Snobbery?

J

jacksmum

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I am on a yard where everyone else events, some to a high standard. Now i don't jump, at all! After a bad fall i gave up and concentrated on dressage which i now enjoy at BD level. However i admire anybody that does jump and thoroughly enjoy going and watching and supporting the others at events.
I have always felt, but never proved, that i am looked down on for not jumping, but today a visitor turned up to look round and when introduced to me was told ' oh she just does dressage' followed by 'we do the serious stuff'
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So shocked couldn't think of anything to say!
Is this horse snobbery? Do people that jump feel they are somehow better? I am aware that some horse sports take more guts but is it fair to conclude that dressage is easy?
 
I'd of said something, just becasue you chose to do a different discipline to them doesnt make what you do any less rewarding/good etc!
 
that person is talking shite

I prefer jumping to dressage, but I fully appreciate how hard dressage is and how important it is to get any success in jumping
 
Did they mean that seriously ???

I always have a laugh with my dressage trainers about it !!

I must say though Dressage isnt easy especially the higher movements !!
 
Oh that is so horrid!
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I am in exactly the same position as you; the only difference is that I am not on a livery yard, so, being isolated, I dont have to put up with others making such nasty remarks, or have to feel 'different' from other riders in that I dont jump. I gave up jumping after a bad fall four years ago; before that, we had jumped at a reasonably high level, but after the fall, my nerve just gave up on me completely. I was a happy hacker for 2 years, but last year had a rush of inspiration and decided that, because I am still quite competitive deep down and love going out and about, I would take up dressage!

But my God, it is not as easy as people think! I have struggled far more to get my horse doing a reasonable (and by that I dont mean 'good') Prelim test than to jump a 1.15m track....we are pretty useless at the dressage malarkey, and havent even managed to go affiliated yet! But we're having fun, and we have something to work on, even if it doesnt come naturally. I hate it when people assume that dressage is the easy option; I will admit that when I was in the Pony Club, I tried to avoid dressage like the plague because, like many, I found it boring! But I dont think I've ever thought of it as 'easy'. No ridden discipline is 'easy'; they all require a hell of a lot of skill!

Whereabouts in Oxfordshire are you?
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Whats that song?...'Anything you can do, I can do better...' sadly dressage has always been seen as the chicken rider sport and I think that is sad. We can all go gung ho at a x country course, half the hunting field is half cut when tackling hedges etc, but dressage needs a sensitive rider who has more ability than just to point it in the right direction and give it the welly!
Ignore them, its like comparing line dancing with ballet. I now await to be slated by the 'jumpers'
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Enjoy what you do, otherwise its pointless
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.M.
 
It does seem to be the way in the horse world. Everyone looks down on everyone else. I was on a small yard once where the YO and two of the other liveries were into Dressage. I was into Showing and remember leading my horse in and the YO saying to a friend who had commented that my horse was nice 'Oh thats no use, it just looks pretty' .... I was so hopping I did my first and only ever dressage test at Elementary and beat them both. Then announced that I found it boring and wouldnt be doing it any more. Revenge is soooo sweet!

I now just go hacking and just last week had a comment from my friend that she wouldnt let her horse loaf along with its head on the floor, but she supposed it was OK as my horses are just happy hackers. But do you know I couldnt care less and am not going to go competing just to prove her wrong this time!
 
It does sound like they were just teasing you, do you think it could have been meant tongue in cheek and you've taken it seriously?

It does sound like something I might say if I'm teasing someone, but I certainly wouldn't mean it.

Although, many 'jumpers' do look down on folk that don't like to leave the ground (intentionally.) They think people do dressage because they're too scared to jump, which is probably partly true!!! And also, many of them can't do/don't understand dressage, so it's a bit of jealousy aswell.

There's so much rivalvry, jealousy, and snobbery in the horse world, you just have to let it go straight over your head and get on with what you enjoy doing.
 
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It does seem to be the way in the horse world. Everyone looks down on everyone else. I was on a small yard once where the YO and two of the other liveries were into Dressage. I was into Showing and remember leading my horse in and the YO saying to a friend who had commented that my horse was nice 'Oh thats no use, it just looks pretty' .... I was so hopping I did my first and only ever dressage test at Elementary and beat them both. Then announced that I found it boring and wouldnt be doing it any more. Revenge is soooo sweet!

I now just go hacking and just last week had a comment from my friend that she wouldnt let her horse loaf along with its head on the floor, but she supposed it was OK as my horses are just happy hackers. But do you know I couldnt care less and am not going to go competing just to prove her wrong this time!

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Oh that is a great story if you was to see me hack some of mine out you would laugh at me as well !!
 
As my feathers are fairly easily ruffled, that comment would have got to me! I expect I would have retaliated with a similarly curt remark.......
 
thank your lucky stars then that you aren't 'just' doing dressage on a pony

when you ride a pony amongst a yard of horses that's also when you see the snobbery
 
You should be proud of your achievements, I have never mastered dressage.

People can say upsetting things unintentionally (ie they dont think of the impact their words can have), dont let it get to you.
Be positive and enjoy your riding.
 
Having done both I would say that whilst Jumping takes a lot of nerve, Dressage is very difficult to master and to produce timely and accuarte movements is a skill.

Its the same with all the different horses on the yard we have dutch, german warmbloods, and then there is mine - breeding unknown, but I can take him out on the roads anywhere, school him, infact do anything with him , whislt the other horses are condemened to a life on the yard as they can't be trusted out on the roads as to "hot headed" or they are dressage horses.

Don't get me wrong my lad isn't ugly , I think he's rather nice and he ticks all my boxes he's just not as flash, but sometimes I feel that I get looked down because he's "ordinary".

sorry to hijack your post, its sort of the same lines !
 
Thanks all for your encouraging comments. Yes these comments were meant and usually i would of fought my corner but i was too shocked to speak!
Shame is i totally respect what they do and admire them for their courage but they really are up their own as**s most of the time!
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I have a cob and you should see peoples faces when they ask what type of horse I have they just switch off! Then they see him and completely change their minds! he has real presence and moves as well as any dressage horse! I was lucky to go for a lesson with a very respected dressage trainer last year, my friend treated me and took me in her trailer!

When I booked it I said that my horse was a cob. When he came off the trailer coat shining and looking about 17.2 the trainer was gobsmacked! Then when she saw him moving and how well he carries himself she admitted that he could do a 'very passable test'!! OK I don't compete as such and this was just a treat but it made me so proud of him as I had my lesson surrounded by fields with 'posh' Warmbloods!! I thought, yes we can hold our own here!

I don't like jumping i am a mum of 2 and more concerned about my self preservation I don't get any thrills from jumping now, although I did as a teenager. If we were all the same it would be a very very boring world!! Don't listen to these people, do what you enjoy after all it's supposed to be a hobby, isn't it???
 
What an incredibly crass remark to make. I'm not surprised that you didn't respond. I think the best thing to do is ignore it. I was on a jumping yard when I had my WB but I was hopeless at jumping anything more than a tiny crosspole so I gave up. Needless to say I was generally ignored by everyone else on the yard.

I'm now at a lovely dressage yard and, even though I don't do dressage, eveyone treats me with respect and they are all really friendly and helpful.
 
I guess you could take it either a friendly ribbing or as a dig, but whatever it was supposed as I would ignore it, like you I DONT jump I do DRESSAGE, there is a lot of snobbery about but at the end of the day if you are happy doing what you do then what anyone else thinks is up to them.
 
Dressage is the ultimate art of riding, if we all had huge amounts of adrenaline flowing through our veins we would all be jumping but being able to ride at a high level in dressage is all about sensitivity and feel, not guts!! most top eventers cant do a decent 'pure' dressage test. Hold your head high and be proud of the fact that you "just do dressage" as I am sure your horse totally respects you for it which is far more important!
 
Smile and just say, "Well, aren't you special".

A lot of dressage riders are afraid of their horses, now c'mon, they are. Most seem to be "Adult Onset" riders...always wanted a horse, took a few lessons when young and then college, good job and they decide to buy the "Horse of Their Dreams!!!" Of course, they really can't afford a made version, so they buy a youngster, green and "interesting". They quickly are terrified at the thought of hacking out, jumping or much of anything in a non-controlled situation. So, DRESSAGE is their salvation. They go round & round in the ring, trotting on the forehand, no spurs, no leg, no impulsion on a miserable horse hating life. Not all of course, but way too many DQ's fit this description.

I prefer jumpers (and have the broken bones to show for it), but you win combined training/3-day with dressage (especially since the cross country courses have been made easier so the warmbloods can compete).

What fun, eh?
 
Thats not snobbery...you want to try having a coloured hairy cob AND be a happy hacker!!
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Ignore.... how sad to be so up yourself to think that people would want to be like you..
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A comment like this and from a STRANGER, will go along way! broken bones- maybe you need to improve your seat, a few lessons from a dressage rider perhaps!!
 
i couldnt put up with that !! how horrible, i would feel awful if someone said that about me.

our yard has a bit of everyone... my YM was showed someone round last year and introduced her to ppl and told ehr what they did...
"this is x she does some RC dressage"
"this is x she does bsja"
"this is x she happy hacks"
"these are the nutters they attempt everything and hunt, they are mad"

we accomodate everyone on our yard - i would never be on any other type of yard now.
 
What a load of tosh. Even if it were true, so what if dressage attracts a load of people who don't want to jump? Some riders don't like jumping, some people never learned to jump as kids and have too many responsibilities to risk learning now. Obviously jumping is the be-all and end-all of riding to you, but that doesn't mean its the only thing that matters in riding. I personally am not all that bothered about endurance, but it doens't mean I think endurance riders are somehow inferior or just glorified happy hackers.

Were you the visitor to the OPs yard by any chance? Your attitude sounds like EXACTLY the sort of thing she is complaining about.

And what is wrong with being an "Adult onset rider"? Are you actually saying that if you dont learn to ride as a child, don't ever bother? Because that's what it sounds like.
 
Trakehner what exactly are you trying to prove with your post? If you havent go tanything nice to say then say nothing at all.
I am an adult rider, I do not jump, I am not scared, or frightened, just find it no longer gives me any satisfaction. I very much enjoy dressage, to feel a horse truely working gives me a buzz i have never felt with jumping.
I too get the odd smart mouthed plonker who throws in the digs, got one the other day from a 17 year old student, so I stick them on my "safe" dressage horse, who procedes to stick his head in the air and p*ss off with them. I tend to find that proves my point.
Don't let them get to you, any true eventer will admit that now a days eventing is won and lost in the dressage arena.
Oh and I also find that when the students get realy smart a quick reminder that I have the BHS and NVQ qualifications they all want.
 
Anyone can jump x country - you just point, shut your eyes and hope youre still with the horse on landing.
That was a joke, I have a lot of respect for eventers, showjumpers, dressage riders in fact anyone who is dedicated to their sport and works hard to acheive good results. I also have respect of people who just want to hack, show in hand or just have a horse cos they like them. We are all the same really whatever we choose to do because of one common denominator - The Horse.
I would ignore the comment if you think it was meant seriously, however you need to think up a smart comeback in case it happens again, sure someone on here could help. Just for the record, I get micky taken out of me by my cob owning friend cos I have a "posh warmblood"
 
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