OK, so in the post I put up yesterday, about advertising 101, I received an interesting challenge from one of the posters, who wasn't quite convinced that the riding was that terrible in the photos I chose (which I do agree with). So I was challenged to find a genuinely HORRIBLE rider, on a kick-ass horse. Well we've done it! Holy CRAP!!! So, Golightly and I have probably never laughed so hard, so I figured what the hell let's share it!!!! This mare RULES!!!! Would kill have a horse this nice! But...the riding??? Well just check out the youtube videos and see for yourself... Allow me to point put the obvious though. Her stirrups are WAYYYY to long and as my good friend Golightly put it, "And the girl could do a few hundred hours without stirrups, in two-point, oh, on a really springy-dingy horse."
It's been awhile since I've laughed that hard!!!!
13 comments:
Honestly, in the videos she doesn't look like that bad of a rider. Most riders over larger fences tend to have that type of leg (except for like Bezzie Madden lol). I think she does a pretty decent job getting her horse around those courses. That pic just looks like she got in too close or something. I agree about the stirups, but other than that, she doesn't look that bad..
I'd buy that horse in a heartbeat! If it jumps that well when the rider's gone to hell in a handbasket, for whatever reason, think of what it could do with a stable rider up!
No, most riders over fences that height at least have a semblance of an eye for a distance. That MARE has a good eye. The rider, not so much. The mare wants to live to see dinner.
Watch her first flat video. At the TROT. Stiff, no fluidity between the two. Rider should be sitting softly, Going Lightly. Yeah, that's my favourite expression, and was my favourite horse, of all time. I didn't need to see the rest of her flat work, and skipped to the last video..
Rider is heavy & unbalanced in the saddle, and her horse chips each time rider throws her body at the fence. Watch carefully. That's Bad Equitation. It may "look" good, but it's bad. The last video is by far the worst. I could only watch about half. I've watched lots of riders like this. They are not good.
Compare her to a Beezie. She doesn't hold a candle, in any light, to that good of a rider.
The mare may have a little scope, but she isn't an exploder over fences. Not like the horse in Advert.101. She can't be with that rider on her back. That mare would be an awesome equitation mount. Push a button, you'll get a free ticket to the other side.
All that said, I'm sure the rider loves her horse very much... And I truly hope she sells to a good home. In this low market, she's a smidgen over-priced. But then, I don't have $15,000.00 which is what I'd have asked for her, 25 years ago. MAYBE $25K to the right buyer..
I know, times have changed, but really people... A horse worth anything over $50K?? It makes no sense, unless it's insured to the max:(
Or, it's Hickstead, Big Ben, Altair, Goldfever, Gladys, Shutterfly, Milton, Mr. T., well you get the idea..:)
Hope she isn't selling her to pay for all those shows...
Nice, not spectacular mare, rider needs a lot more miles on the flat, in order to look like the horse is enjoying the job. She needs to wait until the base of the fence, and let the horse close her hip angle. Rider NEVER does that.
She throws her upper body onto the horses' neck. Just try that on a stopper. Long crest release, hah! More like unbalanced front end, thanks to the rider.
Rider should try other disciplines, and ride other horses, and give that mare a break.
Didn't 'cha see the look on the mare's face??
"Hoping for the best, from yet another impossibly long spot". Trying her guts out, with no real help up above.
Thanks TX. You made my day:)
Keeping it educational. I hope:)
Sorry I'm so long winded, it's par for my course. I can't talk for s**t, but I type a million words a minute.
Golightly~ I Loves you! You crack me up on Fugly's blog!! *half halt* LOLZ!!! I was laughing so dang hard!!! Good call!!!
I haven't taken the time to watch the videos, and I'm the LAST one to judge jumping, but in my unexperienced eye, that looks like a nice horse with a weird thing on her back.
TX, with a rider with some scope and whoa on this mare, my guess is that she could jump big? Maybe not huge, but my gosh, her knees are almost in her throat. My guess is the mare could teach a lot of riders to be good jumpers.
Thoughts from a flat lander...
Gawd I ride like that over crossrails but there's hope for me.
My (new) coach at my (new barn where they give a shit if your position is bad and will help you fix it), has spent the last year teaching me to keep my calf on the horse and support myself with my abs and back muscles. That's why everything hurts today. Two point over ground poles for the whole lesson.
This support helps eliminate the riders heels from kicking up. (Something, I was told ages ago, was deliberately done to keep an especially long legged riders foot from knocking the top pole down). Losing your leg position like that over a jump is a good way to find yourself without stirrups on the landing. Pinching with the knee won't keep you on either. It just pitches you forward.
She's got a very generous horse under her. If that mare had a stop in her this rider could look forward to spending a lot of time in the dirt.
Everything I know I learned from George Morris' confirmation column and these blogs:P
You wanna see really bad riding? lol. This lady lives near where I live. She claims to do GP. But the looks of these pics... not so much! She is also offering her horse for TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars!! Don't get me wrong this horse is a saint over fences with her, but no way. He's a bitch in the stable, I almost got bit by him once... fun times haha
http://photocenter.prophoto.bz/index.cfm?pid=44508&did=3752
http://photocenter.prophoto.bz/index.cfm?pid=44300&did=3746
And yes, she regularily rides like that.
Havocec
You can learn a LOT by watching the great riders school, and ride. Go to a big-time show, and watch the warm-ups. Do not watch the amateurs.
Even though they can be way more FUN to watch:) You can pick up bad habits, watching the bad riders ride...
Don't watch the equitation classes, nothing really to be learned there either. Watch the great ones ONLY. Hunters & jumpers both, and the great dressage riders too.
They can all teach you something....
That's how I had to learn, as I had no money. I'd watch my trainer school, and I'd work on emulating what he was doing. He trained with Michael Matz, a truly great rider. Rides a lot like him, too.
My trainer gave me the highest compliment ever, but of course, not to my face. (I was after all, a mere worker). He said to one of his clients "That girl is an educator of horses."
Ride with a firm, quiet leg, soft hands, straight, supple, relaxed back, stretch up tall in the saddle, stretching down with your legs, into your heels. ALWAYS look in the direction you want the horse to go.
Let your horse do the work over fences. Let him round up, and he'll lift you out of the saddle, all on his own.
Done right, it's the closest feeling you'll ever get to flying.
Good luck, and have FUN!!
Thanks again, TX!!
I REALLY gotta go work for my living....
Thanks golighty, Thats good advice. And something I've learned the hard way. I don't watch anyone who isn't winning over fences. And I like boring hunter rounds. Nothing fast and no dirt biking in the corners. Sad but it's the only way that works for me.
Havocec, re: you only watch "who is winning over fences."
Not so much about winning, as consistency. I chose a trainer to work for who was winning a lot. I didn't know he'd been winning a lot, that year, with horses recently purchased. He hadn't won much the year before.
He's the guy who introduced me to the idea of a standing martingale, and a tack noseband for a horse with high head carriage.. I didn't listen so much to him, after I tried his idea. That poor mare. Thank goodness the mare was a kinder, gentler sort. He went into a career that suited him better, not so long after I worked there. He was good buddies with some great trainers, and I learned alot while living on 3 hours sleep a night.
Anyway, you know what I mean?
Consistency is also key. My next trainer had been, and still is, doing his thing on the circuit, for years and years and years.
Not a super-duper star, but his horses are happy, and look happy in their job. They stay sound.
He places consistently. His clients are happy. He has a good plan.
Sorry for the long blather.
I just hope out I can help someone else before they make my many, foolish mistakes.
TX, I ask sweetly, can we lose the word verification thing, or is that for security? I have semi-slower speed, it hiccups sometimes, and I lose my carefully typed thoughts.
ok, first what is the point of this blog? to critize other riders?? you have way to much time on your hands!!
second, who said that horse was an easy ride?
third, its not like she is looking for attention about her position, yet you are picking on her. can you guys do what she is doing?
third, why are you comparing her to Beezie Madden? Beezie is an amzing rider but this girl is of totally differnt caliber. Even Beezie doesn't have perfect position over the every fence.
Fourth and finally, if you knew what your doing (and why don't you have vidoes for us to watch and criztize?) which you don't, you would know that she is jumping a jumper course and that although her position isn't perfect, yes, its not a eq. or hunter round and all that matters in jumpers is speed and time.
How about you use your wasted time and go jump some 5'3" fences instead of criztizing others who do?
OOH! This game! Let's see, heels up, kicking all the time, hands in crotch, elbows out, all in 15 seconds of youtube video! Whoohoo! (end of sarcasm) *gag*
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