What is this trend of 'bad riding' videos on adverts

[Paint Me Proud]

Browsing my facebook and have come across yet another 'bad riding' video of a horse for sale from a dealer.

Girl mounts horse and ends up facing backwards, then gathers reins behind her back and kicks the horse on, still riding backwards.

It seems to be a trend lately to show horses being ridden badly but i just dont get it. Okay you want to show the horse for sale is safe and forgiving but surely there is a better way than this?!

Moan over....

 

[Sukistokes2]

I love those ones, or where they spend the whole thing doing round the worlds or standing on the saddle and you never get to see the horse move. Or even better they ride on one rein for the whole video ????

 

[Janah]

Most of them are overbent.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

The ones that drive me mad are those where they appear to think that the riding is good but really it is dire - chair seats/ hands all over the place/heads going like nodding dogs in sitting trot/rider hunched over withers etc, etc.
It makes me despair about the standard of riding which is taught these days.

 

[eatonbraynat]

The ones that drive me mad are those where they appear to think that the riding is good but really it is dire - chair seats/ hands all over the place/heads going like nodding dogs in sitting trot/rider hunched over withers etc, etc.
It makes me despair about the standard of riding which is taught these days.

Quite agree. I rarely see a picture where the horse and rider look even vaguely like they should do. I teach classical dressage based on absolute correct posture etc and do you think I can get any clients? No! I have found out the hard way that people do not want to spend precious time correcting their position in walk and trot and bettering themselves and their horse, when they could be cantering and jumping. I now just stick to training my own horse. So sad as I so would love to share with everyone a better way of getting results but sadly people want a quick fix or no fixing at all!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Quite agree. I rarely see a picture where the horse and rider look even vaguely like they should do. I teach classical dressage based on absolute correct posture etc and do you think I can get any clients? No! I have found out the hard way that people do not want to spend precious time correcting their position in walk and trot and bettering themselves and their horse, when they could be cantering and jumping. I now just stick to training my own horse. So sad as I so would love to share with everyone a better way of getting results but sadly people want a quick fix or no fixing at all!

Oh yes!

We get posters on here who absolutely epitomise that canter/jump before you can walk in a straight line approach. For some reason they cannot see that if the basics are in place, the horse will achieve more and remain sounder for longer - a symptom of the 'quick fix' society I'm afraid.

 

[Velvet82]

Quite agree. I rarely see a picture where the horse and rider look even vaguely like they should do. I teach classical dressage based on absolute correct posture etc and do you think I can get any clients? No! I have found out the hard way that people do not want to spend precious time correcting their position in walk and trot and bettering themselves and their horse, when they could be cantering and jumping. I now just stick to training my own horse. So sad as I so would love to share with everyone a better way of getting results but sadly people want a quick fix or no fixing at all!

I find it difficult to find an instructor who WANTS to teach this! I know my posture and position are sloppy from years of no instructor. I don't understand why people wouldn't want to learn this. Surely (to me) it's a sign of good horsemanship - how can you tell the horse what to do if you're not doing things properly yourself? Sorry to ramble on!

 

[sandi_84]

I find it difficult to find an instructor who WANTS to teach this! I know my posture and position are sloppy from years of no instructor. I don't understand why people wouldn't want to learn this. Surely (to me) it's a sign of good horsemanship - how can you tell the horse what to do if you're not doing things properly yourself? Sorry to ramble on!

This ^

 

[eatonbraynat]

Velvet82 and sandi_84 - we are defo in the minority it would seem! Lol such a shame there aren't more like you who want to do the right thing

 

[Woolly Hat n Wellies]

I find it difficult to find an instructor who WANTS to teach this!

I couldn't agree more. I got fed up of instructors who were rushing me on to 'fun' things and dismissing my groundwork problems ("just don't let him do that" ...uhh, how?), and instructors who didn't seem interested in my progress, just in getting through that one lesson and getting paid. My current instructor took me right back to groundwork, through lunge work, teaching me to lunge in the process, I didn't sit on him for about two months while we allowed his back to rest and taught him to use himself properly, and then we started with step by step instructions how to mount, walk on and stop. Basic? Yes. Boring? No, I've enjoyed every single minute of it, I've seen my horse improving in front of my eyes, and I feel like I know him so much better now than I did before. But my instructor has said that lots of people have a few lessons and don't come back, because they want instant results, not hard work.

As for bad riding in ads, I don't mind seeing a deliberate example in an ad for a bombproof confidence giver or something, if accompanied by examples of someone riding properly. If the whole ad shows the horse ridden badly, I find it very off-putting. I would worry it was ridden like that all the time!

 

[Tobiano]

As for bad riding in ads, I don't mind seeing a deliberate example in an ad for a bombproof confidence giver or something, if accompanied by examples of someone riding properly. If the whole ad shows the horse ridden badly, I find it very off-putting. I would worry it was ridden like that all the time!

Totally agree! Bad riding really puts me off as (1) what has it done to the horse and (2) suggests the person selling is not very expert so horse may be lame or ill - well it does to me anyway!

I also agree on the lessons thing. My RI is brilliant. She asks me what I want to work on, usually she is trying to get me to improve the horse but if I ask for help with position etc we really concentrate on that and it makes a big difference. I even hear her voice in my head when I am hacking 'weight in your elbows, weight in your knees' etc so the effect lasts for longer than just the lesson!

 

[Regandal]

Quite agree. I rarely see a picture where the horse and rider look even vaguely like they should do. I teach classical dressage based on absolute correct posture etc and do you think I can get any clients? No! I have found out the hard way that people do not want to spend precious time correcting their position in walk and trot and bettering themselves and their horse, when they could be cantering and jumping. I now just stick to training my own horse. So sad as I so would love to share with everyone a better way of getting results but sadly people want a quick fix or no fixing at all!

Don't suppose you're in central Scotland by any chance???

 

[eatonbraynat]

Don't suppose you're in central Scotland by any chance???

Unfortunately not!

 

[Cobbytype]

I don't get the standing on a horse's back thing either - what is it meant to prove? Is it a new way of dismounting, recommended by the health and safety executive Apart from anything else, I can't imagine it's good for the horse's saddle or its back? I must be getting old...

 

[Lauren_abigail]

The standing on the back thing really gets on my nerves.

Also, I see a lot of 'works in a lovely outline' and then you watch the accompanying video to see the poor horse with its chin yanked down into it's chest and being forced into a contact while the back end isn't really doing a fat lot.

If you can't work the horse properly, just let it go round in a forward fashion, at least then the potential buyer gets to see more freedom of paces!

 

[Lauren_abigail]

I don't get the standing on a horse's back thing either - what is it meant to prove? Is it a new way of dismounting, recommended by the health and safety executive Apart from anything else, I can't imagine it's good for the horse's saddle or its back? I must be getting old...

^^ This.

 

[webble]

Also, I see a lot of 'works in a lovely outline' and then you watch the accompanying video to see the poor horse with its chin yanked down into it's chest and being forced into a contact while the back end isn't really doing a fat lot.

If you can't work the horse properly, just let it go round in a forward fashion, at least then the potential buyer gets to see more freedom of paces!

Yes I saw a lot of that when I as looking to buy, it really put me off. It was often accompanied by a tall person hunched over in a chair seat with hands pinned

 

[misskk88]

I saw one earlier describing a beautiful pony with lovely movement who would be great for showing but is unbroken although backed. All well and good, except the video shows it trotting away and you never see it's face or the action of it properly at all! Someone has even posted a photo of their pony saying 'oh just like mine!'... What because it's grey and small?!

The bad riding and dodgy videos are enough- it just makes me think people clearly have a lack of knowledge or care about the horse they are trying to sell (and I always worry there is more likely to be undiagnosed issues even I know that isn't necessarily the case).

What really gets me though, is the number of barely teens buying and selling and acting like dealer (and I really do mean barely teens). Where the hell are the parents and how exactly do they afford to buy and sell?! I know there are some very talented young people who take on ponies and horses and work blooming hard to make them quality (some with or without parents nearby), but most of the ads I see are for very poorly put together equines, barely broken or with necks and heads pulled in or are 'rescues' accompanied by badly written ads which show a real lack of understanding of riding and/or care of horses. Actually the same goes for a lot of adults too! Meh.

 

[Velvet82]

I don't get the standing on a horse's back thing either - what is it meant to prove? Is it a new way of dismounting, recommended by the health and safety executive Apart from anything else, I can't imagine it's good for the horse's saddle or its back? I must be getting old...

No, I don't understand this either

Velvet82 and sandi_84 - we are defo in the minority it would seem! Lol such a shame there aren't more like you who want to do the right thing

We are!! Yes I think if there were more of us, we would cause an uprising!

 

[Lauren_abigail]

It's a worry isn't it!

Another thing that bugs me is riders riding with no hats in the videos!

 

[Velvet82]

Sod's law says that if I rode with no hat, I'd fall off!!