cruelty at show

[Clare]

Hi everyone.

I can not believe what I saw today - I went to the Southsea show here, which had a show jumping competition.

After watching a few riders go clear, a young girl came in on a really stunning looking horse - he cleared the first jump, then knocked the second down - this unhinged him a little, and the rider turned around to see if she had the pole down, and put the horse all wrong at the next jump. He refused it - he would have been mad to attempt it, as the angle was really sharp.

The girl then dug he spurs in and whacked him repeatedly with a whip - hard, and turned him too sharp for it again - the horse ended up falling into the jump badly.

The girl,really annoyed by this point pulled him up, kicked him, yanked on the reins and whipped him at least 30 whacks - I have never seen anything like it in my life - the poor horse was petrified. She then retired and cantered off out of the ring - no doubt to beat her horse some more for making her loose.

The judges made no comment on this cruelty at all - has anyone else seen this kind of behaviour at a show?

 

[Chris]

In canada we have Spruce Meadows where they have big grand pix show jumping competitions. I have never seen any thing like that before. Sometimes when a horse refuses he might get a wack or two but that is it. We have a canadian rider who everytime his horse doesn't perform and refuses a few jumps or knocks down a few poles he will quit for the shake of the horse. That is what I like to see. He has never punished his horse, he just says it wasns't his day. However I think his approch is good because he has had a lot of success. So I hope they won't invite that girl back for what she has done.

 

[Majik]

I have done mostly open shows (I need the experience) and the slightest bit of cruelty or miss handeling, the rider is asked to leave the ring. I saw a girl warming up for an in-hand class and her horse was startled and he jumped. Well she proceeded to really yank at his lead making him back up and throw his head up in fear, she wasn't even allowed in the ring.

 

[Heather]

Usually at affilliated shows, there are stewards from the BSJA who should stop that sort of thing. Mind you, I have seen a horse with it's sides holed and bleeding from misuse of the spur, win an advanced medium dressage qualifier down here in Devon, and neither the jusged nor the steward semed to notice. My own trainer and I reported the rider to the stewards, but we heard nothing from British Dressage. I belive that things are tightening up at BD though, as a friend of mine recently reported a well known Grand Prix rider for bad riding, and it was definitely followed up swiftly by BD.

Trouble is though, if riders are prepared to abuse their horses quite openly in public, God only knows what they do to the poor creatures when out of the public gaze.

Heather

 

[Clare]

I think even more suprising was the reaction from the crowd - one woman close by said something along the lines of "oh no, don't hit him".

But one bloke turned to the woman he was with and said"fair play to her, she can handle that horse" - !!!!!!!

I must say that none of the others did anything like this, and they all praised their horses and patted them like mad.

 

[CLAUDIA]

I've yet to witness any of that sort of behavior. I'm almost sure that if you behave like that at an AHSA horse show you'll be suspended for any length of time. They'll suspend horses, riders, or horse and rider. I think they even go on to suspend an entire stable if they need to. I just don't know why anyone would do that to another living thing, especially one that's supposed to be your partner. And that she had the audacity to do it in front of a crowd...

I'll worry about the poor thing for months now. Lord knows what she does to it on her own time.

 

[KarlR]

At one local show-jump that I spectated, all the riders treated their horses wonderfully - except one. She rode the first few fences, but at the 3rd or 4th she started threatening her horse really loudly: I was in the crowd 30 feet away and could hear her swearing obscenities at it. Then she started laying into it with the whip - maybe a dozen times between jumps...at least for the next two jumps! The horse started to jump, and then refused at the last minute. The rider went straight through a rather solid looking wall and limped away. I've never been so happy to see a fall!

There are certainly guidelines to prevent this sort of thing though. One of my occasional instructors often judges events and says that it is rare that a days judging passes without her disqualifiying someone for inappropriate use of the whip. She says that there is a limit of 5 (?) uses in a row with a minimum break before it can be used again. Still too much, IMHO, but at least a little reassuring.

 

[Myrmex]

I haven't seen anything so bad as that at a show, thank goodness, but worse things go on behind 'closed doors', so to speak. There used to be a horse trainer at my yard, who'd actually done the Monty Roberts Preliminary Certificate - in other words, she claimed to train horses without using force or intimidation. At first, we thought she was good, but when her personal life threw up some problems, it all changed. We saw her repeatedly beat horses for not joining up with her, then, when the horses still wouldn't cooperate, she'd tell the owners that their horses had 'problems', usually because the owners hadn't handled them correctly. She rarely carried a whip when riding, but her way of reprimanding a horse was to kick it as hard as she could, then sock it in the jaw repeatedly as it shot forwards. Bad enough on an older horse, but on a half-broken baby? Funny how many of them started rearing. Lots went home with stable vices, because they were so stressed all the time. Word got round and she went out of business - but is starting up again in southern England somewhere. Maybe she'll be okay this time, since I know her personal problems have settled down... but maybe not. So if you have a horse, beware of sending it away anywhere for breaking, schooling or whatever, unless you are absolutely sure of what goes on. 'Our' trainer got caught out when an owner turned up unexpectedly - he was so disgusted, he took his pony home the same afternoon.

 

[Clare]

Oh my god - I am in south England! That is so awful - doing that kind of thing to your own horse is unforgivable - but to that to other peoples horses who have put their trust in you is criminal.

I do not care what personal problems she may have had, you just do not do that kind of thing - she must have had it in her nature to do it anyway - I know I could never do that to any horse regardless of what went on my life, and thankfully I think that most of us are the same.

I really hope that those horses did not suffer any long term damage, and become ruined by this woman.

I actually backed out of buying a horse recently as he was a youngster - only 4. He had been schooled really well, and was happy hacking out with other horses, but had never been tried on his own as he was a baby still.

He was beautiful, but I was afraid of ruining him - not by doing anything cruel to him, but because I felt too green myself to bring him on properly without expert help, and I do not know anyone here who could give him that.

How this woman can sleep at night I don't know, I hope to god she has changed her ways, and that nobody else who wants to do the best for their horse ends up with them getting cruelly treated.