Pammy Hutton FBHS, international competitor and trainer of Olympic and Paralympic medallists on stewarding at shows and threats to riding schools
Premier League shows are an unfamiliar playground for me these days. So, knowing that my mare Ebony and I would be very green at this level, our recent competitive outings have been quite an adventure.
These shows are indeed premier, well organised and so well set out. Vale View gets my biggest gold star for a great family-run venue with a lovely atmosphere. Riding in front of an international judge or two, plus judges from outside one’s area, is a bonus. Maybe some prix st georges (PSG) and intermediate classes are not as full as a decade ago, but grand prix entries are almost double.
These shows are also rightly well stewarded. At Wellington Premier League, I was thoroughly “told off”. Ebony, who also events, had just successfully completed a CCI3*-L at a hilly Bicton, and is hot to ride and neurotic to get on. Therefore, I asked for times close enough to save me from having to dismount in between tests. The times I was given were perfect: get on at 11.15am, PSG at 11.45am and inter I at 12.37pm with a quiet mooch around in between.
But no – all hell let loose. I was asked to dismount and take my mare to the lorry on welfare grounds. A steward told me the recommended maximum time to work a horse is an hour.
But how is working a horse defined? Yes, the rule book suggests a “warm-up session” of no more than one hour. One advantage of my advanced age is that I divide up work with walk breaks… lots of walks! And since when has an hour-and-a-half suddenly become too long for a horse to be ridden? What about the time involved with hunting, fun rides, endurance or even everyday hacking?
I confess, I vehemently disagreed with the steward that riding my fit horse for 90 minutes, with plenty of relaxation periods, was injurious to her welfare. Maybe the relevance of a three-star long is lost on dressage stewards.
For the sake of peace, I rode around the lorry park for seven minutes, came back and apologised for my tone while trying to stand my ground.
Maybe I was on the defensive after a previous Premier League show steward thrice admonished a young rider, who was under my orders to work a highly strung horse for a longish time, again with loads of walk breaks.
Our horse didn’t sweat one hair – yet in the same warm-up, two pros were sitting on dripping hot horses with foam between their legs and not one word of warning went to them.
Firm stewarding is to be applauded. But shouldn’t it be done by horsemen and women who have lived horses and understand them rather than purely by the book?
Is it fair that international trainers and riders are giving lessons on or sharing their schoolmasters?
Unless a licence is in place and correct insurance is held – legal requirements to hire out horses – this practice is illegal.
It also hurts riding schools like my family’s Talland. We have some wonderful schoolmasters loaned to us and our clients love riding them. But it’s not quite that simple. For instance, when those horses’ owners are insuring them, they must tell the insurance company that the horse is being used for commercial purposes.
Ironically, many of these top riders and coaches who offer help on schoolmasters wouldn’t be where they are now without riding schools. Yet their actions are damaging those very establishments.
Amid rising costs, few riding schools are breaking even. I frequently receive mail from proprietors in desperation over this unfair and unethical competition.
I have no qualms about reporting offenders and urge others to do likewise.
There have been some horrific eventing accidents recently and my heart goes out to all families affected.
Riding can be dangerous. Horses are living beings and as with any animal, the unexpected can happen.
And yet with summer finally here, I’m still going to have that gallop up our hill.
● Where do you think the balance is for stewarding? Write to us at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and country, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine
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