Thursday, February 18, 2010
This IS Bad Riding
I can't take credit for finding this video. I was reading the Bad Riding Blog and it was the first entry today. But it made me grit my teeth enough that I decided to share it over here, too.
Where do I start? The horses in this video are simply magnificent animals. The riders - not so much. Not only are they not the greatest riders but they obviously aren't the brightest, either. We could make a contest out of spotting how many things are wrong in what's going on here, ending with their decision to take the jump.
When the first rider jumped her horse, I cringed. But when the second rider, the one using DRAW REINS approached the jump I kept saying, "No, no, no, no, no he's not - not with draw reins," well, you'll see where that got him in the video. The poor horse couldn't extend his neck to balance for the jump and almost has a nasty injury.
I watch stuff like this and ask myself, why is karma like this? I have a green, grade horse that I'm taking the tiniest of steps with and then you have fools like this, riding elegant, athletic, well-bred horses and treating them like a drunk driver behind the wheel of a Ferrari.
Good riding is more than sitting well and having soft hands and a good release, it's making good decisions too. If this is your "first time jumping" as the video title indicates, this is not the way a good horseman attempts it. Sorry.
Just, wow.
And for those of you who may say, "I've jumped with draw reins before" well, so have I but only over gymnastic cavaletti pole to small fence exercises. I'd never use them under circumstances like this and always with a trained professional to guide me. I've attached some links below for further reading and discussions about the proper uses for draw reins as this seems a good time to add that subject as well.
Using Draw Reins and Side Reins
Discussion on Draw Reins and Jumping
Can I Improve my Horses' Jumping Style?
Question: Draw Reins - Good or Not?
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12 comments:
Oh my god! These two seem like they are having a blast by riding way over their abilities at their horses expense. Poor horses.
Holy crow, that was crazy. Boy do I feel bad for those horses!
WOW. That's really all I can say about the video. I love your comment about them riding like "drunken fools behind the wheel of a Ferrari"...it's so true!
As far as jumping in draw reins is concerned, I agree with you in that I think that, under the correct circumstances, in the hands of a capable and well-schooled rider, that they can be good TOOLS for helping a horse understand what is being asked of him, however the rider in the video should NEVER have been jumping in draw reins if he doesn't have a good enough position to release the horses face over the jump. In this case, it's just cruel. Horses naturally use their head and neck to jump...no wonder his terrifying jump almost resulted in a nasty crash!
Scary for sure when the slo mo shows how far from the fence the second rider took off.
Oh yes, and to not top it off, neither rider is wearing a helmet so if they did fall off they might knock themselves more senseless than they are already. And the first rider's stirrups are way too long for that kind of nonsense and....well, I just won't go on.
Lovely, talented, honest horses...how long will they stay that way?
I think I will stick to nice plane old western style riding.
Holy cow.
My only comments are:
Shorten your reins, woman...you almost got dumped into a passing car because you had no brakes.
And, you're an idiot.
I think that covers it, lol
I think the title at the beginning says "Jumping for the first time" (in Dutch?) Horrible to watch, no matter who's first time it was.
Wow, all I can say is WOW! At the very least they could sorten their stirrups or atleast have a jumping saddle on to do the horse a favor. I'm like you, I have a trashy grade appy that I have to work very hard with and these horses look like they have loads of telent, I would die for something like that! Like the drunk driver with the Ferrari analogy, very clever.
It's a good thing I've not filmed any of my beginner jumping. If and when my HorseMaster episode airs, I'm sure plenty will be said.
I might blog a few thoughts on this one...
I love your analogy of a drunk driver with a Ferrari. That pretty much hits the nail on the head.
I saw that on the Bad_Riding blog this morning and almost wretched up my coffee. Those two have the privilege of riding those gorgeous, expensive-looking horses and that's how they treat them. It makes me sick.
The first horse does use his neck and body, but his knees are pointing down over the jump. Very unsafe. And the rider, well she's just trying to hold on.
The second horse is a gorgeous jumper. Wonder what he'd look like if he'd been able to use his head and neck correctly. I'm not gonna say either rider is awful, I just think they are not suitably tacked for what the were doing, and are not being safe/smart. Poor horses. Luckily neither one refused!
Gosh, that hurt just watching!!! What on earth were they doing?? It looked as if they just woke up one day and decided "Hey, let's hire some horses and see what we can do with them!"
Seriously terrible... and where are their hats? The woman nearly came off after the first jump. That could have been very ugly!
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