where are the parents?!

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pixiebee

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went to a show today to watch and sat through 4 hours of the same ponies going round and round and round and round (you get the picture!!) a jump course, plus in the warm up area, he parents must have entered their little darlings into these classes but surely 5 is too much?????? there was one that did 1ft9 2 ft 2ft3 2ft6 AND 2ft9, it wont the first 2 classes and then eliminated on the rest, presumably tired and/or fed up! said pony didnt look exactly fit either and saddle looked to be badly fitted. sadly she wasnt the only one, am I being soft or is it too soft on the horse to do just one or two classes, pat the horse and go home!!! some of these poor ponies were being ridden non-stop from 10 am to 2pm and were still going when i left. they went from warm up, to class, to clear round, back to warm up then back into class etc, makes me really sad. These ponies were trying really hard for their riders, yet whip,kick, pull until basically the pony refused to jump any more :-(
 
I'm the same as you - yes we are probably soft! lol!
.Daughter never did more than 2 showjumping classes with her ponies as a rule.She maybe did 3 showing if small classes and not a lot of hanging about .He always rested got water etc if gaps in between classes not ridden round for whole day.
 
While the kids are on the ponies they are not hassling the parents,so they wont stop them doing it.
The trouble is so many people have got no experience when they buy a pony they just want to "use" it.The shows should stop people entering so many classes ,but that would mean less money for the show.
They need to learn from somewhere about respecting their pony,this should come from the PC but sadly it is just the same at PC shows.
 
I'm with you, would never have let my daughter carry on like that, it is so sad to see, some kids just want Rosette machines i'm afraid, and some of the parents are just as bad!!
 
The one pony club round our way is the worst for this type of behaviour.... but i wish organisers would all stand together and refuse to enter folk in the:

2ft
2ft 3
2ft 6
2ft 9
3ft
3ft 3

classes and shame on these so called "riders" whom at best are pot hunting and at worst ignorant egits !"

How on earth is it fair for someone to win the 2ft class and then go on and compete in the 3ft 3" - I do understand that occasionly you may have a pony/horse that needs a round to settle down -but for crying out loud go non competative !
 
I have heard of people who use the smaller height classes as a type of warm up for their bigger class
 
I dont know, but when I was a child many moons ago, we hacked to a show, show jumped in the morning and did the pony games in the afternoon then hacked home. Having said that ponies were fit and up for it. Same hunting, hacked to meets hunted all day and hacked home. Ponies were ridden all week and as fit as fiddles. I dont remember parents being involved at all.
 
We have been out today and we did 5 classes, 3 in hand showing, including bonny pony, so not exhausting. For us, I feel it is good experience for both daughter and pony. Sadly I don't get to sit around while she gallops about, I walk with her. At the most she has a tiny trot on her own with me watching.

Like many, our pony is fairly well behaved at home, though when at a show can be a little......ummm curious :p. So the time spent mooching around is good for his and her education. Over the last few shows he has improved immensely and so has my daughters confidence.
 
On the other side - I took my pony to a show, had him in 1 in-hand class which my friend led him in and 1 ridden class. I had a borrowed jockey who I took to the show with me. Pony did the in-hand then I told the kid to hop on, give him a short walk, trot, canter as that is all the warm up he needs and told her not to go near the driving carts as he hates them.

I then assume she has listened to instructions as her mother wasn't there and I went into another class with one of my other ponies. Came out of the class to be confronted by the kid leading the pony saying he was being silly and he nearly had her off. She had been riding him around the driving carts ...

I punted her into the ring. They did good, pony always does his job but came 2nd to something that didn't perform but hey ho! It's who you know that counted that day ;) Kid came out of the ring and I told her to take the pony back to the trailer and to take off the saddle. 2 mins later I see she is cantering him round and round again. I call her over, tell her to get off and take the saddle off. Again - ignored! Off she went canter, canter canter! 3rd time of asking - she started to sulk and walk back to the trailer - then started to trot away from it ... !!! Cue my friend stepping in, grabbing the ponies bridle to stop him and practically chucking her off the other side of the pony.

The pony is 21years old and really didn't need to be bombed about on like that and I had told her 3 times but I was limited in my grabbing of the pony ability by the fact I was holding onto 2 others.

So it's not always - out of sight out of mind for the parents - sometimes the kids just plain don't listen! That is the last time she will EVER be riding one of my ponies! She is 11 years old and should know how to pay attention to instructions, especially when it is not her pony and her parents aren't there!
 
pixiebee said:
went to a show today to watch and sat through 4 hours of the same ponies going round and round and round and round (you get the picture!!) a jump course, plus in the warm up area, he parents must have entered their little darlings into these classes but surely 5 is too much?????? there was one that did 1ft9 2 ft 2ft3 2ft6 AND 2ft9, it wont the first 2 classes and then eliminated on the rest, presumably tired and/or fed up! said pony didnt look exactly fit either and saddle looked to be badly fitted. sadly she wasnt the only one, am I being soft or is it too soft on the horse to do just one or two classes, pat the horse and go home!!! some of these poor ponies were being ridden non-stop from 10 am to 2pm and were still going when i left. they went from warm up, to class, to clear round, back to warm up then back into class etc, makes me really sad. These ponies were trying really hard for their riders, yet whip,kick, pull until basically the pony refused to jump any more :-(
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It's awful, isn't it. And the tantrums the little darlings have when they fly over Thelwell's head, or Thelwell refuses to jump because it's legs are so knackered is beyond belief.

Mind you, I know a few adults who ride like this.......although their tantrums are more limited to silence in the horsebox on the way home, lol!!
 
when i was younger (which was a LONNNNNNNNNGGGGGG time ago) I wanted to enter every class including the clear round. My parents were responsible and would only allow me to enter 3 jumping classes and a couple of ridden showing classes. My mom instilled some strong caring principles and wouldnt allow me to ride the day before the show and ensue that the ponies had 2 days rest after the show.

Some parents arent horsey and therefore they need to be educated, but some are horsey and are more competitive than the actual kids!
 
pixiebee said:
went to a show today to watch and sat through 4 hours of the same ponies going round and round and round and round (you get the picture!!) a jump course, plus in the warm up area, he parents must have entered their little darlings into these classes but surely 5 is too much?????? there was one that did 1ft9 2 ft 2ft3 2ft6 AND 2ft9, it wont the first 2 classes and then eliminated on the rest, presumably tired and/or fed up! said pony didnt look exactly fit either and saddle looked to be badly fitted. sadly she wasnt the only one, am I being soft or is it too soft on the horse to do just one or two classes, pat the horse and go home!!! some of these poor ponies were being ridden non-stop from 10 am to 2pm and were still going when i left. they went from warm up, to class, to clear round, back to warm up then back into class etc, makes me really sad. These ponies were trying really hard for their riders, yet whip,kick, pull until basically the pony refused to jump any more :-(
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If people complained to the organizers then maybe they would change their rules.!!

Some of our local clubs have the rule if you win a class you can't enter that class again you have to move up.

It's a shame they don't say you can only enter the one above rather that all.

I blame the organizers as well.
 
I have to say, it irritates me in the extreme when I see young riders cantering around growling at their ponies all day long, without a care for anyone around them.

That said, adults too, saw one with a fag in one hand cantering through a crowd of people with the irritating growling going on, arms and legs 'a flapping'
 
Gingerwitch said:
The one pony club round our way is the worst for this type of behaviour.... but i wish organisers would all stand together and refuse to enter folk in the:

2ft
2ft 3
2ft 6
2ft 9
3ft
3ft 3

classes and shame on these so called "riders" whom at best are pot hunting and at worst ignorant egits !"

How on earth is it fair for someone to win the 2ft class and then go on and compete in the 3ft 3" - I do understand that occasionly you may have a pony/horse that needs a round to settle down -but for crying out loud go non competative !
Click to expand...

At our shows we don't allow that. You can compete in three classes, so 2', 2'3 and 2'6 or 2'3, 2'6 and 2'9 and so on. This is done to prevent the winner of the 2' also going out and winning the 3'3 (although to my embarrassment I have actually gone to a show and won the Novice, the Intermediate and the Open classes but it was my first show for about 25 years and I had no idea he was going to do so well!)

As for jumping lots of classes, I don't agree with it from a pot-hunting point of view but if my ponies have been for a jumping lesson they will have jumped several warm up X poles and grids, followed by stringing together some combinations, dog legs, offset lines etc and then probably jumped a course three or four times. The amount of work they are expected to do supervised by a trainer is greater than taking them out and jumping them round several classes. Then again most of them are expected to be eventing fit so will not only have to warm up and do a dressage test, but then warm up and jump a round SJ, followed by warming up again and then jumping XC which not only will have more jumping efforts but cover considerably more ground than a couple of SJ rounds.
 
You guys are being soft!

We used to hack an hour or more to the shows, do every class we were eligable for and then hack home - the hack home was usually chaotic and involved a lot of cantering and fooling around.

The horse may have got eliminated purely because it or the rider were out of their comfort zone.
 
Maybe im harsh but we took my youngster to a show today and done 3 classes and a clear round. Hes fit, and he's fine. hes done the 1'6, the pairs and 2ft. He won the 2ft (last class he did) and has LOADS of energy.

The other two ponies who are more experienced done the 2'0 2'3 2'6 and 2'9 and they were fine! All fit, all sound, none sweated up, gave them lots of walking about and chilling out time inbetween. All alot less work then hunting (which they also do!)

Some kids do need to learn manners ect but they are enjoying themselves! Their children after all, and if they ride them like that at shows, chances are they do the same at home so most of the ponies are fit enough. :)


ETA:- And just to add, not every kid is out there to win as many rosettes as they can. And its sad that most children have that lable now :( IMO there enjoying their ponies and when i was that age i wanted to compete at every oppotunity. Its fun!
 
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One of the RC I am a member of has a rule that you cannot do more than two classes on the same day at the show jumping shows and if you have won at that height or higher before you can't enter that class which is mean to prevent pot hunting so that people who are winning at 3ft can't enter the 2ft.

3 show jumping classes might not seem like that much but it could end up being 6 rounds of jumps if they go clear in each section which might end up being the equivalent of jumping 50 jumps or more if they also have some warm up jumps.
 
I help run out local shows and we have similar rules to those mentioned of 3 classes max to prevent the pot hunters we had a case recently of a JA pony doing a nursery class (50cm) when with the same rider the weekend before it had been jumping double clear round pony newcomers!!! The mother couldn't see an issue with it grrrrrrrrrrr
 
Gone are the days when a pony was shared at a show! (Probably after hacking several miles there) They would do two or three showing classes, the same jumping and also be used to play gymkhana games - of which there were at least 10 and to get through to the finals you ran three or four heats.
Then they were hacked home.

Admittedly these ponies were fit but it never did them any harm as most were still working well into their late twenties.
 
Foxhunter49 said:
Gone are the days when a pony was shared at a show! (Probably after hacking several miles there) They would do two or three showing classes, the same jumping and also be used to play gymkhana games - of which there were at least 10 and to get through to the finals you ran three or four heats.
Then they were hacked home.

Admittedly these ponies were fit but it never did them any harm as most were still working well into their late twenties.
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So true, BUT the standard of riding and thought for the pony has got worse. If parents weren't horsey back then, then the DC or another parent would 'take over' with instruction. Children then would listen, and more importantly know how to look after said pony. There is way more 'kicky kicky, pully pully, yank' now, and with the mainly gone days of the cavesson noseband and eggbutt snaffle, which makes it worse and far harsher on the pony.
I keep saying children, but I, too have seen adults (older teens at best) doing the same thing. Is there ANY reason why 1 horse should be presented at the same warm up upright of about 2'6'' in access of 30 times? No excuse for that at all. I have stepped in and told child on that occassion enough is enough - and the look I got you wouldn't believe!!
 
I agree about the eggbut/cavesson. I've had a long break from horses and am quite surprised at the amount gadgetry I'm seeing on ponies now. At a pony show yesterday I did witness some kicky kicky yank yank (but thankfully also some really good considerate riding too).
 
Hummmmm

Many moons ago that would have been me :( I had 'non horsey' parents who very kindly bought me a pony and carted me round the place going to pony club etc etc.

I can still remember cantering my long suffering pony around shows and being there from the start to the bitter end. Didn't enter all the jumping classes but do remember doing plenty of the showing classes, handy pony and clear round.

When I do shows now it is normally just 1 class (normally in-hand M&M) or a couple if there is a suitable child handler class for my son.

Experience and wisdom is a wonderful thing :rolleyes:
 
I believe there are several issues here - firstly greedy show organisers that do not "handicap" the classes to prevent ponies/horses from entering all the jumping classes. Secondly, pot hunting kids and parents who should know better or be "warned off" the next time they try to enter so many classes.

Thirdly, fluffy modern attitude! Sorry - how much work do you think a pony experiences during a day out hunting? Compare that to a bit of a warm up, lots of standing around, jumping 9 or 10 jumps, then perhaps a jump off x however many classes they enter and I think the pony would opt for the day at a show! No wonder so many ponies are suffering from lami these days. Get them out working! A week at pony club camp being ridden hard for 3 hours a day every day for a week does wonders for a pony's waistline!

I dont actually believe I have ever been to a show where there is no restriction to a class rules of entry ie not to have won a 1st or £10 etc.
 
We used to do loads of classes when we were kids, even remember doing two rounds at a hunter trial once and shock horror I used to wear spurs on my 12h pony!

I have to say though I am often shocked at the standards of riding at local and even affiliated shows. Its not just the kids though. What really annoys me is people using their horses as a viewing gallery - get off the poor thing and loosen its girth for gods sake!
 
I say blame the organisers. people are chasing money these days, "the show will close without enough entries" well close the sjhow then. seen the same in endurance. rides being run in unsuitable conditions because of the money.
 
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