showjumpers please explain to me...

[little_pink_piggies]

this latest "craze" of hitting horses/ponies on the neck as they take off...

Have 3 showjumpers on my school bus (about 13/14) and granted mummy and daddy keep buying very smart new ponies for them that turn themselves inside out... but they were talking this morning and saying how well one of the girls at a HPI rode because she "slapped her pony on the neck at every fence to make sure it didnt run out or hit it down"... asked them to repeat this as wasn't sure I had heard correctly (iPod on v loudly hehe) and they did and I asked them why... "because it's what all the top showjumpers do these days" and they meant actually on the neck not the shoulder...

not sure I really understand the logic in this or that the BSJA/showjumping riders should be encouraging younger riders to do this?

and also wouldn't the neck be more distracting for a horse on take off if you're trying to get it to get its legs out of the way?

I just really don't understand this, but can't say I've seen any other showjumpers do this or even mention it until I heard it this morning so it might be a unique thing between these girls???...

 

[only_me]

what a load of tosh! lol some people believe anything that they here? you should ask them tomorrow if that girl had a good track record previoulsy of HPI??

by the way, is your avatar at necarne?

 

[little_pink_piggies]

yuppp it is

well they don't really see whats wrong with it? I knowif I had hit my ponies on the neck I would have been told to get off!

 

[kerilli]

i really really hope their ponies start sending the girls headfirst through fences for that treatment. i think you need to ask exactly WHICH "top showjumpers" are supposed to do this, as it certainly isn't any that any of us have ever seen... correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[little_pink_piggies]

my thoughts on it exactly... supposedly it was will whitiker(sp) at the puissance in olympia but I certainely didnt see that???

 

[Peanot]

IMO I think that if you hit the horse on the neck, it doesnt do any good, it does the opposite. It is said to distract the horse and if done often, the horse anticipates this and starts to think about it on the approach so causing problems, including knocking and even running out. The only time that I have seen this with show jumpers, is if the rider has asked the horse to lengthen to a fence-if a little off- and they need an extra ping.

 

[kerilli]

hmm, i think with the really sharp ones, particularly mares, it can very easily send them spinning in the other direction. it would also be very distracting, at just the moment when the horse is launching upwards and basically judging its jump on the memory of how high it thought the top pole was...
i didn't see Will Whitaker do that, was only watching on tv though, could have been visible from a diff angle. Commentators didn't mention it either though.

 

[Thistle]

Why would you want to hit/punish a horse as it takes off, surely that is what it is meant to do in front of a fence.

 

[kirstyhen]

Robert Whittaker did it in the puissance with finbarr, but that horse has its own set of rules, so i certainly wouldnt recommend copying it!
I was always told that if you needed to smack a horse before a fence to take your hand of your reins and smack its backside! That way you wouldnt distract it and youd only do it if you really needed to.
We were given a right b*******g if we smack the ponies down the neck!

 

[Rosiefan]

I've never ever seen anyone do that and I've been to some strange SJ shows in my time. I so hope they don't all start doing it

 

[Vicki_Krystal]

what a load of old "billhooks"!

complete utter rubbish!

 

[JamilaParr]

lol its what little determined kids do in unaff or pony club sometimes--- but not sure about the whole neck as opposed to shoulder...

 

[PapaFrita]

Billhooks is right

 

[VLHIEASTON]

I saw leslie law on his masterclass and he very much opposed to this tapping on the shoulder thing and said it must only be done behind the leg, and that was with regards to going over showjumps.

 

[Nats_uk]

I remember one SJ lesson a friend on mine kept doing it out of habit to her horse and he nearly always dropped a leg. The instructor took the crop away from her and the horse just cleared the rest of the time!

 

[jess_asterix]

HAHA i would have loved to site them on my old mare Evie and for them to hit her on the neck before a fence, she'd off told them pretty sharply to F**k off!

Thats a load of crap!

Ok, occasionally you might need a tap on the shoulder but i have never heard such rubbish!

 

[dieseldog]

The reason why people hit their horses on the neck is because they are too scared to take their hands off the reins and give them a proper whack