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By leg aids, no I didn’t mean spurs. Legs, hands, voice are known as "natural aids" and spurs, whips etc as "artificial aids" which should be used as as encouragement, not punishment. When schooling horses, you teach them to move away from your leg pressure and the whip can be used to back this up. So if for example you squeeze the horse with both legs to move forward and get no response, you’d squeeze again and use your whip at the same time (not very hard) to encourage it to respond to your leg. The aim is to teach the horse to respond to the the lightest of "natural aids". They can feel when a fly lands on them, so are actually very sensitive. Spurs do not have to be cruel though – if you use the inside of your leg the spurs do not come into contact with the horse unless you choose to do so. For this reason, they should only be used by riders who have sufficient control of their legs.
Riding horses is actually way more complicated than kicking to go foward and pulling the reins to stop. This isn’t always obvious as the best riders don’t actually look like they’re doing much as they make it look so easy. People taking up riding are usually pretty surprised when it’s not that easy!By leg aids, no I didn’t mean spurs. Legs, hands, voice are known as "natural aids" and spurs, whips etc as "artificial aids" which should be used as as encouragement, not punishment. When schooling horses, you teach them to move away from your leg pressure and the whip can be used to back this up. So if for example you squeeze the horse with both legs to move forward and get no response, you’d squeeze again and use your whip at the same time (not very hard) to encourage it to respond to your leg. The aim is to teach the horse to respond to the the lightest of "natural aids". They can feel when a fly lands on them, so are actually very sensitive. Spurs do not have to be cruel though – if you use the inside of your leg the spurs do not come into contact with the horse unless you choose to do so. For this reason, they should only be used by riders who have sufficient control of their legs.
Riding horses is actually way more complicated than kicking to go foward and pulling the reins to stop. This isn’t always obvious as the best riders don’t actually look like they’re doing much as they make it look so easy. People taking up riding are usually pretty surprised when it’s not that easy!I find this an interesting topic. The big problem facing trainers, and particularly trainers of 2 year olds is that they haven’t got a lot of time. Giving a horse a good mouth so they can really respond to you can take quite an amount of time. Time, a trainer with 40 2-year olds probably hasn’t got. I imagine though that a national hunt trainer must have a much easier job getting the best out an animal that’s been really well broken.
I was told once, and i don’t know if its true (maybe someone here knows) but a friend of mine was riding out race horses trained on the track in Kentucky. He told me that many of them if they set foot in an open field, ie without railings, wouldn’t get across it. They simply wouldn’t know what to do and steering was quite rudimentary.
SHL
Yes, the knowledge I have is related to showjumpers, when you’ve got a lot more time to produce them than racehorses. I totally agree that young horses have to be taught to go in a straight line – they can find it surprisingly difficult without a fence or rail to "lean" on.
How many times did Erzen get "encouraged" with the whip?
What is the ban going to be?
No wonder AP did not want to ride him.Value Is EverythingJust received some new "whip" rules for the state of Illinois (home of Arlington Park in Chicago).
One interesting note is that whips are not allowed to be used on 2yos before 1st April.
Suprising as I’d have thought that green youngsters would be just the sort of horses that may need gentle persuasion to go forward in a straight line.
This whole topic is such a difficult one and so hard to come up with a black/white rule that will keep everyone happy. As I’ve said before, I’m all for carrying a whip and being able to use it for what can best be described as safety reasons – keeping a horse straight, when a bit of extra effort over a fence is needed etc – all things that may actually stop accidents. But yet again, I watched a race yesterday – can’t remember which one, but a chase in heavy going and on the run-in, the horse in second place had no chance of either catching the winner or being overtaken, and yet the jockey still hit it, hard as poss, the maximum number of times. I’d love to know why? It wasn’t going to affect the outcome and it actually just looked like he was being spiteful on purpose.
John McCririck is right when he says the whip WILL be banned eventually its just a matter of time.
I wish the authorities would make that decision now so we could all get used it. Within a year it’ll feel perfectly normal and everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.
John McCririck is right when he says the whip WILL be banned eventually its just a matter of time.
I wish the authorities would make that decision now so we could all get used it. Within a year it’ll feel perfectly normal and everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.
…. And racing at Epsom will be banned because the camber makes it dangerous to race without the whip.
And eventually jump racing will be banned because it is seen by non-racing / non-horsey people as cruel.
Everything in life can be seen as "a matter of time". It is only a matter of time before the end of the world. But does not mean we should all commit suicide now.
Value Is EverythingJohn McCririck is right when he says the whip WILL be banned eventually its just a matter of time.
I wish the authorities would make that decision now so we could all get used it. Within a year it’ll feel perfectly normal and everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.
…. And racing at Epsom will be banned because the camber makes it dangerous to race without the whip.
And eventually jump racing will be banned because it is seen by non-racing / non-horsey people as cruel.
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No offence Ginger but that is nonsense you are just using that as a justification for your argument without any evidence whatsoever just supposition.
Suck it and see – give it a trial.
I think you will be amazed by just how little a difference will be made.
No offence taken Ian, we can have opposing views; no problem.
But please tell me how jockeys are going to keep wayward horses straight at Epsom? (Genuine ones should not be a problem). When the camber naturally persuades a horse towards the rail. It is obvious that without one of the best tools of keeping a horse straight; it will be more dangerous at Epsom in particular.
Not saying National Hunt will be banned next year or in ten years. But the way Joe Public sees jump racing nowadays, they may not want it to continue in another 30 years.
In the same way many people within racing are now against the whip as an aid. Eventually there may be people within racing who want "Jump Racing banned, to preserve Flat Racing".
Value Is EverythingNobody’s trying to ban riding crops in showjumping or working hunter classes (or just regular riding), so why would they ban them in racing? The crop serves a similar purpose, after all, and riding crops aren’t even cushioned!
The "problem" is nonexistent. There’s going to be idiot jocks who go overboard with whipping, and they should be punished individually, but the vast majority of riders use the whip only as necessary.
I agree Miss Woodford, it "should" not be a problem. But in the UK there is a group of anti-whip, anti-racing anti-everything group that is a growing minority. Which may in time become a majority. The problem is (imo) a percieved one rather than an actual one.
Value Is EverythingMort wrote…and yet the jockey still hit it, hard as poss, the maximum number of times.
I think we might have been watching the same race and experiencing similar thoughts, Mort.
To me it certainly seemed totally unnecessary and with anger and spite. This was a glaring example of cruelty being inflicted on an exhausted animal that had tried its best for its unworthy jockey. If I was the horse’s owner that jockey would never ride for me again. An absolute disgrace to the sport.
KWas watching the racing from Towester yesterday and in particular a fairly mediocre horse called Mr Parson, simply because it is distantly related to my own rescued racehorse, Timucua. I was truly appalled by the number of times it was hit by Mattie Batchelor throughout the entire race – it eventually plodded home a tired 3rd. The vet reported that he caused the horse to have weals – which with the very soft padded whips is pretty hard to do! I was extremely pleased to see on the HRA website that he has been suspended for no less than 7 days for this. This is just the type of behaviour that will eventually lead to a total whip ban.
Surely any endeavor where man imposes his will on another creature by force should then be banned.That would include boxing and wrestling in the Olympics.Also the terrible abuse of Animals in Circuses and the sad treatment of Elephants in India and other countries where they are used as pack animals.Not to mention the training of mules etc.Especially to be abhorres is wife and child abuse.If we only spent half as much energy on those two we would have done our bit. Slave labor and child labor and miniscule wages should be abhorred also.
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