Please reconsider tuning in this year to the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio, at least the Equestrian portion.
I've written about why it would be great if you tuned out during the Equestrian portion in Before You Watch the Equestrian Games, please share with both your equestrian and non-equestrian friends.
It's been over a decade that the use of Rollkur and LDR (low, deep, round) have marked the sport of Dressage (amongst others). We've been unable to make ground with the FEI to stop the practice, and it's past-time that we ask for help outside the horse industry to make it known to the FEI that this needs to stop.
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It does need to stop. It’s outdated and unnecessary.
This is so sad. Many of us turned to dressage in the years past to escape from what we were seeing and being taught in other equestrian ‘disciplines’. Hanging out in warm-up arenas and stables I’ve seen just about everything. From the whipping of Arab halter horses before then entered the ring, to stacks, chains and soring of Walkers, from the yank, yank, yank on the mouths of pleasure horses to the brutal use of high port curb bits on reining horses and just about everything in between, I’ve seen it and been disgusted by it.
But then there was Dressage, which promised, in books on in its own rules, a more humane and sensible treatment of the horse. More than a sport, Dressage was a philosophy that emphasized the horses physical and mental development, understanding of what was ask if it, freedom of movement, lack of stress and overall health and longevity.
Words like “acceptance”, “suppleness”, “relaxation” and “elasticity” should describe a horse that is successful in the dressage ring, but instead the 10-ers are showing us white rimmed eyes, mouths straining against over-tight nosebands, heads held still by traction, tension, worry and mechanical movements.
It’s bad enough these animals are suffering and the riders/trainers are being rewarded for it, but a whole new generation of horse lovers are seeing this as “correct”, that the only way to get a horse to perform at this level is to abuse it.
And for those who see through the scores to see the abuse, where do they turn to to find other horsemen who put an emphasis on the well being of their equine companions above their egos?
Dressage supported ideals that are now nearly gone from the upper ranks, rule books be damned. Unless this generation of judges is reined in and retrained, or fired, the ideals will be dead and the abuse will only grow worse. In fact, with the current emphasis on flashy gaits, I wouldn’t be surprised that weighted shoes started making their appearance in the ring soon, if they haven’t already.
Sorry for the rant. Perhaps I should have simply posted this:
Xenophon – The Art of Horsemanship
“For what the horse does under compulsion, as Simon also observes, is done without understanding; and there is no beauty in it either, any more than if one should whip and spur a dancer.
I appreciate the rant, what you’ve expressed in it is what so many of us have felt in regards to Dressage. It was the “good” sport for the horse and rider, but for over a decade now it has done a full-on nose dive.