Reply #23

and you are right - at the lower levels, the riders groom their horses, saddle them, get them ready, hose them off afterwards, wrap their legs, etc, etc. But ONLY at the lower levels.

Do you really think Ann Romney does those things?? Or most riders on a horse worth 250k do these things?? Ha!! The higher up the food chain the show is, the less the kids and adult riders do. They almost all have trainers and groomsmen, who get the horse ready. The rider takes the reins outside the ring, gets on, rides and then, if they did well, gets off and hands the horse to the groom, maybe with a pat on its neck. If they did poorly, they get off the horse, whip the reins to the groom and storm away. I have never seen such rich, entitled, nasty people in my life - both to their horses and the people who take care of them. I really wanted to give the teenagers a good smack for treating the horses and their "servants" that way. What snotty brats. I still get annoyed when I think of what terrible human beings they seemed to be.

So your husband's experience is not the norm at the shows I have seen in the northeast. Sorry.