rather horrified at Kent County Show today

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wowzer22

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Hi all

I was at the Kent County show today and happened to watch one of the classes - where it was ponies with foals at foot.
However one of the foals (rather lively!!) almost broke free from his handler...he/she was pulling away from the handler/jumping all over the place and I did see one rear....in response the handler took her whip she was carrying and gave the foal a few smacks in the face.....I should add the judge had their back towards the incident as another pony/foal were trotting up in front of her for their indvidual show!
My question is - is that normally allowed? People I were sitting with gasped when she did it...it was facing us...The mare/foal concerned ended up being placed as well....should it have been reported? or am I over reacting?
 
No its not normal and yes, one of you probably should have reported it. You should probably have either called the ring steward over and informed her so she could tell the judge and then it would have been up to her to make a decision (hopefully throw them out of the ring), or reported it to the secretarys box.

It is pretty normal to see competitors do stuff behind the judges back though, like give their horses a boot / yank etc. But pelting a foal (or any age) in the face is way too far.
 
Sorry to ask a silly question....but who would you report it to? (Its my first time watching a showing class.....its kind of a new area for me)

Thanks
 
I would have reported it. Then I would have do done the same to her hind the lorries. Poor little foal :-(
 
thanks for that - they were quite far from us (the far side of the ring to us) so I guess the only way I'd have got her attention would have been to shout....mind you I'd have hated to have drawn attention/interrupted the class.
 
I saw this happening all too frequently when I had my (then) yearling out, showing in hand. It's not pleasant and I had a word with the judge discretely afterwards as I thought it was a completely inappropriate way to handle a young horse. Even worse when it a little foal :eek: hardly inspires confidence in humans for the future ......
 
MagicMelon said:
No its not normal and yes, one of you probably should have reported it. You should probably have either called the ring steward over and informed her so she could tell the judge and then it would have been up to her to make a decision (hopefully throw them out of the ring), or reported it to the secretarys box.

It is pretty normal to see competitors do stuff behind the judges back though, like give their horses a boot / yank etc. But pelting a foal (or any age) in the face is way too far.
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Erm, 'it's pretty normal to see competitors to boot/yank, but pelting a foal in the face is WAY TOO FAR?'. So booting and yanking is fine then?:confused:
 
I'm afraid I would have yelled at the woman. I cant believe someone thinks that is acceptable. If she cannot handle her foal, she should leave them at home. Dreadful woman.
 
I'm afraid I've seen it all before at the Welsh medal shows. Admittingly not a foal but in the youngstock classes and more so out of the ring. I never reported it as there were always plenty of witnesses and in such a fairly close knit community I really felt the new outsider. Would I now? without hesitation but I choose not to go to these events.
As for the foal - poor little mite :(:mad: Makes you wish you had a loud hailer at hand "Excuse Me, Could the Lady With the Foal Refrain From Whipping it In the Face....Yes YOU"
 
[QUOTE As for the foal - poor little mite :(:mad: Makes you wish you had a loud hailer at hand "Excuse Me, Could the Lady With the Foal Refrain From Whipping it In the Face....Yes YOU"[/QUOTE]

cambrica what an excellent idea, you should suggest it to the British Showing Association (if there is one!) or whoever regulates these events. You could give them to stewards who sit up on raised seats, like lifeguards, and call immediate attention to any horse abuse, it would be great ! Some people just get too carried away with being overly competitive etc. and the poor horses seem to take the brunt of it....its not right.
 
Report it and what I did when a very high up BHS instructor beat the hell out of my friends horse I didnt do anything at the time, but what I did do was next time I saw her I told her I had videoed it and she should be ashamed of herself and that there was CCTV everywhere and if she did it again I would upload the video to YouTube. She was astounded. She beat the horse up when she thought nobody was watching just because she couldn't get a good trot out of him.
 
I reported a man who was handling a highland stallion at the Bath and West show. The stally was in a mixed class and getting rather "excited". The handler was looking to see where the judge was and whipping the stally's manhood, quite sharply. He got the championship too. I spoke to the steward and also emailed the owner to say that if I ever saw him do that again, I would report him to animal welfare. Needless to say, I didn't get a reply but the man no longer shows her horses.
 
Kaylum said:
Report it and what I did when a very high up BHS instructor beat the hell out of my friends horse I didnt do anything at the time, but what I did do was next time I saw her I told her I had videoed it and she should be ashamed of herself and that there was CCTV everywhere and if she did it again I would upload the video to YouTube. She was astounded. She beat the horse up when she thought nobody was watching just because she couldn't get a good trot out of him.
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Brilliant!
 
Exactly just because people are qualified or showing does not give them a right to abuse an animal. Stand up to these people and they back down pretty quickly.
 
I would have had a word with the steward, OP.

I was at a show yesterday (inhand with the youngstock) and there were lots of horse flies about, which I kept slapping when I saw one within reach...thought later, I wonder if people thought I was beating on my horses :o
 
I was horrified at the number of people who walked round with their dogs all day on the Saturday in 35 degree heat. No excuse for that either!
 
samlf said:
I was horrified at the number of people who walked round with their dogs all day on the Saturday in 35 degree heat. No excuse for that either!
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Worse than this there were 2 announcements threatening to break the windows of cars with dogs left in at the Tendring Hundred show on Saturday - absolutely unbelievable :eek:
 
And that is how you make a horse headshy and whip shy :rolleyes: Wouldnt dream of ever hitting Dolly in the face with anything when she is naughty she gets a quick jab in the stomach a growl and she soon settles down. Why on earth did she think hitting the poor thing in the face would make it settle ? :rolleyes:
 
Hearing things like this makes me sick to the stomach. How can a foal learn to trust people and develop a gentle kind personality if treated like this? And how can anyone think it's reasonable behaviour to mistreat an animal because they're not doing exactly what the human wants? It's a good job I wasn't there as I'm afraid I would have caused quite a commotion. There's no way I could have kept my mouth shut if I saw a foal getting whipped in the face. My blood is boiling just thinking about it!
 
thanks for all the replies - I wish I'd video'd it now - I took loads of photos of that class but wasn't using my camera when the incident happened - why oh why didn 't I - will deffo report something like that in future!
 
There was an incident at an arab show a few years ago in the lorry park. It was witnessed by several people, who were not exactly inexperienced, and they reported it. The fall out from that was fairly horrific. Video evidence is a must.
 
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