Horse Gossip Thread

[welsummerchicks]

Well the halter classes are there because people go in 'em. If no one signed up for 'em they'd be over with.

All you have to do is convince everyone else...which will never happen.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
I've always liked that about dressage as well, although there always is at least 1 rich teenage girl bragging about her German breeches.

One of the 3 "trottin' horse" people at the barn is a college girl who showed local Paint/Pinto circuit with her paint gelding. She's been getting so bored with it that my friend with the Paint and I suggested that she try dressage. She hesitated, worried that he wouldn't get the higher frame that she's seen on TV. We spent a year explaining to her that for lower levels, he just needs to be low and consistent. She finally played around with him one day and was very impressed with his performance. I told her she'd probably do First Level soon since her horse is already very well trained. She wants to try Intro first.

Well, she and my paint/dressage friend went downstate for some dressage lessons and came back glowing when the trainer said that her horse was capable of doing Second Level.

 

[welsummerchicks]

'She wants to try into, I say try first because her horse is already trained'.

I disagree.

She'd be better off doing intro. Her horse is not trained to do dressage, if I understand you. So she/he should start at either training or Intro. Intro would probably not be as shocking to start out with - training level classes are usually gigantic and full of people who have been doing training level for 20 years - not that I think that's even half a good idea, but after 20 years, even a blind squirrel can find a nut.

'High frame'

Well, that's wrong because THERE IS NO HIGH FRAME. But there is also no LOW FRAME. There is no 'training level frame' and no 'first level frame' and there is no any level frame.

'Low and consistent'....um....no.

That is for Western Pleasure, it has nothing to do with dressage, not even 'a little low, not as low as Western pleasure, but a little low, and consistent'. 'Consistent' usually means 'the horse holds its head still'(sometimes camoflaged as 'maintains consistent contact with the reins/bit/hand', but actually means 'holds his head still'), and that ain't it either.

It definitely will fall flat at a decent competition. It only works when no one else in the class is doing any better than that, and usually, at even the smallest show, someone is doing a lot better than that.

"Sometimes the one that wins is the one that stays in the ring"...sure...but it won't cut it at a better competition.

"there always is at least 1 rich teenage girl bragging about her German breeches"

That depends on how well the one rich teenager with the German breeches can actually ride in the ring. Some of them ride pretty danged good. Some of them don't. They can say anything they want in the lounge, what it really depends on is how they ride.

By the way, I love my expensive German breeches. They last ten years getting pounded on every day. While after six weeks, a pair of Irideons looks like 'Fashions for the Homeless'. The expensive German breeches' are actually far, far cheaper. I can buy 100 pairs of Irideons to last as long as one pair of 'expensive German breeches', but it would cost me five times more money, and I don't like shopping anyway. Aside from that, the cheap ones don't keep me from getting all bruised up, cut up, and blistered up. The expensive ones do.

There are a few lousy dressage judges, they tend to hang on and survive at the smaller shows where people don't realize they're judging badly. But they usually don't crawl out of there...at least not for long.

Sometimes at schooling, club and small shows (or even, larger shows in non-dressage areas) there are bad judges - but in fact, usually, they aren't judges at all. They have little or no training. They're dressage judge CANDIDATES, Learners, or...... 'PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO JUDGE AT OUR SHOW...because....'. Usually, those guys think they can judge dressage because they judge hunters, or Western Pleasure. And they do a bad job - they get it all wrong, and they mislead people who are looking to them for guidance.

Occasionally you see a 'r' ('Little r') judge who is not exactly with it, but usually, by the time they get their 'Big R', they are pretty solid. I used to always try to go to shows that had 'Big R or better' judges and was incredibly happy with them. By the time they get to that point, they're either recovering in a Buddhist monastery or they are very, very good.

 

[Celtic Hill]

I love expensive breeches, I have Euro Star breeches, and they wear like Iron!

Any ways its pointless to go to an open show unless your going to get experience for you horse. I like to go to some larger three day open shows and just have fun and camp out with my friends.

 

[welsummerchicks]

By open you mean like shows with hunt seat, western pleasure classes, but not for a specific breed?

Well yeah. I always got told that for years, that it was a great place to go and get my horse to get used to things, but stuck with dressage shows. First of all, they're not working their horses in a way I want any dressage horse of mine to work. not even for a very short period of time, it's counterproductive.

Too, I figured that at a dressage show, the horse was going to get used to dressage type warmups and competition, which was what he was going to be doing. And...usually far better footing, less likely to get one of those, 'I guess he'll be very comfortable in a pasture for the next 30 or so years' injuries.

Of course I also didn't go because every time anyone in our barn went to one of those open shows, about 10-17 days later, it would appear they 'brought something else back besides a ribbon'.

Too, with the way I wanted my horses to move, they were going to be running over everything in the warmup as well as the class, anyway, especially at the walk. And I figured no one would like that.

 

[Celtic Hill]

Yeah open is like western, huntseat, saddleseat, halter, driving, all breeds.

There is a series that i go to and my friends and i (we have green horses) all get stalls together and camp out for the three days. It's fun, we watch the games on Saturday night, Friday is jumpers but we are normally up braiding and grooming our horses.

I remember one time im warmup, it was the first day and i had go their set everything up and i wanted to just work fee in the warmup ring so i decided i would long line her. Everyone i the warmup about died, Fiona was well behaved but they just didn't know what to do, lol. And i just kept trotting her in the middle in circle, just like i would do if i lunged her. haha'

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
ROTFLMAO

And I agree -- the O/I/R judges I've scribed for may sometimes still have their little personal "thing" or be rather snipey to talk with, but they do judge pretty consistently and fairly, and less inclined than a 'r' judge to be misled by something like a fancy mover going really really incorrectly.


Pat, who has judged at little in-house and schooling shows, from which I have learned that if I ever tried to become an actual accredited judge I would definitely end up among the 'recovering in a Buddhist monastery' category!

 

[welsummerchicks]

LOL.

At any given level, a dressage horse is supposed to have its head and neck where it allows THAT HORSE to be comfortable, balanced and effective, at the level he's at. For one horse it might be higher, for another, lower - even if they are both at the same level. It's where each horse is best balanced and effective.

Most horses will never advance up the levels, and their head/neck position won't change as training goes on, because they aren't doing the muscle-building exercises that would produce that. 'Going up the levels' is really about doing the exercises that build the muscles. It's the stronger and stronger muscles that cause the neck/head to raise slightly all by themselves - the rider doesn't lift the head up by use of his reins or by cueing the horse to do it. It's as if you opened a flood gate and then watched the water rise in the lock of a channel.

Many riders try to use the same or just about the same, rein and leg aids they used for Western or hunt seat, and the same, or similar, rein length. It causes a lot of problems, as it makes the horse's forelegs sore, tenses up his back muscles so he's harder to sit (and so he's more likely to have his rider bouncing up and down and making his back sore), and causes him to be unable to balance and respond to the rider's signals promptly.

 

[fancy]

Wellsummer


So I guess that's why my mare looks fabulous when my trainer rides her, and when I try, well...not so fabulous.


Fancy

 

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

Does anyone have ideas for a reindeer costume for my horse?