You can't do that, it's dangerous!

Yesterday we did something that is apparently very dangerous. We went for a hack and as soon as we got off the main road and started trotting, Sky started shaking her head up and down as usual. We have come to the conclusion that she doesn't like the feel of the bridle moving around on her head, even her specially made soft leather sidepull. So Ali took it off, and we did the rest of the ride with her just in the neck rope.

Sky is much happier like this it would seem. The head tossing stopped. We went up into the woods and decided to see what would happen if we went for a canter. It was very civilised and she didn't even feel the need to race with Damson. The neck rope was fine for stopping and no innocent passing hikers were run over.

Sky strode out, sniffed the path at times, looked around, nibbled the grass a time or two, but didn't brace her neck, didn't do her giraffe impression and generally seemed more relaxed then usual. I love this picture:

There is something very special about having the trust of a horse like this. I hope I can have the same with Tari when I start riding her. Ali also did her first Interdressage test bridleless this month and she got 77.5 % in spite of a few occasions when Sky made her opinion very clear that she didn't really want to be doing some of this stuff.....

......but then, when did she ever not do that? It's why we love her ;-)

Dressage with a difference

After all the negative publicity surrounding the European Championships in Aachen recently, it was nice to go somewhere at the weekend and see a nice harmonious dressage competition.

Concordia Equestrians is a new group set up to promote the horse's wellbeing above competitive needs. So at this dressage competition, only snaffle bridles are permitted. No tight nosebands are allowed, and no spurs. And bitless bridles are allowed :-)

It was a lovely afternoon, despite a terrible forecast the weather behaved and the sun came out. There was a real mix of competitors, from little ones on ponies to Lucinda McAlpine on home-bred Spanish/TB crosses......

 

Every competitor had a tack check before starting to ensure that everything fit properly and nothing was overtightened.

 There was a very relaxed atmosphere, no pressure, plenty of time for horses to get used to their surroundings, which included some inquisitive cattle!

We met some nice new people and we really wished we could have brought our horses along......but they are planning on starting up some online classes so hopefully we will be able to take part that way soon

Hoping there will be many more of these :-)

A post actually about my horses......with a teeny tiny rant

The girls were full of beans this morning, Ali rode Sky in the "school" (or front section of the field as it's more accurately known) intending to try a run though of a dressage test (the Club 3 one she might do at next month's comp although it won't be on Sky as it has to be in sitting trot - why, FFE? Why?  ) just doing it all at the walk to practise bending and circles.

But Sky was a bit full of beans and shot off at the slightest touch of her leg so we let her get it out of her system and Tari joined in too and surprised me with some moves, bit of extended trot and even a flying change at one point chasing the dog!

After a while we got her to concentrate a bit more, with Tari still in tow for most of it....!

Must print off some arena letters though, I can't get my head round the 60 x 20 ones at all, why can't they do simple tests here with just the 40 x 20 ones I can remember? All King Edward's Horses Can Make Big Fences, easy. But fitting in those extra S, V, P, and the other one I can't even remember off the top of my head? Impossible! Who came up with such a random system of letters anyway? A quick Google reveals that no one really knows for sure, although according to this blog post we can probably blame the Germans.

I mean, look at this:

Horrible. Oh, the extra letter is R that I couldn't remember, which means I suppose you could remember those as RSVP but that still means you have two sets of acronyms/mnemonics or whatever. And as for the middle letters, well, I can usually remember where x is and that's about all......

Oops, this appears to have turned into another little rant. Hey ho......

Reckon this would be more like it though ;-)

Beasts of burden

So I have just finished reading Joe Camp's book, Soul of a Horse. A very interesting read, all about how Joe and his wife first started sharing their life with some horses. This bit really made me think:

"Dr Matt was right when he said that until recently horses were pretty much just beasts of burden. But I believe many of them still are. Just different burdens. Instead of pulling a plow or wagon, they're jumping fences. Or racing. Or doing heavy-handed dressage ballets."

(He's American, so we'll forgive him for not being able to spell plough.)

Last year I remember seeing this promotional video for the Hickstead jumping on Sky. Lots of slow motion footage of the jumping. And lots of big bits, tight reins, heavy studs and leatherwork. Anybody else think these horses do not look happy?

Some of the dressage horses I saw at London 2012 certainly didn't either.

As for racing, starting a ridden career at two is, in my humble opinion, not good for any horse. I also don't like the way most racehorses are kept, little turnout, lots of concentrated feed, rugs, shoes, all the things we do to horses for our convenience, these things certainly aren't convenient for them. A huge percentage of them develop ulcers from the stress of their unnatural lifestyle, hardly surprising is it?

So why does all this happen? Same reason we've been using the horse as a beast of burden for thousands of years, because it suits us and because it makes us money.

But this abuse of the horse's trusting, compliant nature doesn't just go on at the high end of competition. Every time I go to a show here I see unhappy horses and heavy-handed riders. Kids wearing spurs. Ponies in gag bits. Tight nosebands. The infernal de Gogue. Horses getting hit because they didn't understand what the rider wanted of them. The list goes on.......

You don't have to take my word for it. Here are some pics I have taken in the last year or so - and these are just some of people I don't know, plenty of others I could include but this blog gets me into enough trouble as it is ;-)

The human race doesn't have much to be proud of really, does it?

Dressage début

Just got back from her first "live" dressage comp and Fina came 3rd in her class with 61,67%. She did a Club 3 Grand Prix class, which sounds a lot grander than it is, being the lowest level you can do........

Really chuffed with her, she wasn't arguing with Ali at all. She got mostly 6s & 7s, with a few 5s for incurvation, ie bending but we knew there'd be problems there......she even got a 7 for obéissance aux aides!!  

They only got a five for correction du tracé though, but then, her canter circles, well, weren't........also the halts weren't really there either - oops! But Ali got sevens for her position and aids  :-)

Still, for a small, hairy, chunky pony who looked pretty out of place amongst the shiny, plaited, long-legged competition, I reckon she did pretty well.

Oh, and she was the only horse in her class not wearing a de gogue....... I really can't believe you're allowed gadgets like that in competitions.

 

Anyway, here's her video, the pause at the start was for a poo!!

 

The Club 2 class was interesting for us too, as entries included Louise, the SNO's (and Ali's former)instructor....

.....and Carole, Ali's current instructor......

.....and Louise beat Carole! With no de gogue or noseband to tie her horse's mouth shut either........

Summer stuff

Haven't done much with the horses recently due to the 40 degree plus temperatures we've had.....and the usual influx of summer visitors. Managed a couple of hacks out.....

....and Ali rode Sorcier, Tanya's thoroughbred, for the first time. He's over 16hh but she doesn't exactly look tiny on him!

She's doing her first dressage competition on Sunday, she knows the test and has practised a lot, but Seraphina is not always too keen on doing it, the other day she tanked off every time she was asked to canter.......

I have done a Practical Horsemanship class with her for Interdressage, it looks a lot calmer than it felt!

She has a training session up at the new club on Saturday afternoon, let's hope she decides to be a good girl and listen.......

Medal winning performances?

The Olympic Equestrian events have finished and we have had some great viewing and the sport has reached a wide audience. But sometimes, for me, that viewing had been uncomfortable, some dreadful images are doing the rounds on the internet like this

I still can't believe this woman was rewarded for riding her horse like this with a silver medal.....but the marvellously relaxed combination of Carl Hester and Uthopia were denied a medal. The chairman of the judging panel, Stephen Clarke, was on BBC Breakfast this morning and he actually said that Parzival, the horse pictured above, was crossing his jaw and leaning on his rider's hands. So why such a hight mark then???

The FEI's Facebook page is still being deluged with images like this, they are not only deleting them but denying the posters  access to the page, so much for freedom of expression!!

The showjumping was an undeniably exciting competition to watch, but why do a lot of the riders feel it necessary to shove a load of metalwork in the horse's mouth and strap its head down and its mouth shut? Why do they need to jab them in the mouth so much?

And the cross country took a heavy toll with 15 eliminations due to falls. I cannot imagine ever asking one of my horses to jump down something like this

But it is great viewing, and I have watched as much as possible, and winced at the pulling on horse's mouths, but I decided a long time ago that jumping and cross country and anything more difficult than a walk trot dressage test just isn't for me.....

Stressage....

I have so far been enjoying the coverage of the equestrian events at the London Olympics, until that is the dressage started. I watched so many horses being held on to in front, opening their mouths, breathing heavily, whisking their tails, grinding their teeth, in short, they were generally tense and stressed.

So why do people do it to them? Well, yes, obviously to win, but can't they see how they are affecting their horses?

Lots of controversy this week about these photos of some riders training at the Olympics. Using Rollkur, hyperflexion, whatever you want to call it.

Swedish rider Patrik Kittel

Patrik van der Meer from the Netherlands

Another Dutch rider, Adeline Cornelissen

The Fédération Équestre Internationale, the governing body for Olympic equestrian events has received thousands of complaints about these photos. They issued a statement on thier Facebook page saying "We are aware that there is concern about some training methods, but photographs can be misleading. Rest assured that our stewards are always there, on the ground, monitoring all training sessions. We’re on the case."

But they are so obviously not on the case! Even if those photos were misleading, and I don't believe for one minute that they are, yesterday Adelinde Cornelissen does this before and even during her test in front of the eyes of the world.....

....and gets rewarded with a score of 81%. Quite unbelievable. What kind of example does that set? Horses pulled in at the front, unable to use their backs, with their hocks trailing out behind......

Contrast this with the beautifully relaxed round we were treated to by Carl Hester whose horse  was always in front of the vertical using his back and hindlegs properly.....

......or Richard Davison leaning forward to give his horse a treat after their test.

And of course Charlotte Dujardin's Olympic record breaking score......

Makes you proud to be British.