Do You Ride Horses? V.4

[Hime]

hey everyone! what are some of your thoughts on the recent modern pentathlon?

The rules of the riding portion suck. The difficulty level of the course was way too high for at least half of the athletes which then resulted in unfair and dangerous situations. There were sooo many awkward jumps where the horses really had to rescue the situation that it really was quite painful to watch. There was also some articles saying there was some issues with the judges work at the games. Someone smartly put that if they truly wanted to measure people's riding skills they should replace the jumping with dressage test instead. Or remove riding altogether if they can not make sure the athletes actually have the required skill level to get through the test without harming themselves or the horses. Or rather than have them to compete against the clock and penalty points use style based judging (there are some judging options like that even in show jumping) and really judge based on faults, distances and riding form... Or very least demand that the athletes bring their own horses on which they know they can ride through the course... As it is, even if some of athletes did a good job, as a horse person I don't see how that riding portion can be allowed to continue as it is.
The situation where you get on a new horse and ride a course after warm up can work but the riders really need to have the required skills themselves to pull it off. I remember they did a similar thing in some big show jumping final (either world championships or some olympics) where the top few riders all rode each others horses after they'd ridden the course on their own horse first and in the end the rider with least faults was the winner.
I feel little sorry for the person who's actions caused this to become hot topic in horse circles and watching the video you can see she really wasn't in right state of mind. The problem ultimately lies in the rules and training of the pentathlon. I read someone comment that her husband had started the sport and basically they had couple riding lessons and then moved straight to jumping quite big jumps. Any sane horse person would see that is absolutely ridiculous.

[alfiq]

Modern penthalon being bad with the horses isnt anything new. If you go back and watch competitions from earlier years there are instances of the horse falling, being relucant to get up and still being made to start up the course again. Was also an instance of a horse flipping and being mounted and ridden again with no attempt to check the health of the horse.

They need A LOT of change to the horse portion for it to be viable, esp for the welfare of the horse.
There were some decent rides, but most of the athletes should not be riding at that level at all and clearly have very little experience. There was so much charging the jumps and then spurring, kicking, whipping etc when the horse starts refusing. If anything it's a good lesson in how to destroy a horse's confidence in jumping.

I think Saint Boy (the german riders mount) should have been pulled from the competition after his first round with the russian rider, which was also not a pretty ride.
Theres obviously also a lot to say about the german ride but I think I'd just repeat prev. points. The horse was set up to fail, there was even video of the coach hitting the horse in the face in the warmup, got scrubbed from the Internet with copyright claims though.

[MoonLesbian]

Update on my cantering sitch: my stirrups were way too high...like, I dropped them four holes too high. I have no idea how I didn't notice they were off and I don't know how my trainer didn't notice either considering how much she nitpicks me xD But now that I've dropped them and my sprained ankle has mostly healed I'm back to being confident with cantering! Also I haven't shown him off but here is my handsome lease! Get you a man who can do both xD

[Razzle_Dazzle]

Hey… I don’t know if this truly fits here so just let me know if I should take it down…

Rafiqi is a 20 year old Arabian gelding. He’s a very calm and friendly horse. He’s also very small. He’s maybe 14 hands. We’ve had him for about 4 years now. He’s seen a lot of stuff in his lifetime, most of which we’ll never know. We saved him from a junkyard where he’d been living. Ever since then, he’s been living in a nice pasture with friends.

So my good boy Rafiqi (pronounced Ra-fe-ke) just came back from his summer job at a riding camp. It’s a place where horses offer therapeutic riding and services for kids. You can talk, read, ride, and groom horses, or whatever makes you feel happy. He was a very good boy there, and was the favorite of a few kids. Unfortunately, that will be his first and last time there.


We received a call from the camp saying he’d fallen ill… His red blood cells are rapidly dropping. They should be around 30%. They are currently at 10%. They didn’t know why, but were doing everything they could. They were running blood tests, doing X-rays, giving him steroids, giving him powerful antibiotics, and calling vets. While waiting for results they said he might need a blood transfusion. Blood transfusions are extremely expensive and we don’t have that kind of money. We opted to wait until results came back. After blood tests and X-rays, they found the problem.


My good boy has terminal cancer in his spleen. At this point, there’s nothing we can do. He will not make it to 2022.



He’s here at the house with us for his last months. I can only hope he goes peacefully.

[trip ♡]

hey guys!

i don't think i've posted in a hot minute due to PTSD recovery. we rescued my pony in 2018 as an eventing prospect and rehabbed her for a year and a half as i got her entirely feral and neglected. last year, we had an opportunity to train halfway across the country in florida, and unfortunately it was an extremely traumatic experience, so we came home after 4 months. this past year, we cliniced with dom schramm and then took a much-needed break over the summer and up til now. a breakup has spurred me to focus aiming for the AECs next year with my girl!

[OutFoxed]

Hey @atsumu.
I am so sorry that you've had some horrible past experiences, especially in the horse world. The clinic with Dom must have been awesome!
Would love to see pictures and learn more about your journey with your mare!
The AECs is a great goal - there are so many awesome competitions going on, any of them would be a fabulous goal (even just to spectate!)

. . .

I've been horseless for 244 days; it's been absolutely miserable.
I got to meet a couple awesome horse chicks, and ride a couple of times but have failed to strike up a weekly riding schedule/buddy. There are no lesson or stables nearby (okay, one does Dude trail rides - I have yet to be that desperate). I've been considering actually trying to lease or something - but that's like plan Z.
Anywho.

[Babuskha]

Hey there! This is my first post here so I figured I'd introduce my boys. Both mustangs.

Small: Casso, 3 y/o, Warm Springs rez mustang, green broke
Big: Doyle, 7 y/o, BLM Beaty's Butte mustang, broke



They're our resident cow "ponies" xD and a pair of good boys ofc

[ferretjuice]

Hey there! This is my first post here so I figured I'd introduce my boys. Both mustangs.

Small: Casso, 3 y/o, Warm Springs rez mustang, green broke
Big: Doyle, 7 y/o, BLM Beaty's Butte mustang, broke



They're our resident cow "ponies" xD and a pair of good boys ofc

Your small guys coat is amazing!


Unfortunately it has not been a good year for my pony, she ran through a barbed wire fence a few weeks ago, she has ulcers and has been diagnosed with kissing spine, hoping for a better year next year for her, she doesn’t deserve it at all.

[shezawomanoffame]

Not sure if i posted about this yet here but i'm having to sell my little paint mare

I really really don't want too, its the last thing i want to do actually, but my dad is really giving me no choice and i also just have my own reasons for doing so. I've never sold a horse myself, and since she's my baby and has some quirks about her, i'd really like to do it myself. I've got the sale ad written out but i want other peoples opinions on it (like if you saw this ad, would you buy her?) before i do post it. I've got a few videos already, just need to get ones of me riding her. I'm really procrastinating on it cause, like i said, selling her is the last thing i want to do.



Im also going through a really tough decision with my gelding right now. My dad is really pushing me to sell him but i absolutely refuse to sell him. He's around 20-21, meaning nobody would want him cause he's old. I also just don't feel comfortable selling him because he is a barrel horse so he gets really hot sometimes (i've had him almost flip on top of me several times and i don't want someone else to have to deal with that). Im leaving for school soon, and i'm taking my other barrel horse with me (and if i get another one after we sell pandora, that one will also be going with me) and he unfortunately will be staying home. He's too pasture aggressive and i'm not trying to get in trouble or be responsible for someone else's horse getting hurt. I would love to lease him out as a trail horse possibly to someone who can ride, only because he does (possibly) have arthritis and i would hate for him to just be sitting at home all by himself. Speaking of the arthritis, this is where my really tough decision is at. As i mentioned before he is a barrel horse. But these past few rides/runs i've had with him have not been great at all (i haven't ridden him since sep cause hes getting a break, im also kinda scared to ride him atm. And i'm never scared to ride him.) He reared straight up with me, almost flipping on me. Our pole run was absolutely terrible. In our pleasure classes he would buck out of no where. He started spooking at things he's never spooked at before. He never acts like this which tells me something was wrong and is why he is taking a break. Once at a show, he was being more buddy sour than he usually was and got loose. He ran into the road, almost being hit. I've never been more terrified in my life. I had to chase him on my mare (fancy) in the pitch black for a good mile, mile and a half before i caught him. This is another reason i'm sorta scared to ride him right now. So since i'll be leaving for school soon, and all of this stuff with him has happened. i have to decide whether or not i should retire him. If he shows no improvement then i will be retiring him to light riding. If he does improve, and if he shows me he still wants to run, then i'll keep running him.

Its heartbreaking and i dont know what to do. Im leaning towards retirement either way, just because i dont want to risk him getting hurt.

[Weirdgirl]

Yes, I rode horses while participating at a horse camp, where you get trained with riding horses and taking care of them.