Sad things you see at shows

Birker2020

Birker2020

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I competed on Sunday at a show centre I used to go to quite a bit. Normally I reserve this centre for when there are no events on at my favourite centre, or in this case when I wanted to get my confidence up a little (as horse rarely decks me at this event)! The facilities are a bit old and dilapidated and the surfaces leave a lot to be desired but the staff are very welcoming and kind.

The first class was delayed for 85 minutes so I did a lot of standing around watching the earlier classes. The centre is the type that have a lot of young kids with ponies, or older kids that are moving onto horses, its all very low level stuff (which suits me as I am no Marie Edgar) :)

A great deal of the horses and ponies that I watched were lame. One horse looked like it had a problem with his mouth, and was diving around the show jumps, cat leaping them with its head in the air and its head tilted with its tongue sticking out. The rider wasn't rough with their hands, but the horse appeared to be in considerable pain.

Another horse was totally unable to bend its body in either direction and was kicked in the ribs constantly as it wouldn't go forward - again a huge physical problem. I am no physio or vet but I can see the problems these horses face, so why can't their owners?

I would be grateful if someone were to tell me if my horse looked lame or if he was uncomfortable in his mouth. But I know some people wouldn't appreciate this type of help so I kept my mouth shut.

But what do you do? Would you say something if you thought it would help the horse or pony?
 
The last time I went and watched at a similar type of show, I was shocked by the number of people, adults included, who'd warm their horses up then stand them around for ages before their number was called or not bother to warm up at all.
I've always been very particular about keeping muscles moving especially having had a horse that had tied up with a previous owner.
 
MadJ said:
The last time I went and watched at a similar type of show, I was shocked by the number of people, adults included, who'd warm their horses up then stand them around for ages before their number was called or not bother to warm up at all.
I've always been very particular about keeping muscles moving especially having had a horse that had tied up with a previous owner.
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Yes I agree. I am usually quite good at warming up.

On sunday due to the massive ammount of rain this area has seen in recent days the outside warm up resembled a ploughed field and with my horse having a recovering suspensory injury I couldn't do much at all and had to refrain from even having a practice jump just a few short trots, and a very small canter was all I dared risk as it was so boggy.

But boy, did I feel guilty!

Such a shame as it is an 'alright place' to compete at.
 
The saddest thing I see at the shows are the poor boyfriends/husbands that have been dragged there kicking and screaming, stood around looking miserable for hours. Either let them stay at home or someone should invest in a business of a 'Man Tent' with beer, Playstations and a pool table!!
 
I'll never forget the in hand showing class where a stallion was getting excited and every time the judge turned away they hit it with their cane on the willy :(
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
The saddest thing I see at the shows are the poor boyfriends/husbands that have been dragged there kicking and screaming, stood around looking miserable for hours. Either let them stay at home or someone should invest in a business of a 'Man Tent' with beer, Playstations and a pool table!!
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This is why I don't take mine with me... leave him at home to play on his PS4 in his man cave then he's not getting in my way! ;) I take my Dad instead who is a much better, more hard working groom, who is happy to be paid in cake from the Hunt or PC stall at whatever the event is!

RE the lame horses. It is a difficult one. I have seen plenty of "not right" horses out hunting - I used to take my old boy because he lived for it. He wasn't right but was happy doing his job and just enjoyed getting out. Equally, I've also seen people take an ancient pony SJ who has taught numerous kids the ropes, isn't quite right but is still happy popping round a little course showing the next kid what to do. I do think some people just don't care though, and there will always be some of those. Not sure you can do much as those sorts of people won't appreciate you having a word.
 
I'm not always convinced by the commonly trotted-out assertion that huge numbers of horses in (predominantly unaffiliated) competitions are lame. I evaluate lame horses for a living and Don't see all that many out competing - one or two low-grade lamenesses per class maybe, but these may well be well-managed cases whose owners are well aware of the issue. Or not. I have often stood next to spectators at three day event trot-ups who delight in declaring every second horse lame and the FEI vets blind for passing them. I think a lot of people see lameness where it doesn't always exist, and it's not always as black and white as people like to believe.
 
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Fides, this is a common occarance in inhand classes with stallions. Unfortunately if everyone ignored this kind of bad manners in a horse, the ring would be a very dangerous place to be.

It saddens me to see brattish kids talk to their parents like crap! At one championship show, the child (around 10) was shouting and swearing at her mother so much that I stepped in saying pointing out that she should have some respect for her parents, was showing herself up and should be having this conversation back at the lorry. I also quickly pointed out that at 23, if i spoke to my mother like that she would of knocked me off my horse...... little did i know she was stabled opposite ,e but it made for a very quiet weekend!
 
That sounds hideous - tricky situation..

On Sunday I went to an unaffiliated show (first show for youngster) at a centre I know well. I generally do not agree with the whole unaff/aff argument but this was a bad example.The show was well run in general, but the competitors were ...err.. not great. They were shouting at their horses, acting up and commenting loudly on other peoples' horses (and the classes were only 70/80/90cm when I was there..), acting in an intimidating manner etc.

Then, after two good rounds, my youngster decided that she would not load (just being a bit stubborn). I was sort of in the middle of the lorry park. Then, a whole crowd of people were chatting and watching all around her, making loud noises, and not even thinking about offering to help (I don't like asking for help in this sort of situation as I don't know how confident/competent people actually are, and I don't want to put them in a situation which they are uncomfortable with), and I am sure someone would have been able to lend a hand (it was clear I was there on my own). Thankfully I found one of the liveries there, who I knew, to ask for help. He just waved his arms a little and she went in. I was pretty cross with the whole situation.

Surely people should know to be quiet/sensitive around horses, especially when they are having issues.. I compete a fair bit at BS, and even though there is a lot of bitching, know-it-all types etc it does seem that the people are generally a bit more professional and understanding about horses.

Thankfully the horse went well so will be sticking to BS.
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
The saddest thing I see at the shows are the poor boyfriends/husbands that have been dragged there kicking and screaming, stood around looking miserable for hours. Either let them stay at home or someone should invest in a business of a 'Man Tent' with beer, Playstations and a pool table!!
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My other half only likes comps with a real ale tent.... I find that makes a good man tent!
 
chestnut cob said:
This is why I don't take mine with me... leave him at home to play on his PS4 in his man cave then he's not getting in my way! ;) I take my Dad instead who is a much better, more hard working groom, who is happy to be paid in cake from the Hunt or PC stall at whatever the event is!
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Dads are great for this - mine was the same when I used to go to shows, plus he drove the lorry because I'm a complete wimp!

Shoei said:
My other half only likes comps with a real ale tent.... I find that makes a good man tent!
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Exactly - everyone's happy! There's only so many coffees and cones of chips they can have at shows without a 'man tent' before they get totally fed up. Poor soles.
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
The saddest thing I see at the shows are the poor boyfriends/husbands that have been dragged there kicking and screaming, stood around looking miserable for hours. Either let them stay at home or someone should invest in a business of a 'Man Tent' with beer, Playstations and a pool table!!
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Mine used to love coming to shows. I'd pack us up a really good picnic, a comfy folding chair for him, a couple of bottles of beer and the weekend papers and he was happy as larry. He was even enthusiastic about upgrading to a lorry with better living as it meant it was easier for him to make his own cups of tea, there was a freezer compartment in the fridge for icecream and he could watch the car / bike racing on tv :D
 
jemima*askin said:
Mine used to love coming to shows. I'd pack us up a really good picnic, a comfy folding chair for him, a couple of bottles of beer and the weekend papers and he was happy as larry. He was even enthusiastic about upgrading to a lorry with better living as it meant it was easier for him to make his own cups of tea, there was a freezer compartment in the fridge for icecream and he could watch the car / bike racing on tv :D
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That's all good, no wonder he didn't mind - that sounds great! I mean the ones that go to a show and have no where to go other than moping about after their OH looking bored out their tree. Even I get bored when I go watch a friend if it's a long class with 50 people in it :eek:
 
Gamebird said:
I'm not always convinced by the commonly trotted-out assertion that huge numbers of horses in (predominantly unaffiliated) competitions are lame. I evaluate lame horses for a living and Don't see all that many out competing - one or two low-grade lamenesses per class maybe, but these may well be well-managed cases whose owners are well aware of the issue. Or not. I have often stood next to spectators at three day event trot-ups who delight in declaring every second horse lame and the FEI vets blind for passing them. I think a lot of people see lameness where it doesn't always exist, and it's not always as black and white as people like to believe.
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That, pretty much. Most of the ones I do see that are "off ish" are clearly older and work out of it, usually beating many of their younger compatriots in the ring. Or the whole outfit is so out to lunch it's not surprising that the horse is off, but that is actually very rare. I do see horses that take unlevel steps now and then but this if often riding related and hardly an ethical issue.

As far as judging pain from behaviour, I don't think that's always so easy to do without knowing the situation.
 
i went to an unaffiliated show jumping comp on Sunday. The venue is great and ran brilliantly, its usually other competitors that cause issues.

This weeks rant; there was a youngish lad (18 maybe) warming up his horse for the 95cm.

Firstly the warm up fence was about 110cm which annoyes me, secondly the poor little mare was SHATTERED and had no jump left, she was blowing and sweating, they went round and round and round again, jump, jump, jump. I tried about five times to jump a fence but couldnt as he was cutting everyone up! His horse was refusing, cat leaping, running through the fence, anything but jump it nicely.

Eventually he took it out and gave up, not before wrecking everyone elses warmup time though.
 
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I was very surprised when I moved here and realised there are no warm up stewards! Even at quite low level shows I was used to someone being around to address concerns over fence height, dangerous horses etc.

Re behaviour - I went to Pony BS recently and it was some of the parents that really made my hair stand on end!
 
The saddest thing I've seen recently was an old and very poor pony of around 13.2 at a gymkhana last summer. I wouldn't have minded so much had it's rider been a tiny tot but it was ridden by a child of around 10 who certainly wasn't skinny. Ringside talk revealed that complaints had been made to the organisers who had had a word. The reason given for it's poor condition was that it had no teeth which was followed by several people saying that this was no excuse what with all the feeds available for toothless animals these days. You'd have thought the shame of being questioned would have made them take the poor pony home, but no, poor pony entered the gymkhana ring with a few kicks in it's bare ribs delievred by the hefty child. Funnily enough, it's lack of teeth didn't stop it from requiring grass reins..
 
It's quite depressing sometimes seeing things like this. What sticks out in my mind is a really spoilt brat child at an ODE. We were fence judging on the XC, she came to my fence having already been chucked off once, riding like a bat out of hell yet yanking it in the mouth, pony slammed the breaks on at our fence and off she came again. She was livid, she could only have been 12 but she grabbed the pony yanked it in the mouth very hard 3 times whilst smacking it with her whip on its shoulder (all she could reach). We leapt out of the car and told her to stop behaving like that but one of the paramedics nearby had seen it all - he stormed over, grabbed the pony and told her to walk back on her own and he'd lead the pony back to discuss her behaviour with her parents and report her to the organisers! Thought that was well handled! But wow, how NOT to behave! Felt so bad for the poor pony, if she did that in front of people then imagine what she did at home with nobody watching :(
 
Ive seen some pretty upsetting things over the years, at local riding club shows ponies are always being whipped and pulled about, severe bits with draw reins in the warm up and sharp spurs :( I've said something a few times but its not much use as they often carry on even longer to prove a point ... if I was a member of the committee i'd tell them to get out and only come back in to the ring when the horse is not being abused! I don't mind tack and strong bits being used, I have to use them! but they are so often abused and used as fashion accessories (god knows why, I feel proud to take a horse round in a snaffle and a cavesson!) It annoys me when inexperienced people sit mumbling that a horse is lame when it clearly isn't (not saying this is always the case, but it does happen!) I remember a few months ago, I went in a won a class on my horse- to be approached by the mother of the girl who came 2nd who told me my horse was obviously lame, as he was not moving evenly .. through a boggy churned up puddle!! I trotted my horse up just to shut her up, and of course he was sound. She still insisted he was "slightly short on his off hind" I'm 99% sure she had no idea what she meant by that ;)
 
Not relating to horse/pony but...I was at a local show in the ring and could hear commotion in the parking area adjacent to the ring; small child maybe about 10 yrs old having a strop about something or other and (presumably) the father then throwing the child into the back seat of the 4x4 and beating her. Not just a slap but I could see his fists flying at her and she was screaming her head off. Awful. The way the parking area was arranged you could only see this from the ring and not easily from the area where the spectators were.
 
I hate seeing parents screaming at their often terrified, overfaced or just plain not interested children. Especially when the shout is to kick it harder!!
I have said something to the organisers at a hunter trial about a couple of competitors whose horses were so unfit they were walking on the XC course, and who then wouldn't move out of the way!!
 
I just cannot stand spoilt brats!

Last show season I watched a kid of about 12 on a nice pony failing to get round the clear round jumping. It was your typical pony club kicks, screaming, crying etc. Someone next to the ring shouted to her "do you need a stick?" She jumped off, smacked the poor pony round the face with the reins, before storming off shouting "NO! I want an f in animal that jumps!"
 
Gamebird said:
I'm not always convinced by the commonly trotted-out assertion that huge numbers of horses in (predominantly unaffiliated) competitions are lame. I evaluate lame horses for a living and Don't see all that many out competing - one or two low-grade lamenesses per class maybe, but these may well be well-managed cases whose owners are well aware of the issue. Or not. I have often stood next to spectators at three day event trot-ups who delight in declaring every second horse lame and the FEI vets blind for passing them. I think a lot of people see lameness where it doesn't always exist, and it's not always as black and white as people like to believe.
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This is so right. There is a difference between a genuine lame horse and a few unlevel steps, especially with older horses. Would you class a few short steps on a sharp bend as a serious issue? Many horses that retire to the hunting field do so because they have "issues". The art and skill is in managing the problem whilst enabling the horse to work within it's capabilities.

I am not saying you should jump lame horses, more that you should be aware as GB says that everything is not black and white. I would say that the majority of horses lunged on a hard surface on a slope would show as lame to some degree or other.

A mild low grade lameness is not the end of the world......some people need to be more realistic.
 
Tbh I think my horse was lame with psd long before it got bad enough to really notice, it was just his action :o

Now I'm paranoid about every uneven step whereas in reality I should probably just kick on a bit more!
 
Worse one I seen was a adult at Ia SJ, took her 5 year old into the ring for his first show, he was a little tense , tried to walk between two wings which was narrow and he refused to move as it was tight, he just stoop there frightened, any decent person would of reassured him and walked round it. This horrid woman started kicking with spurs on, he still just planted , staring at the gap scared. She then decided to take both feet out stirrups , turn spurs to his sides and pony clubbed kicked him as hard as she could for about two mins before he rushed through, two people next to me walked out in disgust. To make it worse while doing it said lady sat on horse grinning and smiling like she thought she was being clever or something. I know someone else complained to steward but the lady in question is a bit of a idiot , and often gets complaints so not sure if anything would be said

Honestly I wanted to drag her off the horse and kick her hard with a set of spurs. It was disgusting . Treating a baby at his first show like that, he such a lovely honest horse as well. Went and jumped clear bless him.

Though last few times I seen him being jumped he refuses heaps now, poor horse been ruined :-(
 
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Daytona said:
A vet once told me prop about 90% of ridden horses have some degree of lameness. From happy hackers to top level horses.
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I think that depends on how you define the terms. If the bar is 100% pain free, then yes, I'd say that's probably about right. But who lives in that world themselves? Pretty much any horse that's done any work is going to have less than perfect bits, it's all about how they cope and how it's managed. After all, who among us never takes a NSAID at the end of a hard day?

Also, uneveness can be caused by the rider, in many different ways. (Or covered up or mitigated, for that matter. People used to talk about riders who could "ride horses sound" - not a popular concept these days but not unheard of when our options were more limited.)
 
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