Schooling Show Observations

Even as I sit down to write, I question if I will post this.  I work hard to stay on the positive tip, and try no to bring the light rather than fighting the darkness (as guided by MLK Jr), but the events of this year have really brought clarity to the fact that silence is compliance and I’m not comfortable with complicity. So, here goes:

A group of students and I signed up for a local schooling event hosted this weekend.  As our horses haven’t been out much with Covid, I made sure schooling was available to ensure our horses were appropriately prepared to have a positive experience. We rolled in on Friday afternoon, super excited to get out and have a great time. While all of our horses are relatively green in the discipline we were there to show, all are well-schooled and experienced with outings. We all signed up below our level of schooling, again to ensure a positive outing.

We entered the schooling ring and walked into complete and utter chaos. There was a mix of horses schooling, from big fancy warmbloods, to darling humble ponies, and everything in between. My immediate observation was one of extreme stress across the vast majority of horses, not even speaking of the riders. It was a stunning exhibition of dangerous riding, and was truly an accident waiting to happen. While we walked on our horses amidst the chaos, we witnessed several near accidents as riders were not appropriately identifying fences they intended to jump. There were horses and riders going literally in all directions. One of my students had a random horse slam into her. There were loose horses (both from riders falling, and randomly from the stabling). There were barking dogs alongside the arena wall, and there was a complete lack of schooling ring etiquette.

I lasted two half-laps around the arena, dismounting after a shouting woman with dogs in a baby carriage flapped her arms wildly at the edge of the arena and sent my lovely but not especially confident large young horse shooting into the wild traffic. In this environment there was no chance I could effectively work through my usual process on this guy, in order to continue building our baseline confidence and expand his horizons. I helped him through a couple sticky moments, and got one big deep breath before I exited the arena in utter shock.

Before it seems like I am being critical of the riders involved, many, if not most, were working under the guidance of an instructor. There were several large groups of riders dominating the schooling ring with little to no consideration of the rest of us. Instructions like “bend him” were being shouted across the arena, and some students were spoken to with some incredibly derogatory language and tone.

What astounded me was the sheer lack of horsemanship being displayed. There was desperation in the air, horses and riders putting out fear, and stress, and bewilderment. From my perspective as an instructor, I always consider that the buck stops here.  If my students aren’t more than prepared, they don’t enter the ring. If they need me shouting from the middle of the arena, they don’t enter the ring. If they don’t already know how to do the job we’re there to do, they don’t enter the ring. Do I support with observations and tips, of course, but I’m not there to teach them, I’m there to coach.

Needless to say, I scratched my rides. One of my other students did too, as her horse has a rather large bubble and would not have responded well to being bumped into by other riders and given the likelihood of that we exited with him as well.

Two of my students stayed, and we waited until the arena was less chaotic to school them. Even still, one expressed concern that if she came off of her horse, she ran the risk of being trampled. 

Today at the actual event, it was fascinating to see and listen to the coaching. Riders working hard, giving it their all, yet not actually having the tools to be successful. I saw many combinations without the basic skills to move through the ring in basic balance and with fundamentals I believe to be essential. Again, I don’t blame the riders, they’re doing what they’ve been taught.

What makes me sad, is that these students are spending the time and money to pursue a sport they clearly have great passion for. It takes significant resources to arrive at an event like this, and many folks are doing this in lieu of something else like a vacation or another big purchase.  They’ve spent months training just as hard as anyone with better instruction. They love their horses as much as anyone else, but they’re being conditioned to blame the animals and themselves for any lack of success.

Our industry is failing our students, our horses, and our professionals. The social license to operate is closing in on us, and with scenes like these becoming more and more commonplace, we can anticipate regulation. We can choose to regulate from the inside or from the outside, the choice stands with us.