Entertainment at horse shows

Last year, I was at the Dutch stallion show where they had added quite a remarkable element to the judging of the test.

At the end of each test, the audience got the opportunity to rate it by applauding. The organization recorded the decibels and the rider who had gotten the loudest applause would get another prize.

As you can imagine, that resulted in a LOT of noise while the horses were still in the arena.

Want to know what I think of this? Then keep on reading. 👇

’’It’s a human thing’’

We love to show our enthusiasm when watching a competition, whether it’s at a local horse show or a big event. It’s our way of getting excited about something.

It’s natural for us to get into the spirit of things. But we have to be aware that it’s a human thing.

The difficult part is that of course, the organizers and people that are trying to do the good thing for the sport, are doing their best to create a good vibe. And where the problem lies is people not understanding what it means to the horse.

’’It’s a human thing’’

We love to show our enthusiasm when watching a competition, whether it’s at a local horse show or a big event. It’s our way of getting excited about something.

It’s natural for us to get into the spirit of things. But we have to be aware that it’s a human thing.

The difficult part is that of course, the organizers and people that are trying to do the good thing for the sport, are doing their best to create a good vibe. And where the problem lies is people not understanding what it means to the horse.

’’It’s a human thing’’

We love to show our enthusiasm when watching a competition, whether it’s at a local horse show or a big event. It’s our way of getting excited about something.

It’s natural for us to get into the spirit of things. But we have to be aware that it’s a human thing.

The difficult part is that of course, the organizers and people that are trying to do the good thing for the sport, are doing their best to create a good vibe. And where the problem lies is people not understanding what it means to the horse.

’’What does it mean for the horse?’’

While our entertainment can be pretty exciting for us as humans, what we may not realize is that our applause might cause immense panic for the horses.

Horses are built with an instinctive fear of loud noises and bright lights. All those things are completely foreign to a horse and also incredibly threatening.

At a show of this nature, all of those things come together all at once.

’’You’re basically putting them in their own horror movie.’’

And the other factor is, nobody is preparing their horses for those things. When your horse doesn’t have the knowledge and the information on how to handle situations like that, you’re basically putting them into their own horror movie.

The shows are getting bigger, the music is getting louder which is all the more exciting for us humans. But at the same time, the horses are not having more education about how to manage such environments.

The horses these days are more expressive, more sensitive and more athletic. And what comes with that is a higher level of natural instict.

While the development of technology rapidly increases and our shows naturally become more impressive in a way that to us humans seems normal, or horses are becoming all the more traumatised.

’’You’re basically putting them in their own horror movie.’’

And the other factor is, nobody is preparing their horses for those things. When your horse doesn’t have the knowledge and the information on how to handle situations like that, you’re basically putting them into their own horror movie.

The shows are getting bigger, the music is getting louder which is all the more exciting for us humans. But at the same time, the horses are not having more education about how to manage such environments.

The horses these days are more expressive, more sensitive and more athletic. And what comes with that is a higher level of natural instict.

While the development of technology rapidly increases and our shows naturally become more impressive in a way that to us humans seems normal, or horses are becoming all the more traumatised.

’’The internal instincts are telling them to get the hell out of there’’

These days you often hear: ”Oh yeah, the horse was running a bit, but the rider could get him under control, it was nothing.”

But I wonder if people realize that when a horse puts his head up and flees the scene, or is pumping out 5 laps of extended trot, or passaging like a cat on a hot tin roof, in reaction to the pressure in the environment, that there is an internal panic in that horse. His heart rate and physical reactions are relative to a natural last resort survival situation.

When a horse is going into a tension-contraction reflex through a moment of stress, the internal instincts are telling them to get the hell out of there.

’’Now we’re putthing them into environments where that is becoming a constant thing’’

If they’re in an natural environment and a preditor came, and the brid flew up and the horse could freely run away and have a certain level of panic where his heart rate and his blood pressure is going up a little bit, that’s momentary.

Now we’re putting them into environments where that is becoming a constant thing. Because we haven’t thaught them what to do with themselves, we’re not spending time on preparing them to go into these environments.

We are preaching one thing about horse’s welfair and doing all the good things for the horse, but at the same time blindly putting our horses in situations where they are forced to be in a very stressful traumatic experience. So I believe it’s better to not reward our horses with applause.

’’Now we’re putting them into environments where that is becoming a constant thing’’

If they’re in an natural environment and a preditor came, and the horse could freely run away and have a certain level of panic where his heart rate and his blood pressure is going up a little bit, that’s only momentary.

Now we’re putting them into environments where that is becoming a constant state for long periods.

Because we haven’t thaught them what to do with themselves, we’re not spending time on preparing them to go into these environments.

We are preaching one thing about horse’s welfare and doing all the good things for the horse, but at the same time blindly putting our horses into situations where they are forced to endure a very stressful and traumatic experience.

So I believe if we are not spending the time to prepare and teach our horses how to manage them selves in such extreme environments, we should definitely rethink they way we run and the way we celebrate at the shows, that is in the best interests of the horse.

’’Now we’re putting them into environments where that is becoming a constant thing’’

If they’re in an natural environment and a preditor came, and the horse could freely run away and have a certain level of panic where his heart rate and his blood pressure is going up a little bit, that’s only momentary.

Now we’re putting them into environments where that is becoming a constant state for long periods.

Because we haven’t thaught them what to do with themselves, we’re not spending time on preparing them to go into these environments.

We are preaching one thing about horse’s welfare and doing all the good things for the horse, but at the same time blindly putting our horses into situations where they are forced to endure a very stressful and traumatic experience.
So I believe if we are not spending the time to prepare and teach our horses how to manage them selves in such extreme environments, we should definitely rethink they way we run and the way we celebrate at the shows, that is in the best interests of the horse.

What do you think?

I am really curious about your perspective on this topic. How do you experience this?

Let me know in the comments below!