...is always such a good source of bloopers. Gotta love the horse trying to run the barrels on his own, encouraged by the commentator. And that second girl had insane stick-ability.
I'm not posting this to knock barrel racers - some of them have great horsemanship and others terrible, but that's not inherent to the sport. Oh, ow, somebody just hit the fence head first. I DO wish they'd wear helmets...
I also stopped criticizing their bit use after attempting to game a big, hot Quarter Horse in a snaffle. Nope. Borrowing a pelham next time...
I don't know what led up to this, but boy is this horse causing a traffic jam. No sign of the owner...oh, now somebody's getting out of a vehicle. No halter on it...did it jump out of a field? Looks well cared for and uninjured, just not sure where to go. And not wanting to be caught by anyone...there's somebody else trying. It does, however, have the sense not to try and cross the railroad lines.
I ride more than one where I have to check the girth again on mounting and then again five minutes in. And one of them has no withers. So I do have sympathy...but yeah. Check it more times than you think you need to.
It's not terrible, but the "obstacle course of ears" made me laugh. I'm also told you should hook the traces on first, so if the animal moves...something this donkey seems far less than inclined to do...they don't walk right out of the shafts and force you to start over.
Other than that, not a bad demo of how to harness a donkey. And a really nice demo of just how nice (or lazy) "Doodle" the donkey is. And adorable.
I normally laugh at sales videos like this, but they do at least show the horse doing some normal things as well. Somebody put in some desensitization work here.
1. The saddle is slightly too far back for an English saddle.
2. The rider doesn't know how to sit a buck in an English saddle. She's grabbing for a horn that isn't there - oops. (She admits in her comments that she hasn't done much English - so I feel I can tease a little). The trick is to make a bridge with your reins and brace against the withers that way.
3. When dismounting from an English saddle, my friend, you take both feet out of the stirrups. English stirrups turn more readily than western ones, and if you keep a foot in you will - as this girl did - poke the horse in the side.
What is right with this picture?
The rider, who knows this horse (a rescue) has issues, is wearing not just a helmet but a protective vest. She has somebody working with her. She's mounting from a block, not the ground (I might have used a three step block, but they may not have one).
And, above all, per the comments, she is not blaming the horse.
