Prize Givings

Tempi

Tempi

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 November 2005
Messages
18,869
Location
Parisienne Dressage
Visit site
After reading that Anky fell off Painted Black recently in a prize giving after he reared with her - what are your views?

Personally i really think prize givings are dangerous - why cant we have a prize giving on foot? Most horses get wound up by them, and ive seen some serious accidents in them aswell - both with professionals and amateurs.

Vivaldi V bolted with Jo Barry at the Nationals in the Prize Giving, and for one moment it looked like she was going to go straight into the judges car
crazy.gif
- it couldve been seriously nasty.

I know some horses are fine with them, but most do get wound up - i just think they are an accident waiting to happen, and i do personally dread riding in them. Especially now ive got Archie as he is easily wound up.......
 
I thought she got bucked off? That's what all the reports I've read have said?
Apparently the warm up area was small and he hadn't been ridden for three days, so all that plus a noisy and explosive crowd equalled once explosive horse.
 
No, she got bucked off Nelson (not Painted Black) in a demo, not a prize giving!!!! but a week before that Painted Black reared in a prize giving with her and she fell off and hurt her leg.
 
Ah see ther'es me getting in a complete muddle, she's not had a good couple of weeks poor girl.

Prize givings, thing is they're great tos ee and I would dearly love to get into to one. But I can see they have an increased risk attached to.
 
i think they should be on foot. ditto at 3 day events. it can absolutely blow horses' minds.
who can forget Rembrandt being kicked in the winner's parade, which was a career-ending injury...
frown.gif
frown.gif

i think organisers need to make sure the crowd know not to clap at the end of tests too, tbh. very frightening for a lot of horses.
 
I got bucked off in a prize giving once. Not a nice experience.

I liked the way they did them at the nationals. Only the top three do a proper lap of honour, which stops it becoming a full on free-for-all. I didn't know about Vivaldi V bolting though.....

The other possibility could be to make mounted prize givings mandatory for all dressage competitions so the horses get used to it. But that would mean a lot of waiting around and wouldn't be popular.
 
Ah now im all for clapping as its something the horses have to get used to at the higher levels aswell.

However i just really think that prize givings are so dangerous and i cant see the harm in just doing ones on foot - they do for the BYRDs Nationals and it works out really well.
 
Vivaldi V bolted in the Shearwater prize giving
crazy.gif
i think his rosette scared him, not positive tho.

I do agree that perhaps introducing them for all comps is a good idea, but then like you said, some people wont be happy to hang around, especially if they are at the beginning of the class.

Yes i do think it was good how they did it at the Nationals, but even then some horses still got over excited.
 
Grace was doing mini rears in her prize giving when the judge tried attaching a rosette
blush.gif
And then the lap of honour was a nightmare because the one that came 1st (Grace was 2nd) was much smaller and she was just plunging about behind it!!!
 
I'm going to go against everyone here and say I love being in and watching mounted prizegivings and I think that they should do one for every class. If horses did them all the time they would soon be used to them.
 
well, i hate the clapping, but that's prob cos it's only at 3-days, eventing, when the horse is at its fittest, and it really really matters!
and as for the lap of honour at 3 days, 20 of you hooleying around the sj ring at speed... jeez, i'd rather go point-to-pointing!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I'm going to go against everyone here and say I love being in and watching mounted prizegivings and I think that they should do one for every class. If horses did them all the time they would soon be used to them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too i'm afraid
smile.gif
 
I disagree, i think a well mannered horse should be able to canter in company without bolting or throwing off the rider, and if your horse doesn't like a rosette on its head ask if you can take it before they attempt to put it on !!
Its not going to do much for the sport if spectators aren't allowed to clap either...
 
it's not really fun at all. probably alright if you're out in front though!
it's well known that the prize-giving at Badminton blew King William's mind permanently for 3-day SJ, he was never the same again, got so tense he'd have 7 down, kind of thing.
frown.gif
pretty much wrecked the career of a fantastic horse.
plus the risk of a fly-buck catching another horse or rider... *shudders* no, thank you!
the only mounted prize-giving i've ever been in for dressage was very sedate, we all walked in and walked out again, thank goodness, like a bunch of old grannies!
 
[ QUOTE ]
See thats the other problem - if someone infront of you has a difficult horse then it can set all the others off too!

[/ QUOTE ]

Mine was the difficult horse
laugh.gif
laugh.gif
laugh.gif
All the others wereas good as gold
smile.gif
 
I did some inhand showing this year with my youngster only small local things but when the rosettes are handed we were expected to do a lap of honour and at each one I spoke to the judge and explained I didn't feel it was safe for me to join in so I just walked out quietly.
I really did not fancy trotting inhand a 16.2hh 3 year old around an arena with 5 others as I know for sure she would have exploded. Most of the judges were fine and understanding but other felt that she needed to learn. I didn't not at the expense of me getting injured anyway.
I think that the lao of hounour should only be the first 3 horses and riders/handlers.
 
re: I disagree, i think a well mannered horse should be able to canter in company without bolting or throwing off the rider, and if your horse doesn't like a rosette on its head ask if you can take it before they attempt to put it on !!

true, but it wasn't my horse's behaviour i was worrying about!
wink.gif
 
Its ok if your horse is well behaved, but not if they really dont like them. If they were introduced for all events im sure people would get really p*ssed off as they would have to hang around until the end, which some cant do for whatever reason. I do think theoretically its a good idea, but unfortunately it would never work.

Yes people should be able to canter around together - and Archie will happily canter around behind horses, but prize givings are a totally different kettle of fish.
 
I do understand what you are saying PG and yes I agree if they were for every class and you had to hang around it could get boring but I still really like them. I think it adds to the occasion. I find it a big let down to do well then have to walk to a table to pick up a rossette, it just takes the edge off it somehow.
 
I love the lap of honour, great feeling to show your horse off after he/she has done so well. All our youngsters that are shown in hand are expected to behave and learn about such things, so once they are under saddle, shouldn't be any different.
At Hoys the other wek I got goose bumps when the winners did their laps of honour and then the winner turned down the centre line under the spotlight and did the full on big money trot (or flat out gallop in the SJs cases). Watching them do it on foot would have not been the same
 
I'm going to upset you all now, so no apologies for that, it's normal for me!

For dressage riders, you're meant to be on the best trained horses and be the best riders for goodness sake. Is it not beyond you to train them to behave as show riders do? It doesn't matter that they are hyped up, they should be trained to behave better. I'd very soon have prizes off you if your horse didn't behave, perhaps that threat is needed to get your house in order.
I agree it would help if people knew strict silence was needed at prizegivings, that would be a help, but come on, other disciplines manage with mounted prizegivings, why not dressagers too?
I do also agree that it should just be first and second that do a lap of honour and perhaps they should wait until everything else is out of the ring, that might help. I think Halfpass was right with her youngster too; trotting round as a procession is no joke with a big strong youngster that could possibly have been at its first show, that could have been an accident waiting to happen.
 
I agree for safety's sake prizegivings should be like eventing ones, on foot.
Playing devil's advocate tho, isn't the whole point of dressage training to enable ou to have a well mannered trained horse
wink.gif

(HH runs and hides as lots of missiles get chucked from the pure dressage lot!)
 
Try PC team jumping. 6x4 horses all carreering round the ring, all trying to stay in lines of 4.

The biggest and best I've seen is a PC 3ft team event called Gosling cup, where all participants (this year 92!) stand in a horseshoe shape and walk out as teams to receive their rosettes. No lap of honour though.
 
Archie will behave perfectly at home and will happily canter around with others in the arena at home too (as ive done a lot of this with him to get him used to other horses cantering around), but you cant simulate the atmosphere in a prize giving at home!!!!!!! The loud music etc and people clapping/cheering will excite any highly fit horse, it just effects others differently - no horse is the same after all (and no horse is perfect either!)!!
 
I do like mounted prize givings , unfortunately most of these poor dressage horses don't have a normal life .They spend most of their time in a stable or in a school. Some do go out in a field for a bit but I think most of them are protected too much and hyped up.This may give them the wow factor and make them a bit unsafe in company. It should be possible to have 3 horses in a ring for prize giving and be safe, maybe these horses should have prize giving training in their schooling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top