Thoughts on this?

Goodness that looked a bit hairy! They surveyed it before jumping, took steps to not jab at their horses mouths and went slowly one by one so I don't see a big problem with it. There were a few moments where I sucked in my breath but overall I think they did blooming well.
 
Don't see a problem. I wouldn't do it on a good horse but these are experienced hunters, nearly all of the horses were pretty keen to go forwards over it (more so than the riders) and stayed calm and sorted their legs out. Its a feature of the Irish countryside, thats what Irish hunts do, they ride over Irish countryside with banks and drains. When I hunted in Ireland, I did a similar one once, not quite so deep and everyone was falling off so the second half of the field dismounted and sent the horses over to a person to catch them on the other side. About 60 horses crossed in total and none got injured. You could make an argument for any level of competitive dressage doing more harm over a few months to a horse's joints and tendons.

The other thing I noticed was how clean the drainage ditch was of debris...well maintained.
 
Most of those horses would be 3 or 4 yr olds. I love Irish horses, look at how they calmly judged what they needed to do. The ones that fell into the ditch were influenced by the riders.

There is a video of the Scarteen, no idea where to find it on the internet, I have it on CD. It is totally amazing to watch. Irish horses are the best in the world in my view.
 
I have no doubt my IDx cob who hunted in Ireland would do that if he was allowed (he doesn't do much now due to bad feet). My eventing (ok only BE90 with me, but still....) share horse would have run a mile:rolleyes: It's a shame the ex-hunter won't do dressage, can't jump any more and naps like b*****y at any event he goes to or he'd be the perfect horse. :D
 
Absolutely stupid. The ones that fell in were hampered by their riders. The first one because he got a whallop just at the crucial moment. Stupid rider. And that last one, the chestnut, another stupid rider.
 
WelshD said:
Goodness that looked a bit hairy! They surveyed it before jumping, took steps to not jab at their horses mouths and went slowly one by one so I don't see a big problem with it. There were a few moments where I sucked in my breath but overall I think they did blooming well.
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This ^^ I'm not sure why there is such a big uproar on FB about it, yes it's not for the faint-hearted but I think that the horses judged it pretty well overall. Would I do it with my horses? Nope, not a chance (although they could probably manage to work it out themselves)!
 
Wagtail said:
Absolutely stupid. The ones that fell in were hampered by their riders. The first one because he got a whallop just at the crucial moment. Stupid rider. And that last one, the chestnut, another stupid rider.
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Yes I agree totally, the ones that came off asked for it.
What I don't understand is what the point us in spending 10 minutes crossing a huge ditch , surely whatever they were 'hunting' would be long gone lol.
 
I'd have been pooing my pants but as far as cruelty - I'd like to see you try and make my cob do that he'd have ******ed off home if I'd asked him... and quite rightly too...:)
 
Its a shame none of them gave their horse a pat afterwards, and there were a few bits of riding that weren't great. But what fabulous hunters.
 
Clever and brave horses, I wouldn't attempt a crossing like that purely down to my own lack of confidence and worries over the horse hurting themselves, but then I am like that doing a 2ft 9 Hunter Trial. Credit to those on brave horses who do it, some horses are capable of that, not 1 of those horses was bullied into it like that page is trying to make out. The guy on the Chestnut at the end was a bit daft though, impatience rarely pays off.
 
absolute furore on Fb over this lol, can't see it's any worse than the Hickstead Bank tbh, you don't get an outcry over that every year, i guess the main problem people have with this is that it's hunting by ordinary folk on damn smart horses rather than snotty twots on showjumpers ;)
 
Some of the fb comments are hilerious !! The uneducated numpties claiming the horses were forced & that its cruelty & all the riders are idiots

Im sorry but not 1 of those horses were forced ! None of them backed off or reared or span they were all committed to it
a ccouple of the riders panicked & ran into trouble but at the end of the day thats hunting !
 
Why is it that anyone who speaks up and sees this as shameful is called uneducated, numptie, ect when anyone that sees it as brave, talented, ect is not called anything?? Everyone is entitled to an opinion without being called names for the right. I know who I believe are the uneducated numpties.
 
california dreaming said:
Why is it that anyone who speaks up and sees this as shameful is called uneducated, numptie, ect when anyone that sees it as brave, talented, ect is not called anything?? Everyone is entitled to an opinion without being called names for the right. I know who I believe are the uneducated numpties.
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I wasnt so much say the people are more so the comments they make, a lot of them had never seen hunting in ireland before & if so would realise most of it is as is in that video

Im not saying I would do that with my horse because I wouldn't plus I doubt she has the guts! Although brave

What I objected to is people saying that the horses have been forced & its cruel as no where in that video was any battering etc of any horse they all went willingly
 
My non horsey OH watched it with me and commented that no way would Frankie do that, even if someone rattled a big bucket of food on the other side. Hes right! So the arguments about being forced dont really stand up! We were both pleased when the last person came off though! They were taking the mickey a bit, pushing their horse over the hedge then through that!
 
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