Which do you prefer to watch and why?

Kenzo

Kenzo

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As a spectator, do you prefer to watch your more advanced/experienced horse and rider combinations at affiliated competitions or do you prefer to watch unaffiliated/trailblazers where you have a wider range of abilities, you have your less experienced riders and horses or your first time out youngsters, your tryers, your just do it for fun riders and of course not forgetting your pot hunters.

Do you sit there with your heart in mouth, do you try to jump for them while your sat down watching on your chair, do you burst into tears of joy and start clapping a 100 to the dozen when some random child manages to get round in once piece without killing themselves with there little fluffy pony that hasn’t got a clue what its doing…its just point and aim! and then finish clear….but only just! you release what your doing, look round and casually sit down very quickly before anyone mistakes you as being his or hers mother lol.

Do you oooooow and orrrrrrrr and arrrrr and wince all the time, even finding yourself closing your eyes when it all goes wrong and someone clatters a fence or nearly falls off then finally breath once there ok.

Or do you prefer to watch how it really should be done, good riders on good horses, less drama but its nice to appreciate how it really should be done, you can learn a lot from watching and it gives you the push you need to really put the effort and time in, if of course you had the money to throw at it all as well, or you do find watching the affiliated comps all a bit boring?...hardly anyone falls off (thankfully), no pushy mothers (well not as many).
 
I love going to local shows to watch. Means i can see people of my level compete and give me the courage to do it myself... (i'm still working on that courage... lol)

As much as i love watching the professionals, i feel i gain more from watching normal people like myself....
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Yes me too, I like to watch both.

I do like to watch the locals and the un affiliated comps because its also nice when you see them or their horses improve and start winning etc so thats always nice.

Although sometimes your on tender hooks and at times it can be cringing at times but sometimes it makes it all the more fun to watch.

But its also nice to see a comparision and watch the better riders, you can really see a difference and I think if more younger riders watched, they would learn quite a bit, not just from having lessons etc.
 
I like both - I love to see how it should be done by the professionals, and there's nothing like the beauty of watching a truly talented horse and rider together; but at the same time, local shows tend to be much more entertaining.
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The only thing I don't like about local shows is that you're much more likely to end up wincing at the sight of some poor horse being kicked and dragged in the mouth as it's forced round the course... obviously that's horrible to watch.
 
If you are talking about showjumping, its like watching paint dry as far as I am concerned - at any level. The only time I actively enjoy it is at Pony Club level. Its just so entertaining - you get the really really good and terribly professional, well mounted kids, and then you get the scruffy little Thelwell type child. The PC mothers are totally entertaining as well (I am one myself, so shouldnt really comment). They again range from totally top of the range to the terribly scruffy. On top of that, all the comments that are heard crack me up! As we all know, PC kids and PC mums are terribly competitive. Its totally hilarious, our PC dogs up and down certain other PCs, who return the favour to us. However, everyone is terribly polite and very sporting to each other and its great fun to while away a cold Sunday afternoon.
 
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He's a Chihuahua cross jack russell...
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He's adorable, we have a lady in our village who's got a JRxCh. and he's such a character, he's adorable, athough he's taken the colour of the JR, so he's black and white, tiny but with huge ears
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Would probably say I prefer watching higher level stuff, though not too high? We go to Scope every year to watch, have done for a while now, and love it. Some people still look like they haven't exactly been at that level for long and there's still a good range of abilities (was very excited to end up stood next to Ellen Whittaker as she waited to go into the ring xD How sad) and is just interesting to watch! Don't think you see as much watching say International level competitions, even though they are amazing.
Local shows just tend to get me wound up... as does PC...
 
I like watching B.E 100s ect and also the warm ups! But i do like bigger shows too, it's just you can be closer to the ring with lower level stuff.
 
I like watching the afilliated show jumping from the novices to the not so novices so I can see what they are doing and either tell myself that was correct or that was wrong and if they`d have done that, they would`ve had that etc. So I can learn from that and sort of test myself.
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And I also like watching the pros so as I can learn from them.
I`m not keen on watching the local shows tho as there are a lot of people who are quite capable of jumping eg 2`9" but are jumping the 2` and 2`3" beating all the little kids and the real beginners.
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Of course, the local shows, when run properly, are a benefit for novices and beginners and we all have to start somewhere. I used to love them until I learned about distances and strides then realised why sometimes it felt so uncomfortable and iffy...
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Sorry if I have offended any course builders of any local shows but I`m sure you do a brilliant job at your local show.
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