 'I've done well today.'

It is OK to recognise your own achievements and this attitude if not allowing people to do so smacks of insecurity... And probably harks back to low self esteem which is epidemic in the uk...

I do like this post. I don't consider myself boastful but sometimes I might come across that way, just because I am so freaking gobsmacked that WE ACTUALLY WON SOMETHING! I never win ANYTHING! But of course I do occasionally or I wouldn't be "boasting" about it. Very British, yes?

 

[BeckyD]

Just browsing forum and came across this old post. I do find horsey people strange, so many on this thread sound quite bitter or snarky and I'm sure they aren't in RL (at least I hope not!). I really don't care if people want to embellish what they've achieved. I might have the odd chuckle at it if it's someone who can be a bit mean or bitchy, who is inflating things, but otherwise so what? Live and let live I'm afraid. As long as no one is endangered or horses harmed!

But then I do like to see the best in people. To a fault

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

This is an interesting thread!!!

Ditto "Cowpony". When me and Trad-Lad actually got our first competitive rosette in Trec, by gawd the whole flippin' world heard about it - and, um, we weren't in the first three, but we were "placed" i.e. fourth! (and got a nice orangey rosette to prove it).

Then at the same competition, we were second in the Horse Agility! Two rosettes in one day; strewth, steady on! A miracle that Trad-Lad actually BEHAVED himself.

So yes, we did sex-up our wonderful result a bit, TBH. And it was so lovely for my wonderful friend & trainer coz we got 10-out-of-10 score in the trailer walk-through in the Horse Agility, which considering he was a total t!t to load (i.e. three hours plus to even get NEAR the trailer when we started) - it was lovely to be able to show our score-sheet to her as she'd spent a lot of time and effort on getting the blighter to load.

But horses being horses, they really are the true levellers; if ever on here anyone comes across someone who brags and boasts that they "can ride anything".......... then just shove them down the Sharp End, down my way OK, coz I've got just the horse for them who'll show them very definately that, nope, they can't - it would be the sort of challenge he'd just relish He seems to have this innate ability to suss out those who are giving out the most bull***** about how well they can ride, and will behave accordingly. But with complete novices he's an absolute darling, an angel.

 

[Moomin1]

This is an interesting thread!!!

Ditto "Cowpony". When me and Trad-Lad actually got our first competitive rosette in Trec, by gawd the whole flippin' world heard about it - and, um, we weren't in the first three, but we were "placed" i.e. fourth! (and got a nice orangey rosette to prove it).

Then at the same competition, we were second in the Horse Agility! Two rosettes in one day; strewth, steady on! A miracle that Trad-Lad actually BEHAVED himself.

So yes, we did sex-up our wonderful result a bit, TBH. And it was so lovely for my wonderful friend & trainer coz we got 10-out-of-10 score in the trailer walk-through in the Horse Agility, which considering he was a total t!t to load (i.e. three hours plus to even get NEAR the trailer when we started) - it was lovely to be able to show our score-sheet to her as she'd spent a lot of time and effort on getting the blighter to load.

But horses being horses, they really are the true levellers; if ever on here anyone comes across someone who brags and boasts that they "can ride anything".......... then just shove them down the Sharp End, down my way OK, coz I've got just the horse for them who'll show them very definately that, nope, they can't - it would be the sort of challenge he'd just relish He seems to have this innate ability to suss out those who are giving out the most bull***** about how well they can ride, and will behave accordingly. But with complete novices he's an absolute darling, an angel.

But nobody is talking about people who show off their ACTUAL achievements. They are talking about people who completely lie and make it up.

 

[Arizahn]

Meh. My most impressive rosette to date was coming in fourth place for Musical Saddles at pony camp, almost twenty years ago.

<still proud>