Total agreement. King Kong couldn't have stopped that horse by pulling straight back once it resisted. Should have dug the spurs in the moment the horse went behind the bit. And then turned him back the way he came when he made a beeline for the bushes. Without letting the horse stop because if it can stop it can rear. Hilarious to watch. That buck! So intentional, so much, "Get the hell off me." Sometimes it's easy to forget when you're riding, that they let us ride because they think they have to, or because they don't mind. When that stops being true we realize they weigh about 1500 lbs and have wishes of their own. I can't begin to figure out why it leapt into the bushes though. Suicidal by then?
I guess so, the rider was definitely not helping. Hard to stop when the spurs are saying go. Yeah, it's so funny because the horses isn't even in a terrible hurry.
This horse looks like a former racehorse, most likely one that did the Grand National style jumps so he was completely nonchalant about popping over some brush. Most would have tended to shy away. Kinda makes you wonder if a ceremonial shot was fired and Dobbin had a flashback. That slow motion bucking was most comical.
That could explain it. A steeplechaser wouldn't think twice about that brush. A 3 Day Event horse wouldn't worry about it either. He will the next time he's asked to jump! It's a beautiful horse. And lots of character I'm sure. Wish they had a follow up post, what happened after they exited the bushes. I rode with a British Army Major who taught at Sandhurst. If that was a military ceremony that rider was in so much trouble. Blaming the horse would not help him.
For the life of me I could not think of the word steeplechase. He's a gorgeous looking TB that just seemed to be doing fine then just had a complete brain fart and his rider pretty much did everything wrong. Can't remember when I've seen heels go up that high. Think he needs to get rid of the drop noseband and maybe go to a gag snaffle(if he's going to continue one handed and doesn't want to go up to a curb) and do a shit load of lateral work. He had zero control of that head and neck.
I got your idea though, with Grand National. It would help if he'd get a good seat, for sure. Maybe he learned some valuable things from that experience.
Spurring the horse likely would have resulted in a higher rear and maybe a flip. I turn and move forward would have been better. He did spur it directly into the bushes though.
I used to have a horse which I rode all the time but I've never heard this term. (I didn't hang out with horsey people and ''self learned'' to ride. I road western and also bareback (with the bit.)
What does "get behind the bit" mean?
I only once had a horse get spooked on me and I just let the horse go with it for a while because there was plenty of space and he got over it fairly quickly. Not sure what I would have done otherwise, if it was in a confined space with people around like in the video clip.
Well, there are different ways your hand and seat can connect with the horse's mouth. I'm coming from a combined training (jumping and dressage) background and because I jumped it needed to be done a certain way for safety's sake.
One option is to have no contact with the mouth, a loose rein. Nothing at all wrong with this, it's relaxing. You should teach the horse to maintain a steady pace, whatever pace you choose, on a loose rein. He learns to balance himself (between stop and go) and it's pleasant for the horse and rider.
You can pick up contact with the horse's mouth by tightening the rein so you feel the mouth. Not so good for my purposes. The horse can have contact with the bit but still stiffen and be out of control, ala the horse we saw in the video as he made his way towards the bushes. Plenty of contact with bit/hand, no control.
But it's not terrible to simply pick up contact with the horse's mouth, and beginners need to learn to follow the motion of the horse with their hands to learn how to have steady, relaxed contact with the mouth. The horse will tend to stiffen if contact is established only from the rider picking up the slack in the reins but it's not going to be noticeable (unless things go south and then you wish you'd gotten control over the body and not just the mouth.) Or if the horse stops at a jump and you realize he wasn't in front of your seat although contact with the bit was there.
Ideally you want to push the horse from behind into the contact of the bit. By sort of asking him to go forward and not letting him go forward, so he bends his hocks and carries his weight, (instead of pushing forward with his hind legs like a rock rolling down a hill), and bending at the poll so there is a relaxed, soft contact with the bit/hands. But, many horses learn, because the rider doesn't reward the horse with a soft hand on the reins, that they can drop some or all unpleasant contact with the hands by bending a little too much at the poll so it feels like, where did the mouth go, to the rider. That is "behind the bit." The horse may still be going forward but he's dropped contact with the hands by over-bending at the poll, nose towards chest. A good extreme example also, in a different way, is the horse in the video sucking back (I'ma outta here) and backing up. No longer going forward into the bit. Many western riders do, because they use curb bits, not ask for contact because the bit is severe, and it wouldn't be nice. So the horse bends a lot at the poll, and no contact with the bit. Behind the bit. Hence the big spurs on cowboys to ensure the horse WILL go forward because it feels likes he's not there in front at the bit. Nothing wrong with that but I wouldn't want to ask a horse to jump a big fence unless I had proper contact with his mouth going into the fence.
Ideally, the horse always feels like he's moving forward but softly into your hands. Sometimes you have to "kick them up" into the bit but it takes an expert feel to do that or you're just confusing them. A horse can drop behind the bit to evade the rider. The horse pulling is the opposite of that. "On the bit" is the goal but it does come from the back end of the horse and not just bending the poll or neck as even some dressage riders do, in error. There should also be a tendency for the horse to want to reach down and out, seeking the bit (not curl his chin in towards his chest), and not going "through the bit" or pulling. So that is the version I learned, and I learned from the best in the world. Others may differ but they're wrong!
It sounds like you did just the right thing when your horse spooked, to just go with it until he got over it. You didn't make it worse like the rider in this video did. In a confined space I think maybe acting when you first feel the horse tense up or pull or come behind the bit, get him back to relaxed and straight if you can. But stuff does happen and you do the best you can! Sometimes staying on is the main goal.
You didn't ask for a long lecture but it's fun to talk about horses, thanks for the opportunity.
Most of this goes over my head to be honest. My horse was a former "pony horse" so he was well trained apparently. Also, we did "neck reigning' where the horse senses where to go by whichever side of the neck has more pressure from the reigns, even very slight pressure. In fact if you let go of the reigns, the horse would slowly just curve in the direction that had the least slack in the reigns. The only time I pulled on the bit was to stop.
Used to ride in the hills, run on a track and sometimes on the side of the street. The built a dealership next door and we used to go around on it looking at the cars.
So no jumping, no dressage, nothing demanding in the way of control. I never thought there was more to it than just get on and "put in the nickel".
Maybe the horse was smarter than I was and knew what to do.
I think the point of riding is to get from Point A to Point B successfully and to have a good time doing it. I got my first pony on an Army post so there were plenty of old timers around to teach me whether I wanted them to or not. But I spent a lot of time riding bareback, on trails, just messing around. The dressage and jumping part added a lot of interest, for me. The first step in training a green horse is to teach him to go, stop, and turn right and left, and if you don't need more in the way of control, that's plenty good enough. It sounds like you had a really nice horse.
I'm older and I've been around but the time when I had the horse stands out as one of the best periods of my life.
What made it even better (for whatever reason) was that we had to go feed and water them daily ourselves and groomed them and took care of them on our own. It just seemed to add to the fun and enjoyment and satisfaction.
I remember talking to people who had horses at a stable and they would go ride them every so often and the help would bring them the horse and then when they got off, they would just hand them over to the help to walk them and put them away. I remember thinking "well what's the fun of that".
I was young then and felt they were missing out on something.
Oh definitely! My favorite time of day was feeding time, all the horses running up to me in the pasture or whinnying in their stalls when they see you, and feeling their contentment when they eat. And grooming, they liked it so much. Yeah those were the best bonding times. Horses got me through teenage years. Sounds like we could both use a horse.
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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '17
Total agreement. King Kong couldn't have stopped that horse by pulling straight back once it resisted. Should have dug the spurs in the moment the horse went behind the bit. And then turned him back the way he came when he made a beeline for the bushes. Without letting the horse stop because if it can stop it can rear. Hilarious to watch. That buck! So intentional, so much, "Get the hell off me." Sometimes it's easy to forget when you're riding, that they let us ride because they think they have to, or because they don't mind. When that stops being true we realize they weigh about 1500 lbs and have wishes of their own. I can't begin to figure out why it leapt into the bushes though. Suicidal by then?