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So part of my job when I'm teaching is that I accompany the students when they first step in to the show world and their first competition. This is to watch and give feedback as well as to ensure safety. Showing is stressful and the riders will adjust themselves accordingly most of the time without really being aware of it. The horse's are usually one of three types.
Either the horse has a long history of blue ribbons and gives no fucks.
The horse and rider are both completely green to competition and their feeding each others fear and insecurity.
The horse knows what it should be doing because it's been there done that but the rider's fears and insecurities are making them short tempered/tense/spastic/ otherwise confusing the horse. The horse then keeps trying to correct itself to what the riders asking of it but gets more and more irritated when it can't seem to do anything right and doesn't understand why the riders acting so weird.
It's my job to observe and give back feedback or correct the human. Sometimes I have to step in and tell them to take a good hard look at the last 5 minutes. They usually understand that they've been either confusing/frustrating their horse by giving out contradictory aids or the horse is acting up because it's picking up on the humans fear and anticipation.
Most of these kids have parents who dropped a couple grand on a horse (thinking that if it won ribbons before it can totally do so again. Not realizing that the rider has a big part of that too), lessons, equipment, and they desperately want to win so that they can prove to their parents that it wasn't all a waste of time and money. So tensions run high.
Anyway. I usually start with entering the beginners in a morning division. Enter myself in an afternoon division or two so they can see the difference, and then enter the intermediate/advanced into later afternoon divisions.
Anyway. While I was straightening myself out and the horse was standing there tacked up and waiting warmup one of the girls from another stable (that I was also overseeing as a favour to a friend who was unable to attend due to injury) came over and tried to lead my horse away.
I stopped her and explained that the horse was mine. (Some of the kids from the other stable have their horses tacked up for them while their watching the ring's more experienced riders.) she claimed it was hers and I had put the wrong tack on and 'God, don't I even know how to tack a horse properly.' Snotty brat. And then the parent got into it.
So I asked to see their papers. It turns out that their horse was A) an entirely different breed and B) an entirely different colour.
It turns out that the person who was supposed to be helping get the horses ready had buggered off somewhere and their horse was still tied to the other side of the trailer waiting to be tacked (thankfully already groomed). One of the reasons (aside from the obvious amount of riders present) I needed someone to help was because I'm not familiar with the set up when it comes to western style riding. I ride English. I can do some cutting and reining on a really good horse and I can trail ride with western tack but that's the extent of my knowledge in that sphere. I've never been interested beyond a passing curiosity and so I never learned how to tack western. A lot of the things are the same. A saddle is a saddle, a bridle is a bridle. But things are still different enough that you need to be taught. For instance the stirrup length in a western saddle always feels like their about to come off for me. But that's got to do with how the horse is ridden. There's two entirely different ways of steering the horse. It is not my area and I'm not comfortable tacking someone else's horse given the inherent risks of the sport when you know what your doing.
Meanwhile, she's getting all upset because I'm 'clearly trying to pass off a lesser horse as theirs when I know damn well that it's not.' So while I've already sent someone to hunt the other person down to tack up her actual horse, I bring out my papers. I point to the ear tattoo and my papers showing the number and name of owner. Oh and then there's the breed. Then I point out the freeze mark. Not to mention... Stallion- mare.... Not even the same gender lady and believe me it's hard to miss the dangly bits on a horse.
This: (images from Google)
https://goo.gl/images/RrLRbS (colour)
https://goo.gl/images/ksTidF (Breed/body type)
Does not in any way resemble this: (images from Google)
https://goo.gl/images/2ENC9m
It took having a vet come over and read the chip to prove that yes this was in fact my horse. Sorry, but if you can't tell your horse apart from other horses then clearly you don't spend enough time with it and probably shouldn't have one. Kid was probably hoping that if mommy pushed enough I'd give in because no doubt she's seen such happen before. I doubt mommy dearest could tell a horse from a mule and was merely going with what her daughter said. (Also kids aren't that great at hiding their facial expressions.)
Yes I'm aware my horse is beautiful. Yes I'm aware that he's the only PRE stallion on the island of his colour. I know he was born in Spain and is probably worth more then my house (networking people, don't underestimate it). That's alright, while they were leaving to collect their actual horse (and almost missed their call for warm up) he let out the loudest smelliest fart ever to come out of a horse's arse. I only wish he had done so in their faces. (Sadly while they couldn't differentiate their horse from someone else's, they did know better then to walk behind a strange horse. Not that they actually needed to walk behind to get to the other side of the trailer but hey, in my imagination they got a face full of fart).
Why do ppl keep doing this? Just cause I'm short and look all of 15 does not mean I'm intimidated by you. Fuck off ppl.
God I love how cut-throat the horse world can be sometimes.
Either the horse has a long history of blue ribbons and gives no fucks.
The horse and rider are both completely green to competition and their feeding each others fear and insecurity.
The horse knows what it should be doing because it's been there done that but the rider's fears and insecurities are making them short tempered/tense/spastic/ otherwise confusing the horse. The horse then keeps trying to correct itself to what the riders asking of it but gets more and more irritated when it can't seem to do anything right and doesn't understand why the riders acting so weird.
It's my job to observe and give back feedback or correct the human. Sometimes I have to step in and tell them to take a good hard look at the last 5 minutes. They usually understand that they've been either confusing/frustrating their horse by giving out contradictory aids or the horse is acting up because it's picking up on the humans fear and anticipation.
Most of these kids have parents who dropped a couple grand on a horse (thinking that if it won ribbons before it can totally do so again. Not realizing that the rider has a big part of that too), lessons, equipment, and they desperately want to win so that they can prove to their parents that it wasn't all a waste of time and money. So tensions run high.
Anyway. I usually start with entering the beginners in a morning division. Enter myself in an afternoon division or two so they can see the difference, and then enter the intermediate/advanced into later afternoon divisions.
Anyway. While I was straightening myself out and the horse was standing there tacked up and waiting warmup one of the girls from another stable (that I was also overseeing as a favour to a friend who was unable to attend due to injury) came over and tried to lead my horse away.
I stopped her and explained that the horse was mine. (Some of the kids from the other stable have their horses tacked up for them while their watching the ring's more experienced riders.) she claimed it was hers and I had put the wrong tack on and 'God, don't I even know how to tack a horse properly.' Snotty brat. And then the parent got into it.
So I asked to see their papers. It turns out that their horse was A) an entirely different breed and B) an entirely different colour.
It turns out that the person who was supposed to be helping get the horses ready had buggered off somewhere and their horse was still tied to the other side of the trailer waiting to be tacked (thankfully already groomed). One of the reasons (aside from the obvious amount of riders present) I needed someone to help was because I'm not familiar with the set up when it comes to western style riding. I ride English. I can do some cutting and reining on a really good horse and I can trail ride with western tack but that's the extent of my knowledge in that sphere. I've never been interested beyond a passing curiosity and so I never learned how to tack western. A lot of the things are the same. A saddle is a saddle, a bridle is a bridle. But things are still different enough that you need to be taught. For instance the stirrup length in a western saddle always feels like their about to come off for me. But that's got to do with how the horse is ridden. There's two entirely different ways of steering the horse. It is not my area and I'm not comfortable tacking someone else's horse given the inherent risks of the sport when you know what your doing.
Meanwhile, she's getting all upset because I'm 'clearly trying to pass off a lesser horse as theirs when I know damn well that it's not.' So while I've already sent someone to hunt the other person down to tack up her actual horse, I bring out my papers. I point to the ear tattoo and my papers showing the number and name of owner. Oh and then there's the breed. Then I point out the freeze mark. Not to mention... Stallion- mare.... Not even the same gender lady and believe me it's hard to miss the dangly bits on a horse.
This: (images from Google)
https://goo.gl/images/RrLRbS (colour)
https://goo.gl/images/ksTidF (Breed/body type)
Does not in any way resemble this: (images from Google)
https://goo.gl/images/2ENC9m
It took having a vet come over and read the chip to prove that yes this was in fact my horse. Sorry, but if you can't tell your horse apart from other horses then clearly you don't spend enough time with it and probably shouldn't have one. Kid was probably hoping that if mommy pushed enough I'd give in because no doubt she's seen such happen before. I doubt mommy dearest could tell a horse from a mule and was merely going with what her daughter said. (Also kids aren't that great at hiding their facial expressions.)
Yes I'm aware my horse is beautiful. Yes I'm aware that he's the only PRE stallion on the island of his colour. I know he was born in Spain and is probably worth more then my house (networking people, don't underestimate it). That's alright, while they were leaving to collect their actual horse (and almost missed their call for warm up) he let out the loudest smelliest fart ever to come out of a horse's arse. I only wish he had done so in their faces. (Sadly while they couldn't differentiate their horse from someone else's, they did know better then to walk behind a strange horse. Not that they actually needed to walk behind to get to the other side of the trailer but hey, in my imagination they got a face full of fart).
Why do ppl keep doing this? Just cause I'm short and look all of 15 does not mean I'm intimidated by you. Fuck off ppl.
God I love how cut-throat the horse world can be sometimes.
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