Jumping coaches: you must STOP teaching children to use a whip whenever a horse hesitates in front of a jump.

Children do not naturally have a desire to kick or hit or yell at their animals - they observe it, or are instructed to do it, by people who should know better.

This generation of angry and abusive riders are specifically being TAUGHT how to be angry and abusive.

Imagine this - you see a dog being taken for a walk on a leash. The child leading the dog turns towards some stairs, and the dog stops at the bottom step. The child kicks the dog forcibly in the ribs, yells “GET UP”, and hits it with a whip.

I hope you would be outraged. I hope you would wonder who or what on earth caused the child to be so abusive to that animal. I hope you would NOT turn a blind eye and ignore it.

Now imagine this - you see a horse being ridden by a child. It is turned towards a jump, it hesitates, the child kicks the horse forcibly in the ribs, yells “GET UP”, the horse stops, and the child hits it with a whip.

𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱. 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹. 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗮 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘆𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁.

This situation is so common, normalised, accepted, TAUGHT TO THEM that nobody even blinks when it happens to a horse. I'm sure you can exactly imagine it, or have even witnessed it happen. I hope you can also understand that it will not help the horse or child become safer, more confident, more harmonious, more balanced. Once these abusive “techniques” become automatic habits, they are very difficult to correct. UNLESS WE STEP UP NOW!

But there remains a question: why did the horse stop in the first place? There are a multitude of reasons:

Underprepared

Over faced

Tired

Sore

Lacking clarity

Rider unbalanced

Horse unbalanced

Wrong pace or line

𝙎𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙨, 𝙉𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙈𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀 𝙚𝙭𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙟𝙪𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙚𝙗𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚.

Yelling at the horse, hitting it, frightening it even further results in nobody having fun, nobody feeling safe, people and horses getting hurt, and our sport being in the media for all the wrong reasons.

Here are some phrases I never wish to hear again:

Make him do it

Don't let the horse win

Always discipline a stop

Don’t let him get away with it

MORE LEG!

Replace the above phrases with these:

Prepare, then prepare some more

Reward the smallest try

Breathe

Wait

Feel

Trust

Once again, children do not naturally have a desire to kick or hit or yell at their animals - they observe it, or are instructed to do it, by people who should know better.

STOP IT!

Thank you so much for being here!
Until next time,
Merindah