North West Arab Show - anyone go? Bit surprised.

[Cameo]

I was at this show last w/e (taking a workshop) and was rather surprised by how the audience all whooped and drummed their heels as each Arab came in. The poor horses were basically in flight mode the whole time it seemed to me. It was so difficult for any horse to show off it's trot as whenever it came near the gallery - the whoops and yells made it break stride and canter.
there was also nearly a very nasty accident when in the traditional Dress class, a young girl was thrown badly and her horse actually bolted (properly, blind panic around the indoor for a full fifteen minutes, knocking down anyone if they tried to stop it or change it's flight route) when the audience burst into their whooping.
Is this usual at other Arab(only) shows?
The stewards tried to get people to stop but they took no notice, saying that if any horses qualified for Europe, they would have to endure far worse, noise-wise.

[jor]

Ive witnessed this with arab showing before, I used to work for an arab stud and to be honest it is very dangerous and downright rude of the spectators. maybe when they are riding thier horses round the indoor you could take a fog horn and set it off behind them....afterall they may be beeped at by a car out on the road....
Its especially rude to continue to make ridiculous amounts of noise when you have been asked to stop by stewards etc. To put peoples and horses welfare below thier 'want' to whoop like monkeys its disgraceful. I hope anyone who was there and behaved in this mannar is throughly ashamed of themselves.
You expect clapping and the odd cheer when horses win classes at any larger show, but not whopping and banging.
Good job I wasnt there else I probably would have lost my temper!

[Cameo]

Here is a photo of the poor chap...

[Cameo]

We were all pretty shocked to say the least. I was taking an Equestrian Art workshop and we were at Myerscough the same time as teh show - so there was lots of wonderful horses to draw from. But this was not pretty and watching this horse in its panic was not pleassant. As it galloped round, you just couldn't see how this was going to resolve itself without some major injury somewhere. He couldn't even see people or gates or fences...mind you (see photo) he had needed his girth tightening...).

Oh, and it is a bit of costume in the background, not the rider - wouldn't put that photo up.

[sjade]

I went, was showing my 3yr old colt - our 1st time out together. He loves the crowd!

[pip]

Morgan shows can be pretty noisy as well. Mostly the horses get used to it, but when the Juniors are in the ring the audience are told to keep quiet! Of course, there wouldn't be the numbers
present that there are at an Arab show.

[amma]

re the photo. The horses saddle slipped underneath and the rider came off ( not suprisingly). that is why the horse is galloping in panic. He was caught by some quick thinking people before any serious damage was done. This had nothing to do with spectators making a noise. the rider said some time later that she cantered a turn and next second the saddle was round his belly. Either the girth snapped or was slack. i dont know which.

[specialsparkle3]

Cameo,I used to show Arabs years ago, unfortunately due to American influence, Arab showing in hand, and indeed some ridden classes, have become farcical, I am so glad I don't have to do it now

[Cameo]

Call me soft ( I don't mind!) but also when the horse broke their stride and cantered past their handler ( who could no longer then keep up - they were caught up short (got photos of that too!) by the chin under their chin. It wasn't terribly pretty.

Sjade - I MAY have a picture of you and your colt as I took quite a lot - I was near the collecting ring.

The saddle must have been slack as the saddle stayed on the horse for all his galloping. No one could catch him until he had run himself out and took a smaller circle and ran straight into the indoor school doors - where his reins were grabbed by a big (brave) bloke.

I hear what you are saying Amma - but I don't think the whooping helped - the horse certainly didn't seem happy about it.
He seemed pretty panicked to me - and people did shut up eventually when told by the stewards. Just surprised this noise is acceptable!

[pip]

"Surprised this noise is acceptable" - I don't know how much noise there was of course, but our horses become quite used to it and don't bother much. Isn't it better that they become used to noisy surroundings rather than have to tiptoe round them all the time. If the show is conducted in silence and then there is a lot of noise from clapping and cheering, that would surely upset them as they would not be used to it.

[jor]

pip, there is a difference between 'cheering and clapping' and 'whopping and feet banging' the former is acceptable, the later is not. You may expect some whooping etc at very large championships/county shows when a popular horse wins a class/championship...NOT whenever any horse enters the ring, imagine what kind of response dressage horses/showjumpers would have if everyone banged thier feet and whopped at HOYS...could prove interesting!
I wouldnt expect anyone to be silent but I would expect people to be courteous and not scream/whoop/bang feet/hands etc, clap by all means but those poor horses..horses hearing is a lot more sensitive than ours and I used to get upset and put off by the whooping and excessive noise never mind the horses.....

[pip]

I suppose it is what your horse gets used to. At outdoor shows the Morgan classes have music playing as well, and it always amuses me to see the horses in the adjoining rings trotting round in time to our music!

[amelia]

I have to agree with JoR. For example I was at Badminton yesterday and when the competitors came in for their parade around the arena everyone applauded. However when some of the horses became obviously upset by it, everyone stopped - it's just good manners IMO - and safety afterall if it had continued one of the riders could have come off (unlikely when they'd managed to ride around the badminton x-c course and stay on :-) but that's not the point)

[kas]

For anyone who hasn't seen what happens, the crowd whistle, shout, rattle carrier bags on sticks, bash their fists on the boards around the arena... The worst culprits as a horse goes round with it's eyes bulging out of it's head are likely to be people associated with the stud and owners. The idea is that this is the way to show an Arabian horse to best advantage. They seriously think that an Arabian horse should been seen with it's head in the air, prancing about on adrenalin and with it's eyes out on stalks. Is it any wonder that Arabs get the reputation they do? I think if these professionals can't show a horse at it's best without resorting to outside interference like this they should be ashamed of themselves, but obviously they aren't. What other class would allow influence from outside the ring to affect the horse's way of going?
My Fire was futurity entered at the National Arab Horse show when she was 3. I went along the year before to see what was involved and decided I'd sacrifice the fees paid and forget it. I'd spent so long teaching my horse to be calm, brave and easy to handle, why would I want to go along and take part in this?
The most stupid thing that I saw was the practise of showing in-hand by running around the outside of a triangle shape. So the handler hurtled up one side as fast as they could (wearing running shoes normally), the horse just got into an amazing stride, only to be yanked around to change direction and repeat the performance down the next side of the triangle. Mind you, I suppose I could have stunned them by standing in the middle and sending Fire around the shape on her own...

[sjade]

Cameo - would be FAB if you had any piccies of my boy, he was the bright bay (3 long white socks and stripe) in the 3y.o colt class with a black egyptian halter, we were on Saturday. Also - any of the mare championship on the Sunday, the grey mare 2nd to the black in the veterans?
Cheers