Tack Fail. Photo. Who is at fault? Opinions ...

Enfys

Enfys

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One comment made me think

Someone's groom is gonna be in for a serious b*****ing!!!

Is it in fact entirely, or at all, the fault of the groom?

My opinion/expectation is that any competent horseman/woman would automatically check a girth, but no-one is perfect all of the time as we all know. These things happen, and it could have been a breakage, who knows from a photo.
 
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Not easy to say who was at fault!

I was jumping a mare for a friend in a Foxhunter class. I am seasoned enough to check my girth both before and after mounting. All was fine, a couple of practiise fences and into the ring.

Five fences later I was more or less in the same position. Deep chested horse, elastic girth and no breast plate.
 
Foxhunter49 said:
Not easy to say who was at fault!

I was jumping a mare for a friend in a Foxhunter class. I am seasoned enough to check my girth both before and after mounting. All was fine, a couple of practiise fences and into the ring.

Five fences later I was more or less in the same position. Deep chested horse, elastic girth and no breast plate.
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Tack failure, no one's fault in partcular in that case, and I bet you had jumped dozens of times in the same kit with nothing going wrong.
 
Assuming the photo hasn't been photoshopped, looking at the sweat marks from where the saddle and girth were prior to this little incident, it seems the saddle was not positioned correctly in the first place so definitely grooms fault for that as they are supposed to have the horse ready to go for the moment the rider mounts, however the rider should have checked the positioning of the saddle prior to mounting. I suspect the horse had a loose girth while being walked around before rider got on and the saddle slid back and the groom did not reposition it. Both are at fault, but the groom moreso in my opinion.
 
If it isn't photoshopped, then it is a tack fault. I find that sheepskin is very slippery and should only be used on certain horses.

Groom is not responsible for choice of tack. Rider/owner is and so it is their fault.
 
The sweat mark does look rather far back! Maybe the saddle is too wide? My saddle slipped back when saddler adjusted it too wide (by two sizes, still annoyed about that as what if I was jumping big fences the next week!). Who knows but I don't think anyone who gets on a horse and doesn't notice something is wrong can ever blame someone else completely. Joint failure I think!

I would absolutely poo myself if this happened to me and become obsessed with girths and breastplates from then on!
 
Wagtail said:
I find that sheepskin is very slippery and should only be used on certain horses.
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Really? All my tack for all of my horses (and I have a lot of horses!) have sheepskin or lambskin numnahs and pads, and all of my girths are merino sheepskin. For both my English horses tack and my western horses. I've never ever found them to be slippery and I've ridden like this for forever.
 
A bad workman always blames his tools. Not grooms fault at all. You ride you check your tack. In what world do some of you live in that the groom would be at fault.

I galloped in America in which I never once put tack on my own horse. Horse came around and I checked everything before getting on. If something then went amiss then I'm to blame. That also including checking bridle and bandages. After all, it's my life that could be damaged. I don't trust anyone else with those details I'm afraid.

Terri
 
My friend very kindly cleaned my tack and strip cleaned it. I didn't even think she had taken it apart so just checked the keepers. TB in her first showing class took exception to standing in a line up and was flybucking when I saw one of my reins fly off around my head. Added a bit of excitement to the day and I didn't give her any grief but I can imagine a groom could get the blame in a similar situation.
 
If a mechanic replaced the tires on your car but didn't tighten the wheel nuts and you ended up having an accident because the wheel fell off, whose fault is it? A groom is paid to have that horse ready for the immediate mounting of the rider. That is their job. This groom failed in their duty of responsibility to the rider IMO, and I sure as heck would fire them.
 
Spring Feather said:
Really? All my tack for all of my horses (and I have a lot of horses!) have sheepskin or lambskin numnahs and pads, and all of my girths are merino sheepskin. For both my English horses tack and my western horses. I've never ever found them to be slippery and I've ridden like this for forever.
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I love sheepskin and use both pads and girths made of it. But if the horse is very flat backed and low withered then I have known it to cause the saddle to slip round when mounting etc.
 
Rider.

You can only get a girth so tight when you're on the ground. I always find the girth goes up a few holes once you've warmed up. Rider should have checkked girth before they went in to class.

Though I do think it's been photoshopped!
 
Because as a rider, I check the freaking tack. Funny with the car thing because I always check things like that. Lug nuts are simple actually. Horses are all different in where the saddle fits best.

Terri
 
The rider is definitely responsible to check own tack. Stands to reason as its the rider who is going to suffer. That said that poor horse looks very uncomfortable. Tha landing shot would be interesting!
 
This actually happened to my OH once (not whilst jumping!) he was out riding a friends highland and the saddle slipped right off the pony! :eek: My OH says all he remembers was riding along quite the thing and then he was suddenly on the ground, feet still in the stirrups AND sitting on the saddle! :eek: Oops! :D He did check the girth before setting off so he has no idea how it happened :D

IMO it would be the riders fault under normal circumstances as you'd think they'd check the girth before mounting and again after a warm up but I don't know how it works in the professional show world. If it's a case of rider presented with a warmed up and ready to go into the ring horse I would say the groom was at fault :cool:
 
sandi_84 said:
I don't know how it works in the professional show world. If it's a case of rider presented with a warmed up and ready to go into the ring horse I would say the groom was at fault :cool:
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^^^ this is how it works in the professional world I know. The horse is normally already warmed up by groom, the rider shows up at the ring gate, gets on and goes straight into the show ring. He does not normally have to reposition any tack because that is why they pay grooms. I don't think people are thinking in professional terms here hence the differences of opinions.
 
Spring Feather said:
If a mechanic replaced the tires on your car but didn't tighten the wheel nuts and you ended up having an accident because the wheel fell off, whose fault is it? A groom is paid to have that horse ready for the immediate mounting of the rider. That is their job. This groom failed in their duty of responsibility to the rider IMO, and I sure as heck would fire them.
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Asa grown up, I'd be a bit embarrassed to have someone checking my girth, moving my leg forward and tightening it up a hole or two just before I went in the ring. :D I tell my PC kids once they are at C test level, no one should be doing their girth for them, they're quite old enough to dress themselves and their pony :rolleyes:
 
Rider's fault - his horse should be wearing a breastplate, and then this wouldn't have happened. Poor team work all round, I would say. Poor horse :(
 
Who's fault is it?
It is the fault of whoever has tacked up the horse, or prepared the horse before it has gone into the ring.
 
If a professional rider doesn't check own tack then I would not consider them professional. I would never move off without checking my girth. Different weight of rider may need a tighter girth. Grooms are there to assist not ride the horse for the competitor! Anyway who ever you wish to accept responsibility, its the rider looking pretty stupid!
 
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