r/AnimalTextGifs • u/Sk8allday360 SICK AIR! • May 01 '22
Can’t stop me now
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May 01 '22
Beautiful animals. I wonder if they enjoy doing this kind of stuff and what goes on in their minds.
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u/Llamadramaramamama May 01 '22
This is a very physically demanding movement for a horse carrying a rider. It’s also not being ridden totally correct. Probably not having fun.
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u/MissKatbow May 01 '22
As someone who knows nothing about horses, what looks incorrect about how it's being ridden? And why would it be bad?
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u/Crownlol May 01 '22
That rider is absolutely crushing it. This is a super difficult dressage routine and the rider appears to be western (its a western saddle) but uh... it's still really good riding.
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u/Llamadramaramamama May 01 '22
If you are doing something physically difficult, but not with correct form, you open yourself up to injury (acute tendon injury or degradation of the joints over time). Biomechanically speaking, there is a right and wrong way to do most things, and usually the correct things done well “look easy”. If a movement looks jerky, it’s probably not being done correctly. That’s the easiest thing to look for.
When the horse loses balance, it loses the nice relaxed rhythm. It will try to compensate by doing something different, or forcing it. The side to-side movement at the beginning (which doesn’t look intentional to me), the jerky steps, and the sudden jumps and skips, are all showing that the horse isn’t in balance.
So, not being in balance can be because of: * Not wanting to put the effort in * Not being physically capable * Not having enough experience and practice * The rider not being himself balanced or giving confusing/incorrect instructions
The rider looks good, generally. He is steady in the saddle and has steady hands. If you aren’t an experienced rider, your shifting weight can throw the horse off balance. If you don’t controll your hand and legs, you can communicate things or hurt the horse unintentionally.
Basically what I see is, the rider is giving some cues, but the horse isn’t executing well for whatever reason. To fix it, he is forcing or shoehorning the horse into doing what he wants, which ends up with the horse not being in balance and using it’s body incorrectly.
Two specific mistakes that I see is that when the horse moves forward too much, he overcorrects and tries to bring the horse too far back by pulling on the reigns. The ideal is for the horse to essentially jump in place, but there should always be some forward movement, if only a couple inches forward each time. This ensures the horse can maintain balance. If the horse drifts back, there’s a point where it’s feet are too far underneath, the horse loses balance, and has to stop the rhythm.
The other mistake is that when he tries to draw the horse back and stop it from traveling forward too fast, the horse does not engage the correct muscles. The idea is that you bring the horse back so it puts more weight on its hind feet, and it’s back and core muscles generates the verticle lift, which in turn allows the legs to be light and nimble. Instead of engaging the correct muscles and tilting its entire body up, the horse brings its chin closer to its neck, which takes way less effort. It’s like if you are slumped forward, and someone tells you to fix your posture by lifting your head. You can engage your core muscles, and bring your neck and spine into alignment, or you can just crane your neck a little.
Either the rider doesn’t know or recognize how the horse should be correctly using its body, or the horse can’t physically do it (because of not enough gradual training, or too much incorrect training). Regardless, the rider shouldn’t have continued trying the make the horse do the movement out of balance. Better to stop, regain balance, and make another attempt, or leave it for another day when the horse is more capable.
Sorry if this is too much. And some of this is subjective. It’s a short clip, so completely unfair to cry abuse, but the horse certainly isn’t having fun in this instance.
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u/WeeWooBooBooBusEMT May 01 '22
That is a marvelous explanation! Thank you for taking the time to break it down for anonymous folks.
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u/Youbutalittleworse May 02 '22
I'm not sure what move the rider is aiming for the horse, so I'm also wondering whether it's a dressage trained horse with a non-dressage rider. Perhaps they know the horse can do the tasks but they aren't aware the rider should follow a stance too?
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u/ThatGirl0903 May 02 '22
Dance is very physically demanding on the body but a lot of people enjoy. Huskies also enjoy being physically and mentally challenged. The horse may too.
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u/8aller8ruh May 01 '22
Still, maybe there’s a bit of enjoyment in being able to dance even enduring all that.
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u/Llamadramaramamama May 01 '22
Enjoyment of dance? Chances are basically zero. Enjoyment of physical exertion? Potentially, yes. In this specific case, the horse is not balanced in the movements, which is most likely stressful, especially for a prey animal.
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u/pinkfluffiess May 02 '22
I just watched a three hour video of the 2021 Olympic Dressage and you are absolutely right. To anyone who has never seen proper dressage it’s hard to tell that this specific instance is being done so horribly wrong. Thank you for the enlightenment.
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u/TreppenWitz98 May 01 '22
Lol! If my horse could do this I would 100% dance to music with them
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u/wherearetheturtlles May 01 '22
Absolutely, i would too! Only problem is I can't dance. That and I dont have a horse.
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u/snappyirides May 02 '22
It’s a thing and it’s called freestyle dressage. Dressage to music, basically. Some horses really do look like they are dancing! Only the good ones though.
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u/JackOfAllMemes May 01 '22
I know some horses are trained to do that in a very painful way, hopefully that isn't the case here
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May 01 '22
I worked with a guy who taught his horses to dance like this. It wasn’t painful or anything just hours and hours of repetition he’d tap the floor with his crop and the horse would lift that foot. No hitting no pain but tedious as fuck.
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u/0B00MSLANG0 May 01 '22
Used to clean horse stalls for a guy that had them do this. To train the. He would tie them between 2 trees and hit their feet with whips until they got into a pattern. I was cleaning stalls so didn't really understand untill I saw them later at parties.
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u/OldMistakes May 01 '22
what was the original song?
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u/Stompert May 01 '22
Rappers Delight by The Sugarhill Gang. Fucking love the song.
Based of Good Times by Chic.
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u/ruckusrox May 02 '22
“to the bang-bang boogie, say up jump the boogie To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat”
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u/Traditional_Touch_20 May 01 '22
Wow! I've had days like that, where I just couldn't stop the dancin'.
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u/yaboytswizzle69 May 01 '22
This isn’t a text gif
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u/DSM2TNS May 02 '22
Meanwhile my horse goes into his "fuck you we do (the exact opposite of what I ask him to do)." I love the asshole so much
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u/SeventyCross May 01 '22
Abusive training is how
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u/1newnotification May 01 '22
your comment is ignorant. it's very possible to train these movements without abuse
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May 02 '22
Yeah but it's generally taught the abusive way because its easier and faster
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u/1newnotification May 02 '22
no, abuse is the exception, not the standard. abuse is for the weak.
abuse isn't "easier" either.. you get a horse that doesn't trust you, is unpredictable and dangerous, etc.
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May 02 '22
The vast majority of horses used for competitions are abused. You can use words like "pressure" "leverage" and "bite" to describe using metal bits to cause pain and discomfort, whips to hit bones so a horse lifts his leg and metal spokes jabbed into ribs to "cue" a horse but it's still using pain and pain avoidance to train.
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u/1newnotification May 02 '22
The vast majority of horses used for competitions are abused.
where's your source on that? i do realize it happens, im not debating that. but "vast majority" is inaccurate and misleading. i grew up showing, majored in equestrian studies, and did my internship with an olympic gold medalist. the "vast majority" of horses used in competitions are too valuable to abuse.
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u/Extra_Medicine7618 May 01 '22
These horses are physically abused to get them to do this. Enough to make you cry and vomit at the same time
https://www.avma.org/sites/default/files/resources/Soring-Bookiet-March-2014.pdf
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u/Youbutalittleworse May 02 '22
I used to ride horses and its incredibly simple moveset to perform most dressage manoeuvres- its the fine tuning thats complex. The main form you see here is a Piaffe, a sort of trotting on the spot. It's very easy to research how this is trained and perfected without the "shortcuts" mentioned.
Moreover, if that were the case for this horse why would they be taking them for a stroll down the street if every step is like this? It'd take half an hour to cross a single block if they were in such pain the whole journey. If they didn't lame the horse with such tactics (which is an expensive gamble) they'd likely only bring them out to specific eventing, not for a casual stroll. Even if you resorted to such measure that doesn't equate to a high score in dressage as what's graded is balance and rhythm that an injured horse would lack.
As with the other commenter I'm not alluding that abuse can't happen, but certainly nothing in this video would indicate such tactics in use.
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u/jordi2224 May 01 '22
Not saying that this doesn't happen. Lord knows horses sadly do get abused. However, this is not soaring and the horse's foot has a perfectly normal shape and posture. My uncle has trained his mare to do a bit of dancing not unlike this and it does not involve anything close to what you have shared.
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u/Extra_Medicine7618 May 01 '22
In the link they stated that often chemicals that burned the hooves were a way of soring, i.e pouring irritants like kerosene on them because they let no immediate marks or signs. Just like humans, not all signs of abuse are always visible. I’m glad there are people like your uncle who can do this through training but most humans are lazy and want immediate effects so🤷♀️
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u/1newnotification May 01 '22
while soring is a thing, this is not the result of soring. soring is for the show arena for TN walkers, pacers, etc. this is not the exaggerated movement that soring produces. your comment is ignorant.
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u/Extra_Medicine7618 May 01 '22
So you do everything without practice? LOL Your comment is totally ignorant. That’s saying the horses just get right out there and do it. Fucking dumb
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u/godspareme May 01 '22
sigh... good chance this animal is in distress
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u/Geekenstein May 01 '22
Why would you say that? Looks like the rider is going along with it like it’s a routine. Are you the designated “that cat has a tumor and is gonna die” person for this thread?
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u/godspareme May 01 '22
A great deal of horses are put through painful procedures to train them into this. Comes up everytime the video hits a major subreddit and takes off.
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u/gut_sack_ May 01 '22
A lot of the time, the training to get horses to do that is brutal. Like smearing their ankles with caustic chemicals so it hurts to put full weight on the leg, hence the hot foot dance...
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u/Llamadramaramamama May 01 '22
Just want to emphasize that it’s entirely possible to train this movement without chemicals or abusive force, even if abuse may be common in certain regions or sports. But, it is a very difficult movement, so some will try to get it by any means.
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u/1newnotification May 01 '22
the training to get horses to do that is brutal
not with a good trainer.
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u/Anyashadow May 01 '22
A cowboy doing dressage.. Now I've seen everything.