Loose Dressage horse

"Her horse’s bridle was accidentally removed during the post-test tack check and he bolted around the show ground, injuring himself."



"Accidently" would not be the word I would use.

I know I say a lot about the Military Seat and how it is now nearly lost. But it wasn't just a seat or a way to ride. It was a way to be around horses. Any of the riders who studied under me know there is one correct way to deal with a bridle and the horse's head. You stand to the near side. The reins are up the neck and available if you need a "neck rope". The horse's head is lowered, rocked down if necessary. and so on. All this is to convey to the horse that you have him under your control so that incident's like this don't occur.

Imagine a cavalry troop hidden in a woods preparing for battle and some idiot trooper like what this groom did. The horse bolting would give away the troop's position and give the enemy a large advantage before the group was ready. The whole military equestrian training was about "it's not just you and your horse". You were in a group of horses with other riders and it was your job not to cause trouble. Today that is what the military calls "situational awareness". But as the years have worn on, riding has become more and more about "me", which means there is no need for situational awareness.

The photo is not a picture of an accident. It's a picture of a undisciplined, probably poorly trained groom doing a really stupid thing, and with her rider on the horse when she is doing it. There was a time I'd think this was amazingly stupid, but no longer. It's the state of horsemanship today. I have recently watched rank beginner lessons where a young kid is told to mount a horse or pony and not told to have effective control of the reins before placing their foot in the stirrup to mount. The reins in this lesson situation are hung up on the neck half way to the ears. Once the kid gets into the saddle they are told to grab the reins (difficult to accomplish if the horse is bolting). That is teaching a new rider to be dangerous. But if it's all about the rider and not about the horse, then there is apparently no point in teaching the safety aspects of horsemanship. The result is in the above picture and in the other picture of this horse injured from bolting off.

The military had a method and standard for every aspect of horsemanship that I learned form age 6. I have had plenty of injuries from my time around horses, but I'd say 80% of them were the result of not staying inside the methods or standards I was taught. The others were from underestimating footing or terrain or from overestimating a horse, or in other words, from poor judgment. But how can new riders have a chance at being safe if those standards of safe horsemanship are lost or ignored by new instructors?