Who's up for a FRIENDLY discussion...best discipline?

steph91

steph91

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 February 2010
Messages
120
Visit site
Not trying to start an argument on any rage, just a general fact finding thread into what people think is the best discipline...

Why?
Benefits for horse and rider?
Skill required?
And most importantly overall fun?

Let the opinions roll in

Ps
My all time favourite has to be eventing the thrill and everything that goes along with it, can't wait to get back into when i get the confidence to jump again :)
But for now I'll stick with showing (love getting the horse ready and looking pretty), despite the devastingness (my own word) of when the judge just doesn't like your horse
 
Ok I'll get the ball rolling - Certainly eventing when I was younger - although when I evented you started at novice non of these pre pre pre intro levels ! and Hunting nothing like the freedom of jumping natural fences that weren't laid out from a course builder - certainly taught you how to sit a fence - the horses had to learn to be bold and forward thinking - which set you up for the XC of eventing - now adays I prfer Dressage (older - don't bounce quite as well ) but love the challenge of such classical riding , the horses build on their natural talents and I have beautiful, horses that listen, off the aids and also listen to me when they decide to go for a hooney !! Skills ...um I think any form of riding deserves the best effort from the rider to help the horse do what the rider asks - fun what ever you enjoy will create a relaxed and happy rider = relaxed and happy horse !
 
I am going to be controversial here, and say hacking :-)

I know of a few lovers of dressage who abhor hacking....and have said to me "Be careful!!! Look after yourself!!!" I find that interesting, and I know for certain they don't do it. Why? Because it is a challenge (yes yes I know about valuable horses not being risked). You will never know what you will encounter, and it therefore keeps you on your toes and able to deal with any situation. Abandoned white goods..check...plastic bags..check....you see my point??

You can school on a hack: best time to do leg yields, shoulder in, turn on the forehand etc, not because you are going round in a school in circles and fancy doing an exercise/training, but because the obstacles in the way demand you do. Also, changes in pace...canter to stop before you run over the dog walker or they have to throw themselves into the hedge :-D
 
In my younger, bolder, less breakable days hunting, you learn how to ride and how to fall off, well I did! I loved the freedom, no set course, no right or wrong way, just you and the horse following the huntsman and hounds. It teaches a horse to be brave and gives it confidence. Also the most social of all the disciplines. I must admit after hunting, XC and SJ seemed tame, when I was younger, funny I don't feel that way now!

Nowadays a gentle quiet hack around with Fany, both of us enjoying the views and nosing over the hedges. I love the oneness with her, we potter around, throw in the odd canter and generally enjoy being together. We are not about speed, Fany and I, we are now both built for comfort. But a hack can be as sedate or as exciting as you wish, eg. there is nothing like a great blast along a beach or a gallop through a field. Neither of which Fany and I are interested in!

Preparing to be shot down but I hate dressage! :eek::p It is boring. But Elizabeth loves it and so does Cappy,he prefers it to anything, so I think it is each person's choice and being lucky enough to have the right horse who also enjoys your discipline. And of course it is excellent for schooling for other disciplines

ETA- I would love to drive, I think it is an underrated and requires a lot of skill.

FDC
 
Last edited:
I think is really difficult as one tends to lead into another.

I love hacking and if i never did anything else i would be more than happy. Bumper makes the case for hacking beautifully.

I enjoy showing - getting out and about; the anticipation as you spend hours preparing. Just to be judged subjectively ::rolleyes::

Dressage at the more basic levels is the foundation to everything you do wether you go on to do showing, jumping or eventing having regular rythmical paces, working from behind, being able to work together as a partnership is exactly what you need.

I have in the past enjoyed show jumping and XC. But with a 4yr old HW cob - currently i don't do either - although as time progresses ;)
 
I agree with general riding ie hacking. Would go further and say long-distance riding as opposed to pure endurance, which is a race. Spend much longer with one's horse getting fit etc then both travelling to usually beautiful parts of the country to enjoy a marked route. All under strict veterinary supervision, bliss.
 
Western Riding, esp Reining.
Love how light and responsive my pony is and how hard it is to perform precise movements at speed. :eek:

Then it would be hacking for the variety. :)
 
Hunting. No doubt. All winter its pretty much all I like to do with mine, in the summer I have to think of other ways to amuse myself (normally BSJA) but this year I might have a crack at eventing my horse just for a change. Funnily enough I used to love dressage, but i'm not sure why!
 
Each discipline has lots to help the others - dressage schooling makes a lovely responsive hack/show horse - jumping helps the dressage horse with bounce and forwardsness - hunting to 'blow the cobwebs away' etc etc.

Therefore I'd say hunting in the winter and dressage/showing in the summer with a liberal dose of hacking all year round.........
 
Oooh two other votes already for western! Gets mine too, mainly because it is so FRIENDLY.
Can't think of many other sports in which British team members would approach newbies at a show to say hello and complement them on their horse.
Have also witnessed a leading breeder come up to admire and praise an amateur's mare that had just beaten several of his prospects in an in-hand class!
OH groomed for me for years at county level shows, dressage and riding club stuff and has been gobsmacked by the way he has been accepted as an equal, rival and friend by much more established western competitors. Very much doubt I'll ever be allowed to go back to doing many 'english' discipines!

The other one that we love is team chasing, but they're all just mad :D
 
Endurance, for the following reasons:
1. When my horse is happy, then I'm happy. My Arab boys simply LOVE endurance rides.
2. You get to see and ride in parts of the countryside that you wouldn't normally get to.
3. Fitness - incredibly important. Quality and not quantity is what counts, dressage training is great for endurance horses, as it helps to get them off of the forehand, and ultimately less inclined to damage themselves.
4. Value for money - Per saddle hour, must be the cheapest of all disciplines!
5. Friendliness. In no other discipline have I found so many people all willing to help each other out - even when competing against each other. And in the endurance world, the normal horsey bitchiness is a rarity rather than the norm.
6. I find the navigating aspect fun (even though most rides are well marked).
7. I don't have to dress formally!
 
Eventing - because it requires the greatest skill.
The horse needs to be trained to be calm and responsive for dressage, bold and quick for cross-country, careful and scopey for the jumping!

To get that balance right for each area is a talent; not many people can ie. being good at 2 out of 3 - very rarely does 3 out of 3 go right!

Dressage is also skillful, but more specalised, whereas eventing need to be skillful in a wide range of areas :)
 
Eventing!

It combines everything in one event. Dressage phase shows skill, elegance, obedience. SJ needs a good technique, balance and a certain amount of bravery, and the XC needs determination, skil, talent, balance, bravey and scope.

Pure dressage riders may be able to do sitting trot for hours upon end and do lots of lovely twiddly movements but would they then have the balls and staminer to do a SJ and XC course?? Plus the standard of dressage in Eventing is really high now, so you have to be good at the dressage phase to even stand a chance. A number of the top riders will have often spent a season doing pure dressage with a professional at some point in their career. For our Adv/Int horses they have to be working at Medium/Adv level dressage as well as all their jumping.

SJumpers may be able to jump 6ft fences but could they do a solid 6ft fence or a 6ft hedge and would they have the discipline to do the dressage??

Plus event horses have to be so incredibly fit to do what they do. Our event horses will all compete at decent affiliated levels of SJ and Dress to maintain their competitive edge eventing...oh and the odd team chase before their winter holiday!
 
eventing, for all of the reasons above, plus
going xc on a great horse you've trained yourself, is like riding one of those flying dragon things they link to in Avatar. You think left, or right, or steady, or GO, and it happens, it is just THE most amazing feeling, that trust and harmony. :) :) :)
but i love dressage too, and hacking. sj, not so much. ;)
 
I've had a go at most things with not much success. :D I've decided i like variations of interesting hacking the best.

I've always preferred riding "across country" in different forms, like hunting, fun rides, hunter trials, than anything arena or ring based, like showing and show jumping.

I've had to pack in jumping because of a back injury, and I don't have the bottle I used to anyway, so after years of enjoying the occasional egb pleasure ride, this year I'm sticking with endurance and really looking forwards to it. :)
 
steph91 said:
Why?
Benefits for horse and rider?
Skill required?
And most importantly overall fun?
Click to expand...

Dressage

Because I truly believe that it requires the most skill. It really is such hard work to get the results but so rewarding when you do.

Benefits- Well schooled, responsive horse, working well, looking lovely :D

Benefits for rider, to be honest I think doing dressage brings your riding on loads, you get to learn all about specific aids and why you use them, how they should be used and when. How to tell if your horse is working properly, how responsive they should be etc etc. With dressage I think you can NEVER stop learning, there really is so much to know. There's all sorts of benefits!

Skill required- A LOT of skill, IMO. It helps if you know all of the above ^^

Overall fun- well, I mainly do dressage, HOWEVER, I do do the off bit of XC and SJ too and whilst these are quite good fun and give you an adrenalin rush, I do genuinely enjoy schooling/doing dressage and have a lot of fun doing it!
 
Showing requires an awful lot of skill in getting the horse to be able to go for different judges - no hiding place once you have handed the reins over - and the horses have to have good manners so that is good education for them. Downside perhaps is that some people have them too fat and that how can I diplomatically say it, perhaps the best horse doesn't always win.

Some people are unfriendly but most are friendly particularly when you come across them frequently and stand in a line up with an hour or so to chat!

In hand local showing/veteran showing was perhaps one of the friendliest disciplines I have ever done, made some good friends that way.

Eventers - I could never do your discipline just not brave enough cross country so admire anyone who jumps huge scary fences and when I used to event groom used to get to go to some lovely places and most people were friendly.
 
:):)for me it's got to be carriage driving, especially doing obstacles. when u have a horse responding in canter to changing direction quickly with just a slight touch of rein and use of voice, the adrenalin really gets pumping!!
 
My perfect discipline would be eventing without the dressage!

I love the adrenalin rush you get from jumping and just think its far more fun. I like the fact that jumping is clear cut - you know how many faults you get and what your time is so its clear how well you did. I don't like things that are subjective like dressage and showing. I also love hacking, especially having a good blast - and if you can find a log or two to jump even better!

I just don't have the right attitude for dressage. I enjoy schooling at home but I can't see why it matters whether my circle is 15m, 20m, 25m. I don't like lots of rules, I hate detail and my natural look is dragged through a hedge backwards so I'm never going to be a dressage diva. Sure it takes skills, but no more than to ride a jump off or a tricky combination cross country - just a different sort of skill.

I think jumping and hacking is far more fun for the horse than dressage - but that's probably because I'm drawn to the sorts of horses that share my interests.
 
POLOCROSSE!!! :D Its the most fun I have ever had on horseback (since mounted games) its way cheaper then polo aswell and I found it more fun then polo. Any horse and rider can do it, when we went to a training day we had horses from big hairy cobs to tiny thouroughbreds. There was also a man doing it who had only ridden 3 times in his life :o

The people I met so far are so friendly no snobbyness at all and people of all ages can do it, its like the discipline for everyone :) I would say a fair bit of skill is required to use the racquet and ball and control the horse, its challenging yet rewarding as trains the horse to be really responsive and gives teh reider a better seat.

After that probably eventing- I just love the combination of the 3 and xc is amazingly fun when your on a good horse :D
 
Last edited:
I have a lot of respect for all of the disciplines (apart from showing).

It does irritate me somewhat when people are ignorant enough to suggest that for example eventing requires more skill than show jumping, or dressage more skill than eventing - they all require skill, just very different skill.

I doubt that an event horse (or rider) could successfully switch disciplines and within a week perform a grand prix dressage test or jump a technical 1.60m track. I doubt a GP dressage rider could hop on a derby horse and get it 'round Hickstead and I doubt that a GP show jumper could complete the Badminton XC course. It doesn't make one better than the other - they are simply masters of their chosen discipline. The hostility baffles me.

Personally I like show jumping because it provides the biggest challenge for me. I find it far more pressurising than XC and I really don't know why - perhaps because you have less time to gather your thoughts between fences and never get the chance to relax? I also enjoy watching it for the adrenaline buzz and the fact that there's a clear winner.

Saying that, I love watching classical dressage at the highest level, and the XC element of eventing (the other two sections bore me as they're just not refined enough, although I understand completely that they are included in horse trials as an entirely different test of the horse to the pure disciplines). This is just my 'spectator' hat :)

If I had to pick one thing to do with my horses for the rest of time, it'd be hunting. Nothing beats it!
 
Pony Club! You get to do everything there and it has taught me loads and i've been in a range of teams: Peter Hoblyn Team ( novice eventingy thingy for cornish pony clubs :) ), Mounted games team and of course Polocrosse! And i've also done my pony club tests up to 'C' standard and Camp is amaaaaaazing :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top