Equestrian influencers #23 Lots of horses looking obese, (in)Expert Bits need to cease.

[MyLittlePony25]

Eh...Thinking of Wilma as honest or not honest makes it seem like it's Wilma's fault for whatever is occurring, when in reality she's just dealing with poor riding. Poor riding can untrained most horses, we've seen it with Vossi to an extreme extent and now we're witnessing it happen with Wilma to a lesser extent.
Not so sure about you but having a rider consistently catch a horse in the mouth, get left behind the motion, land heavily on the horses back, smacked with the whip when all aids were conflicting or confusing as hell...wouldn't make a very willing mount for many and for good reason. When Meg first began vlogging she was a significantly softer and kinder rider. Meg has regressed both in her actual riding and training methods (with various equipment she never sought previously) and now we're just witnessing the horses around her regress. Has nothing to do with them being honest, so much as having to deal with a poor jockey.

This.

I really like Wilma, she would be my type if she was a bit bigger. She just needs the confident forward ride, allowing her to find her stride. Instead she is being told to slow down, speed up and tuck her head in, all at the same time. The slow mo’s Meg is always posting, shows this! Constant socking in the gob, doesn’t put her leg on at a fence, gets left behind. I’m surprised Wilma hasn’t ditched her yet.

 

[sledgehammer]

I like Wilma a lot, but she strikes me as a horse who needs riding forwards confidently. Jam has been produced by Meg from day one so has adapted to her riding, but I think Wilma is struggling with the micro managing and pulling for a stride. I had an event horse who very much needed to be ridden forwards. His preference was always to stand off at a fence and he would lose confidence if asked to shorten or chip in.
That said, it’s early days and they might get it together in time.

 

[unicorn fairy]

Eh...Thinking of Wilma as honest or not honest makes it seem like it's Wilma's fault for whatever is occurring, when in reality she's just dealing with poor riding. Poor riding can untrained most horses, we've seen it with Vossi to an extreme extent and now we're witnessing it happen with Wilma to a lesser extent.
Not so sure about you but having a rider consistently catch a horse in the mouth, get left behind the motion, land heavily on the horses back, smacked with the whip when all aids were conflicting or confusing as hell...wouldn't make a very willing mount for many and for good reason. When Meg first began vlogging she was a significantly softer and kinder rider. Meg has regressed both in her actual riding and training methods (with various equipment she never sought previously) and now we're just witnessing the horses around her regress. Has nothing to do with them being honest, so much as having to deal with a poor jockey.

Absolutely couldn’t agree anymore!
Wilma wasn’t like this when she tried her as someone has already mentioned. It’s absolutely always the riders fault, seeing Meg slapping her with whip after she’s jumped the first fence is shocking, she should be praising her for it to help Wilma’s confidence, not hit her with a whip for doing something right. Appalling riding.

 

[sledgehammer]

I admit I don’t like the notion that Wilma is ‘trying to get out of work’. I thought we had moved on from such thinking.

The horse is willing and honest, any rider with a decent eye can see that, what she is struggling with is the difference in how she is being ridden.
I watched Winnie’s first event vlog and there was one particular fence that Meg really pulled her back on the approach. She had obviously seen a stride and was waiting for it, and Winnie coped very well with the aid considering and carried on with the job, but this is the sort of thing that Wilma struggles with. The riders at Ardeo are very relaxed and ride them on a bit of a longer rein and just let them jump out of their own stride.

I do think Meg’s fall has affected her and continues to. I think that she is aware that hitting a fence at speed is going to increase the chance of that happening again, so she takes a pull to jump it more like a showjump. I have full sympathy to her for this, getting over a bad fall can take a long time. I wonder if some sports psychology might help her? If she reads this, which I doubt, she might find NLP useful. There is an equestrian lady who does it and if Meg does some Facebooking, she will find her easily.

Also to add that I am really liking Winnie now. I think she might surprise us all.

 

[unicorn fairy]

I admit I don’t like the notion that Wilma is ‘trying to get out of work’. I thought we had moved on from such thinking.

The horse is willing and honest, any rider with a decent eye can see that, what she is struggling with is the difference in how she is being ridden.
I watched Winnie’s first event vlog and there was one particular fence that Meg really pulled her back on the approach. She had obviously seen a stride and was waiting for it, and Winnie coped very well with the aid considering and carried on with the job, but this is the sort of thing that Wilma struggles with. The riders at Ardeo are very relaxed and ride them on a bit of a longer rein and just let them jump out of their own stride.

I do think Meg’s fall has affected her and continues to. I think that she is aware that hitting a fence at speed is going to increase the chance of that happening again, so she takes a pull to jump it more like a showjump. I have full sympathy to her for this, getting over a bad fall can take a long time. I wonder if some sports psychology might help her? If she reads this, which I doubt, she might find NLP useful. There is an equestrian lady who does it and if Meg does some Facebooking, she will find her easily.

Also to add that I am really liking Winnie now. I think she might surprise us all.

She was seeing a sports psychologist. And she has plenty of lessons with top trainers to help her with her riding. If Meg isn’t confident in herself to ride, she shouldn’t be riding young horses, they need a confident rider to take them correctly. Plus she has full support from her family and friends.

 

[OnlineOmal]

Something about Megs attitude this last year has particularly sucked, which is sad as last year I was one of the folks really cheering her on. Watching her vlog with Wilma where she talks about the mouthiness, she says something about bringing her head down while she's trying to look at everything. I know she's out competing, but is it any wonder the mare is green if she's not allowed to literally look at things?

 

[Alfie1234]

Watched the Winnie vlog last night and I have a question for the more experienced of you with young horses, she says that Winnie is pretty much dead to the leg and unless she’s constantly kicking her she will just stop, that her head position is manufactured to look good because Winnie hasn’t understood yet to get her quarters under her and power from behind, you can literally see Meg constantly rein fiddling to tell her to bring her head down.

Is this not backwards training? It just seems like she’s telling her to stop with the reins but kicking her to move, nothing is coming naturally and moving forward should be more important and established before bringing her head down?

Happy to be educated if I’m completely wrong, it just didn’t make much sense.

She seems like a game little pony and I think in the right hands would do well.
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Something about Megs attitude this last year has particularly sucked, which is sad as last year I was one of the folks really cheering her on. Watching her vlog with Wilma where she talks about the mouthiness, she says something about bringing her head down while she's trying to look at everything. I know she's out competing, but is it any wonder the mare is green if she's not allowed to literally look at things?

It’s weird, watching the Winnie one last night and there were literally four or five people there “helping” her, its just lost the vibe it had when it was her and Hobbit,it’s too commercialised and over produced, it’s like watching a freaking Disney film with the overdone slow mo and the awful music. Fast forwarded through everything other than the actual riding moments because it’s either ads or stupid teenage tit with her and Hannah. Friends are great but if you’re going to act like 14 yr olds not so much. Night and day to watching Ella, Evie, Flo and Alanna etc, all are so invested in their horses and what they can be doing to improve them.

One great idea though is putting the movements and judges comments on for the dressage, loved that.

 

[whatsgoingonworld]

Tina’s last jump with Alex Bragg. Distinct lack of Cameron these days….

 

[horsey1234]

Watched the Winnie vlog last night and I have a question for the more experienced of you with young horses, she says that Winnie is pretty much dead to the leg and unless she’s constantly kicking her she will just stop, that her head position is manufactured to look good because Winnie hasn’t understood yet to get her quarters under her and power from behind, you can literally see Meg constantly rein fiddling to tell her to bring her head down.

Is this not backwards training? It just seems like she’s telling her to stop with the reins but kicking her to move, nothing is coming naturally and moving forward should be more important and established before bringing her head down?

Happy to be educated if I’m completely wrong, it just didn’t make much sense.

She seems like a game little pony and I think in the right hands would do well.
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You’re right, where their head is the last thing to worry about when training a young horse!

I haven’t watch the vlog yet but if Meg is having to constantly kick it means she hasn’t trained the horse correctly off the leg yet. And if that’s the case she shouldn’t be eventing her IMO. It’s a fundamental basic.

 

[unicorn fairy]

Watched the Winnie vlog last night and I have a question for the more experienced of you with young horses, she says that Winnie is pretty much dead to the leg and unless she’s constantly kicking her she will just stop, that her head position is manufactured to look good because Winnie hasn’t understood yet to get her quarters under her and power from behind, you can literally see Meg constantly rein fiddling to tell her to bring her head down.

Is this not backwards training? It just seems like she’s telling her to stop with the reins but kicking her to move, nothing is coming naturally and moving forward should be more important and established before bringing her head down?

Happy to be educated if I’m completely wrong, it just didn’t make much sense.

She seems like a game little pony and I think in the right hands would do well.
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It’s weird, watching the Winnie one last night and there were literally four or five people there “helping” her, its just lost the vibe it had when it was her and Hobbit,it’s too commercialised and over produced, it’s like watching a freaking Disney film with the overdone slow mo and the awful music. Fast forwarded through everything other than the actual riding moments because it’s either ads or stupid teenage tit with her and Hannah. Friends are great but if you’re going to act like 14 yr olds not so much. Night and day to watching Ella, Evie, Flo and Alanna etc, all are so invested in their horses and what they can be doing to improve them.

One great idea though is putting the movements and judges comments on for the dressage, loved that.

Sometimes what she says literally doesn’t make sense, she was saying how Winnie knocked the last rail in the SJ because she was tired, yet continued to take her XC and mentions “gallop” quite a few times, it’s seems she made the time and to me didn’t look like a tired horse. I don’t think Meg rides properly apart from defensive and passenger. And I agree, if she’s constantly kicking she needs more flat training, but did look like she rode a nice test otherwise, but it’s clear she is riding her from front to back to make her front end look pretty.
But I seriously can’t deal with both Meg and Han together with there childish behaviour, and having Pete follow her around with a large camera, I wonder what the other competitors seriously think. 3 people to handle one horse is ridiculous.

 

[Horsemum]

One great idea though is putting the movements and judges comments on for the dressage, loved that.

just gone to look and definitely prefer the way Alana does it, she talks through the movement and comments rather than having silly commentary over the top. Personal preference but I just can’t enjoy watching Meg’s riding now or listening to the nonsense.