Sad things you see at shows

excellent point, well made! - then the darn things toss us off and break us again :p (bitter about hitting the dirt this evening? me? no!)
 
I don't see many lame horses either not around posh Surrey and Hampshire anyway!
The saddest things I saw was when Lex2501 and I took my J to an unaff event at West Wilts. We saw a woman in the back of the lorry in front of us whip a horse around the head with a whip. We were out of sight in Lexs lorry and neither of us could believe what we had just seen. Horse didn't appear to have done anything wrong and the lady after whipping her horse carried on as normal!
We also saw a horse tied up to the side of a lorry with the longest lead rope ever. It kept putting it's leg over the rope, I was about to run out and help then the owner appeared, unwrapped the horses leg and then walked off and left it tied up with the rope still trailing on the floor! She obviously didn't care about a potential broken leg!
 
TarrSteps said:
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!
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Billy the kid said:
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 just wondering what the collecting ring steward was doing and why they were letting this behaviour carry on. Certainly some shows have them and if they don't the SJ ring steward should be keeping at least half an eye on what's going on in the collecting ring.
 
On the other hand I saw something brilliant! A little kid was struggling with a naughty pony, got off in a strop and started hitting it round the head with the whip. Her mother does nothing more than take the pony off the girl, takes the whip off the girl and gives her a good crack across the back of the legs! To cheers from the crowd... She told her in no uncertain terms that if she ever did it again the pony would go to someone who loves him!

She's lucky she didn't get arrested but good for her!

edit - it was only one smack across the back of the legs-just enough to show her that a whip bloody hurts!
 
kathantoinette said:
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.
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And did anyone think to call the police? There is a world of difference between a parent being unpleasant to a child (although there is debate on where the line is) and a parent beating a child (I think everyone is pretty clear on that line!) I also don't see what it has to do with horse showing - in all my years of going to horse shows I have never seen a parent beat a child in public. (Although I did physically remove a young girl from the lap of an older man behaving badly, called her parents and told the horse show office.) Most of the "horrible sights" people have mentioned are not illegal or even, in the great scheme of things, particularly inhumane. Beating your kid is both.
 
At very prestigious show 2 yrs ago, I witnessed a father cursing in a brutal manor at a child before they went into ring. It was a lead rein class, child was in tears, father told her to cop the *******k on and that he Had spent enough **********money on the class for them to back out:( was in full view of steward's and no one said anything.
 
At a local show a couple of years ago I was waiting for my SJ class to start while watching other competitors, it was only about 2ft 6 so not big at all.

A lady (about mid 40's) rode into the ring and her horse ran out at fence number 3 and she hit the deck. But rather than getting up graciously she got up grabbed her whip and started whacking the horse in the head. Everyone around the ring was horrified and thankfully the commentator asked her to leave the ring and made a poignant comment about how patient her horse was.

I mean everyone gets fustrated when they fall off, particularly when it's in front of people, but I think some people need to channel that to determination rather than anger...
 
Some years ago I used to run a Games Day for the local kids. Many of the entries hired ponies from my school and one was having problems - she had dropped her potato 'egg' and had got off to pick it up. Every time she went to put her foot in the stirrup Bubbles would reach around and nudge her in the bum. She'd then drop her potato again. I encouraged her to finish the race which she did.

A couple of minutes later I was getting the next race under way and I heard a scream and then serious crying. I looked around and the same child was crying loudly - she had come out of the arena and taken her whip to poor Bubbles, her dad had spotted her hitting the pony and snatched the whip off her and gave her a belt with it across her bottom! I grounded her for a month as being one of the helpers at the school I was not going to allow such behaviour.
 
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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Agree with this
 
Fides said:
On the other hand I saw something brilliant! A little kid was struggling with a naughty pony, got off in a strop and started hitting it round the head with the whip. Her mother does nothing more than take the pony off the girl, takes the whip off the girl and gives her a good crack across the back of the legs! To cheers from the crowd... She told her in no uncertain terms that if she ever did it again the pony would go to someone who loves him!

She's lucky she didn't get arrested but good for her!

edit - it was only one smack across the back of the legs-just enough to show her that a whip bloody hurts!
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I've seen this happen before, my friend took her daughter to a show and she lost her temper (as often 10 year olds do, we have all been there) and smacked her pony quite hard. Mum stormed over, dragged her off the pony and in front of everyone told her how would she like it if she did it to her and if she ever did it again she would sell the pony. The kid has never carried a stick since and has turned out to be a nice quiet rider. There is hope if dealt with correctly.

While i know that abuse or loss of temper is never acceptable i do feel that there are very few of us who at that age have never had a small person tantrum. There is no excuse for it i know but a lot of kids stop doing it if dealt with by the parents in the right way.

That said i have seen some awful behavour from adults as well as children so its fair to say its not just kids. I have been know to bellow across a show ground before at someone i felt wasnt behaving well but it really depends on the situation.
 
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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A lot of people tell me one of my horses is lame. He isn't, he has stringhalt (and is a bit of a knob) so it takes him a good 15/20 minutes to warm up sufficiently to actually be loose and free in his paces (that's provided he hasn't seen anything drastically exciting as he will then continue to snatch and hobble until his brain connects with the rest of his body). Horses are like people, there are lots of people who walk or run in a way that compensates for physical limitations, horses learn to cope with their limitations and sometimes it can be harder to 'unlearn' their coping mechanism that it can be to just leave them to it.
 
Some of these stories are shocking! I either go around with my eyes shut or I'm lucky because I don't see these beaten/ lame horses when I go competing unaff....but then I do only go to specific centres where the standard tends to be a little higher (this isn't me being a snob thinking my riding is excellent BTW just a choice to ride on the best surfaces, over well built courses/good dressage judges & enjoy good organisation)

People who lose their tempers with horses are sadly everywhere unaff & affiliated. There are also those that fall into the thoughtless category everywhere as well :(

One of the most shocking things I saw was at an affiliated event. It was a really hot day...& I mean proper roasting. So hot we were allowed to dressage & Showjump without jackets.
Girl returns from XC to her Horsebox next to mine fuming because her horse 'paused' at a ditch & the fence judge had called '1st refusal'. She stood with the horse fully tacked still, stripped off number, air jacket, BP & hat & took a long drink from a big bottle of water.
She then put a headcollar on over the bridle, tied up the still fully tacked up, sweating blowing horse to her lorry in the full blazing sunshine. Then told her mum to come with her to the stewards to 'sort this all out', marching off (with her bottle of water) & leaving the poor horse.

I was gobsmacked. I didn't dare offer the horse a drink in case she came back. After over half an hour I decided enough was enough & went & complained at the stewards tent saying it was an animal welfare issue (the steward I complained to agreed)
The worse thing was when I went to the tent she was at the scoreboards looking at her dressage sheet....so it's not even like she quickly lodged her complaint & rushed back to her horse. Stupid cow!
 
Another who is dismayed by the child being beaten and no-one doing anything....that is nothing to do with competing, just common sense if a young child is being physically abused in that manner surely?

But with regards to the no-one helping with a loading issue - I have a bad loader, and I am the opposite - thoroughly chuffed off with the amount of people who bustle in with their 'assistance' normally taking the form of lunge lines, whips and/or brooms. Or standing around tutting at my approach. Hey, you don't know my horse, you don't know why he doesn't load, so back off (unless you're Tarrsteps, in which case, come on down!).
 
Firewell said:
I don't see many lame horses either not around posh Surrey and Hampshire anyway!
The saddest things I saw was when Lex2501 and I took my J to an unaff event at West Wilts. We saw a woman in the back of the lorry in front of us whip a horse around the head with a whip. We were out of sight in Lexs lorry and neither of us could believe what we had just seen. Horse didn't appear to have done anything wrong and the lady after whipping her horse carried on as normal!
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I've since this at a BE event a few years back though the person doing the whipping was a well known pro who has represented her country and ridden round Badminton and Burghley several times. Another difference is she didn't do it in the back of her lorry- the horse was tied up to the side of her lorry and was scraping so she beat it up massivly with her whip very publically. The car park steward came flying over and screamed at her to stop (so she argued back with him) but did stop, mainly because everyone was staring by this point obviously. Nasty scene and will never forget it or recommend her to anyone! :(
 
rising_promise said:
I've since this at a BE event a few years back though the person doing the whipping was a well known pro who has represented her country and ridden round Badminton and Burghley several times. Another difference is she didn't do it in the back of her lorry- the horse was tied up to the side of her lorry and was scraping so she beat it up massivly with her whip very publically. The car park steward came flying over and screamed at her to stop (so she argued back with him) but did stop, mainly because everyone was staring by this point obviously. Nasty scene and will never forget it or recommend her to anyone! :(
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My partner works at a very large competition centre in the Midlands and he was on pole picking the one day and saw someone ride round, their horse stop at a fence and deck the rider. The rider dragged the horse out to the collecting ring, and my partner knew (from experience) what was about to happen and rushed to the collecting ring (closely followed by me) where he heard the rider say "has anyone got a long stick" and then the rider started beating the horse. My partner intervened and told the rider is she continued to beat her horse she would be forcibly ejected from the centre. It was awful to see.

I know from experience how easy it is to lose one's temper, I have done it before with my horse, but I have never crossed the line. If I felt I was even close I would just walk away. I do believe thought that a lot of ill treatment of horses stems from ignorance and frustration rather than pure evil intention.
 
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kathantoinette said:
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.
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This is terrible. I work in safeguarding for a Council. This behaviour should have been reported directly to the police or NSPCC and if you had wanted to have remained anonymous this would have been okay. The registration number of the car and another witness if possible would have been the best thing. Childrens Social Care could have intervened and carried out an assessment on the childs home conditions. If this happens to the child in daylight in front of people you can bet your bottom dollar it also ocurrs at home. What a shame nothing was done about it.

This isn't a go at you Kathantoinette, as before I had this job I wouldn't have thought about doing this either, so don't feel guilty. If ANYONE reading this sees this type of thing please refer the matter to the police taking down as much information as possible. There 'should' also be a DSP (designated safeguarding person) available at a large show centre venue so you would be able to speak to them in the first instance.
 
Some of the worst behaviour I have ever seen was at Hickstead RIHS - though many years ago now. In the showing classes it was the parents (usually mothers) yelling, cursing and swearing at the kids riding. In the BSJA it was the kids beating up their ponies and throwing strops.

I must have been to over 50 competitions over the past 2 years here in France, and thankfully,I've hardly seen anything untoward. Generally the judges are very quick to admonish the riders for being too handy with the whip.

The owrst thing that I saw was at the beginning of the eventing season last year, and a couple were having great difficulties loading one of their horses into a trailer. So the bloke got hold of a thick tree twig/stick, and every time the horse backed off the ramp he hit it across the haunches. Umm... so now every time the horse sees a trailer it associates it with being belted... that's going to make it easy to load in future! (our party did offer to help, offered a lunge line etc instead and were very nastily turned away).
 
I'm afraid I am one of those crusty old ratbags who will go upto anyone who it taking a whip to a horse unjustifiably and have a word about modifying their behaviour if they don't want to suffer the same fate. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti discipline - a smack (when mounted) is a smack and sometimes required to back up a leg aid but in my view there is never any excuse for bashing an equine round the head with anything.

These days my competition exposure consists largely of veteran classes and I am constantly saddened by seeing animals that would clearly far rather be at home in the field than being dragged around to every show with a class they are eligible for in the hope of winning because they are the oldest :( Can people not recognise when their horse is past enjoying "parties"?
 
I've been pretty lucky to never have witnessed anything other than the odd strop, however bottle tops and/or stones in boots, "giving it a bash" and jumping on ACP are relatively common.
 
Not a personal experience but a friend of a friend worked for a now retired very we'll know showjumper whose horses were deprived of food and water over night had they not performed to standard
 
showpony said:
That is just disgusting :(
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Having worked as a groom on the competitive SJ circuit (at big shows) in my younger days - this is far from the worst that goes on from rider to horse at competitions, never mind how some people treat their staff!! It was a sharp reminder (as a teenager) not to have money/owners/prestige as a pressure for doing well at shows. There are some lovely riders who do really care too, despite the pressures, thankfully!
 
kelsey+tom said:
Not a personal experience but a friend of a friend worked for a now retired very we'll know showjumper whose horses were deprived of food and water over night had they not performed to standard
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I don't see how anyone can think this will solve anything...correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure that horses won't associate tapping out a pole with the fact that they haven't been watered and fed!
 
Twiggy14 said:
I don't see how anyone can think this will solve anything...correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure that horses won't associate tapping out a pole with the fact that they haven't been watered and fed!
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It's mostly because the horses are so fit and wired they have a pole because they are not controlled, by withholding you might make it more controllable for the followings days classes. I was made to do it once, just withold water, and I sneakily offered the horse water several times which he didn't take. He did enjoy some lush grass when no one was looking though.
 
stencilface said:
It's mostly because the horses are so fit and wired they have a pole because they are not controlled, by withholding you might make it more controllable for the followings days classes. I was made to do it once, just withold water, and I sneakily offered the horse water several times which he didn't take. He did enjoy some lush grass when no one was looking though.
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Withholding food and or water is downright cruelty and will do absolutely nothing to prevent the horse from hitting rails.

If the horse is too hyped up, either reduce the amount of food and up the hay ration and/or work the horse in more prior to the class.

I cannot believe that anyone could possibly condone such behaviour!

There is an International Code of Equine Welfare - see or hear of that sort of behaviour again and report it to the organising committee immediately
 
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