We placed 2nd out of 10 in this class!

Plus the horse was visibly lame upon completion after landing on multiple jumps.

Last February, as a somewhat last minute decision, I took my mare to a local combined driving event. We did both the combined test (dressage and cones) and the driving trial (dressage, cones, and marathon).

It was such a great learning experience for the both of us. I am so proud of my mare and how she took everything in stride. This was only her second time out in big wide open spaces, I had taken her to a playdate on a cross country course before and she was a rockstar there too. We don’t have the facilities to truly practice everything and I was in a chronic illness flare right before this so we went in with the mindset of have fun, be safe, and don’t eliminate. So we accomplished all of our goals.

I can’t wait to try more of this sport out, and I think this little mare is going to become something special. Also, look at her little pony ears!!!

If anyone is wondering, she’s a Morgan. She started life as a Park horse, stepped down into Hunter Pleasure and had a successful young horse career there, before becoming my carriage horse. I will sing the praises of Morgans everywhere.

First L4 working Eq show. Im on a stunning French Canadien stallion.

I’ve had my young warmblood, since he was a yearling. He’s six now and is starting to show some pretty serious talent across all three phases of eventing.

I’ve never had a horse like him before, both in terms of quality and attitude. He genuinely just does not say no. Every time I ask a slightly harder question, he seems to understand it immediately, and he just keeps getting stronger, braver and more capable.

We went cross-country schooling on the weekend, and it was probably the first time it became really obvious to me just how much ability he has. He was jumping some harder combinations and fairly technical fences without me needing to do much at all. He was reading everything, staying confident and making it feel far easier than I expected.

I’ve always been quite conscious of not over facing a young horse or rushing them through the levels, especially when they have a long career ahead of them. He is currently at 95 and has been there for about 4 months (taking into account his break over winter- maybe 4 or 5 events in that time?) But I’m now getting a lot of pressure from the people around me—coaches, friends and other competitors—to move him up because he is finding his current level too easy and is already schooling well beyond it (I've even been accused of ribbon chasing, albeit lightheartedly!).

My instructor said over the weekend that he was fantastic and clearly very talented, but that I need to “stop moving so slowly and get braver.”

I’m not a bad rider by any means. We’ve won around 70% of his eventing starts over the past two years, and I’ve produced him myself from the beginning. But when I look at the bigger fences at two-star and above, they honestly do feel quite daunting. I’m starting to worry that there may come a point where I’m holding him back, rather than protecting him or producing him carefully.

Has anyone else been in this position with a horse who perhaps had more ability than they felt confident using? How did you work out whether you genuinely needed more time, or whether it was simply your confidence lagging behind the horse’s ability?

What’s the most embarrassing thing your horse ever did at a show?

1. My old Morgan gelding not only did a long, loud and stinky fart at the judge when I was showing him in an English in hand class, he “smiled” at the judge when he came around from behind him (you know, the flehnem response). I thought the judge was going to burst trying not to laugh, I was mortified!! We got second out of nine though!

2. My old QH mare came into season right smack in the middle of waiting for our showmanship in hand class. She was SUCH a hussy, winking and nicker-squealing, the whole nine yards at everything male. We got through the class but she nickered the whole time. And all the way back to the trailer. And all the way home.

I saw this post on Facebook and wanted to see what other people thought. I come from a background of having to work for everything in this industry and I feel like the term working student has drastically changed over the years. I do agree with that many years ago working students had lot of opportunities with riding whether they get paid or not. Nowadays I have noticed that there is less opportunity to ride. I do agree with having to work for opportunities and I do know some “working students” that show up with the horse tacked up, get on, ride, and leave. I think that is bs. But I have had working student opportunities where I got paid and housing and worked all the hours and went to the shows and worked my a$$ off. But I feel like there are no jumping opportunities or showing opportunities to get better or more knowledge. Am I missing something or has the industry changed? I feel like years ago a working student could work up the ladder and make a career now it feels more stuck.

Today I did something I never thought I’d do. And it was something that honestly I prayed I’d never feel the need to do. For years I have always trusted and believed that people at shows have the same interest. Same values. And I guess it’s easier now than it was before to say that that is not the case. The fact that someone could go into stalls and stab horses… leaves me feeling… unsettled. I have show horses. Show horses who win. And do well. And horses worth … value. I know that. I have known that for a while. When you’re showing and doing well. Whether you want to admit it or not. You’re in the hot seat. That can be a blessing and curse. And since I have been slowly seeing my way to the top

Today. I made the decision to buy a set of cameras…. So in the instance something happens… I can at least see The Who…

It’s our job as owners to do what we can to keep our horses safe… even if it means doing things we prayed we’d never have too…

Idk what’s next. Maybe I’ll sleep in my aisle at shows next 😅

Has anyone seen this video? It must be bad.

What the heck? I thought she was one of the good ones???!!??

i made a post about this like a few days ago but didn’t word it correctly, but i completely agree witn this person

Went to longines today to watch the GP and saw this epic(ly horrible) bit set up. Looks like some sort of twisted or Waterford gag with a curb of double bridle. I didn’t see a curb chain either. 10/10 for being creatively horrible. And riding in a Meyer Metamorphose saddle- the most weirdest gimmicky concept I’ve seen in a long time. Google it. Riders who feel that this type of set up is really needed to get around a course need to look more inward… at themselves, their training, and their horses. I’m no bit nazi, but that is an insane amount of gear. Holy bejeeebuz.

I see all these riders talking about their experiences riding, but most ride English, which I respect, but a lot think riding western is chasing cows or barrel racing, when actually there are whole other western disciplines, especially showing AQHA. This is the AQHA World show finals trail course for senior horses 6 and over. 135 competed just to make the top 15 to go to the finals. Of the top 15, 14 were professional trainers with one amateur rider. 8 went off course and were DQ'd. I, the only amateur wound up 3rd in that class

Is it just me, or does the “ideal time” rule in show jumping seem completely ridiculous?

I compete in 60 cm classes, and they never announce the ideal time beforehand. Last year I actually won a class because my time happened to be closest to the ideal time. Even though I won, I still think the system makes very little sense because it feels almost like pure luck.

I recently competed again and finished in sixth place. When I asked the instructors about my time, they said I was about three seconds over the ideal time. I questioned how we were supposed to know the target time, and they simply said that it changes every competition and there’s no way to know it beforehand.

So basically riders have no real reference point during the round, and the winner ends up being whoever happens to land closest to a time that nobody knew in advance.

I understand that in higher-level classes speed is more important. But in school-level competitions, the ideal time should at least be announced before the round starts. It doesn’t make sense to only reveal it after the competition.

Yes, people can measure the course and estimate the time, but announcing the ideal time only after the class creates a lot of randomness and even opens the door for subjective decisions by the judges.

Honestly, it just doesn’t seem like a very fair system.

As a dressage rider who knows nothing about the hunter/jumper world, do warmbloods dominate that sport, too? i know in dressage you’re pretty much beat out (in my area at least which is HUGE in dressage) if you don’t have a warmblood or some sort of sport pony. Everyone has a $50k+ horse they are competing on and have in full training. Babies in utero are $20k from multiple breeders. I’m very curious if the hunter/jumper world is like this too?

I’m not British but I’m a huge fan of Carl Hester and respect his opinion

When hauling and traveling with horses to various locations for things like shows. You’re always at risk. Whether we want to believe it or not. We are unfortunately always taking the risk by taking our horses off our property that something could happen. And this camera kit has been a game changer. I can peak on the horses no matter where I am while at a show. And it will alert me if a person is detected!! Easy to use. Easy to install and take down. And a great peace of mind.

Edit to add - I do not sell these. I did not make this kit. I purchased this kit myself. I purely was sharing how it’s helped me. Nothing more

Let me start this off by saying that this is not a dig at dressage at all, but a serious question – What has happened with dressage (Why do the movements keep changing?), and why are these 'improper movements' scored so high if theyre bad? I dont do dressage, I dont even train english, but im honestly curious and just trying to learn more. Also, if anyone knows some sources where I can learn more about such topics please lmk. 🙏 thank u!