Some pretty fancy stayin on!

[Lilykoi]

This little girl can ride. Probably not how she thought it would turn out but yee ha!!!:D
There's a longer video that shows her riding for almost 5 minutes before this happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o19YIzmr-k&feature=channel

[twofatponies]

Sticky rider!

I saw a very similar scene in real life when a woman was demonstrating to me how she could carry a flag/banner on her horse...well, until he couldn't stand the flapping monster anymore... :D

[flshgordon]

My only question would be: WTF was she trying to teach the horse by carrying that bag and trying to scare the crap out of him? :confused: I will never understand what people think it is teaching a horse when they rub the plastic bag all over him

[CoolMeadows]

My only question would be: WTF was she trying to teach the horse by carrying that bag and trying to scare the crap out of him? :confused:

She was confirming his fear of flappy things, DUH! Lol, it's like the time I decided I was going to confront my fear of heights dammit! and went parasailing over Lake Michigan. Hit 300' and confirmed that fear of heights well and truly! My knuckles didn't regain bloodflow for weeks... :D

[slc2]

the good Lord watches over the foolish.

[CoolMeadows]

the good Lord watches over the foolish.

Well... the carrying a flappy thing may not be the best idea, but the girl does stick pretty well.

[GilbertsCreeksideAcres]

That reminds me a lot of a trail trial competition I was in this past summer that involved a bag of cans....

[Penthilisea]

Well, horse mostly went up and forward, not sudden side to side, which is harder to stay with... But still, kudos to the rider, for dropping the plastic thing at last!

[Windy Willow]

Haha That happened to me once in a dressage ride a test, young horse, windy day, top of the hill and the scribe make some noise with some paper. Away he went ,just a bucking, round backed and head down and going straight down the hill to boot . I stayed on and only had four witnesses but they told everyone.My farrier heard it through the grapevine and wanted to hire me to break his colts. Haha He was kiddding with me.

All that racing on Panamanian bushponies bareback when I was young pays off.

Would of given anything to have a video like this entertaining video.!

[caevent]

Poor horse. It's nice to expose them to lots of stimuli, but at a certain point it turns into pure foolishness. :(

[HydroPHILE]

Video no longer available. The only other version of the video is before the flip out.

[*JumpIt*]

I agree dragging that thing was a stupid idea, poor horse didn't know what hit him.

I think I'd be a little more impressed if she had stayed on with her seat not her hands. After the bag dropped it looked like he was trying to get away from the pressure on his face.

[Kate66]

I just watched the video, so it is there. Holy smokes that girl sticks!!

[PONY751]

The only thing that I could focus on was the fact that she needs a bigger saddle. Can't stand that.

[HydroPHILE]

Yep - the video is back. If you watch the other video which shows more work with the plastic - W/T/C kinda makes you wonder what really made the horse freak out. The rider did stay on with her hands, but she's got a firm grip with her legs, too...up until the end where she "thinks" the horse is okay, but has one more little energetic spurt while she's smiling at the camera.

I personally love the grey horse just standing there quietly with its rider watching the saddle bronc competition in the arena :)

It'd be interesting to find out this was a "sale" video for an "unflappable horse," and the video that made it to market was the pre-bucking one.

[In_]

What an awful, terrible horse. I guess I'll get my karma points for the year by *letting* her ship him/her to me to keep :). Forever. Yum.

I did not watch the 5 min video all the way through - but he did not seem quite comfortable to me. He was putting up with it but I did not see a moment where I thought "oh - he really doesn't care about it at all." I work with games ponies - we subject them to all sorts of things - and an essential key to developing a good games pony is to look for that acceptance *before* building speed. I don't fault the rider - I envy her stickability - just a thought for any of her future horses.

With that said - I don't quite understand why either. (and this comes from a woman who regularly pops balloons from ontop of a horse!) There are other ways to "despook" a horse that do not put the rider in such direct danger.

[HezaKeeper]

No criticisms here, just WOW I wouldn't have stayed on that. Not now, maybe a few years ago but I fall harder and faster now. :lol:

[Posting Trot]

I was also admiring the gray horse that stood stoically in the middle of the ring while horse bucked and plastic flapped.

I don't mean to pile on the rider in the video (and she clearly is a strong rider to stay on throughout), but why would you carry a plastic bag around like that while riding? I know, I know, it's supposedly to desensitize. But seriously, how many times have you all had to ride with a flapping plastic bag in in your hands out in the real world?

Ummm.

None. Yup, none sounds about right.

[monstrpony]

People unclear on the concept that Rome wasn't built in a day ....

[JSwan]

I'd label that video, "Mr Toad's Wild Ride".

I'll give her credit for staying on. It ain't easy staying on when they decide you need to GO and they need to leave.

I want the horse in the middle that just stood there. My kind of horse!

[marta]

i thought it would be a good idea to expose my mare to a flying kite that looked like a dragon with a long floppy tail. we were good for a while until the frickin thing got wind and started fluttering madly which of course made the oblivious owner of the kite happy causing him to run back and forth with the kite fluttering more and more and more. did i mention all of that happened just as we were passing the kite flying people? my mare who rarely finds anything compelling enough to even trot began rearing and trying to gallop and rear some more and spin and repeat. we started heading for the road and i was so scared that we'd get killed by the traffic. i somehow managed to point her down the long and straight trail and just let go of the reins and she tore out like a maniac. but at least we were no longer in danger of ending up in the middle of the road.
i felt like a total idiot. :o

[VCT]

Maybe it's just me but that didn't really look all that bad. The horse never REALLY bucked OR reared. He was just going forward and stomping the ground with his front legs.
*shrug*
Didn't really seem like such a huge deal to me.

[johnnysauntie]

*This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZawtuBfttQ)* in my mind is some pretty fancy stayin' on. I would have been launched into the upper deck of the stands on the first buck.

[Ambrey]

Has anyone ever marveled at how amazing it is that the riders who post on this board are, almost invariably, wonderful and perfect, while the riders shown in you tube videos are, almost invariably, terrible riders who torture their horses? I find that just amazing- how does COTH attract such brilliance?

(p.s. if the horse didn't want her holding on by any means necessary, maybe he shouldn't have been trying so hard to dislodge her?)

[Ambrey]

*This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZawtuBfttQ)* in my mind is some pretty fancy stayin' on. I would have been launched into the upper deck of the stands on the first buck.

Holy cow. She looked so lovely even without stirrups! And I disagree that she fell off at the end- I think she bailed ;)

[VCT]

Has anyone ever marveled at how amazing it is that the riders who post on this board are, almost invariably, wonderful and perfect, while the riders shown in you tube videos are, almost invariably, terrible riders who torture their horses? I find that just amazing- how does COTH attract such brilliance?

(p.s. if the horse didn't want her holding on by any means necessary, maybe he shouldn't have been trying so hard to dislodge her?)

Oh, I don't think the rider deserves all the criticism she got either... I'm just not amazed by the feat of her staying on a horse who was just scooting forward and stomping the ground. Good for her and all, but it's not that shocking to me. By the same token I don't think she should get bagged on for doing whatever desensitizing work she wants with her horse, or how she managed to stay on.

[JSwan]

*This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZawtuBfttQ)* in my mind is some pretty fancy stayin' on. I would have been launched into the upper deck of the stands on the first buck.


I saw Alison Firestone have similar trouble years ago - but due to her horse slipping not bucking. She took the rest of the course sans stirrups - and I swear her lower leg never moved an inch.

She and the rider in the video worked effing hard to get that lower leg - kudos.

I'll disagree with Ambrey and say she did fall off at the end. But not from lack of trying to stay on!

I don't mind the whole plastic thing - I hunt and do an awful lot of exposing my horses to weird things to desensitize them.

But are we all comparing apples and oranges? There were two videos - one doesn't appear to be up anymore. Or maybe I am looking at the wrong video. The stomping hissy fit wasn't too bad and I think the rider was wearing chaps (which helps a LOT)

[VCT]

Holy cow. She looked so lovely even without stirrups! And I disagree that she fell off at the end- I think she bailed ;)

Agree, she bailed. Lovely course... good riding!

[Posting Trot]

The second video is pretty amazing. I think she bailed at the end.

[FancyFree]

My only question would be: WTF was she trying to teach the horse by carrying that bag and trying to scare the crap out of him? :confused: I will never understand what people think it is teaching a horse when they rub the plastic bag all over him

Me either. She stayed on well, but that was so unsafe. She or her horse could have been hurt. I doubt it taught the horse a thing. Maybe even intensified it's fear of flappy things.

[HydroPHILE]

*This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZawtuBfttQ)* in my mind is some pretty fancy stayin' on. I would have been launched into the upper deck of the stands on the first buck.

Now that is some awesome riding :) I saw someone in the Olympics one year in the show jumping portion lose their stirrups, but they only had to clear the final jump. Although, I can't even imagine the pressure that was put on them!

Has anyone ever marveled at how amazing it is that the riders who post on this board are, almost invariably, wonderful and perfect, while the riders shown in you tube videos are, almost invariably, terrible riders who torture their horses? I find that just amazing- how does COTH attract such brilliance?

Nope, haven't marveled at that at all. Probably because I form my own opinions, and any genuine person (e.g. not someone who judges everyone else's riding except their own) who stays on a horse - a horse that is stomping, bucking, rearing, shying, acting up, or anything more than a complete dead head horse, or someone who still rides (if even a few feet) who is terrified of horses still gets kudos in my book.

// Edit due to a nasty e-mail: I wasn't commenting, critiquing, or insulting any members of this board. I was merely making a general statement.

[johnnysauntie]

She and the rider in the video worked effing hard to get that lower leg - kudos.
(which helps a LOT)

I have watched that video over and over, marveling at that lower leg. It's rock solid. Gawjus. Just gawjus.

[Ambrey]

I have watched that video over and over, marveling at that lower leg. It's rock solid. Gawjus. Just gawjus.

And she knows it- she didn't even try to get her stirrups back.

[2DogsFarm]

That reminds me a lot of a trail trial competition I was in this past summer that involved a bag of cans....

Couldn't watch the video (YouTube blocked at work :cool:)
But, ah yes, I am all too familiar with the Dragging Bag of Death
Ask Vern - who I introduced to this monster while playing Trail Class with the local 4H kids...bareback...
And yup - it took a good 1/4mile gallop before it occured to me to drop the bag :o

4H kids learned some new words too :o,
most came after "WHOA! Dammit!"
Kids first request when I got him stopped: "Do it again!!!"
:mad: in a pigs' ear.....

[greysandbays]

But seriously, how many times have you all had to ride with a flapping plastic bag in in your hands out in the real world?

Ummm.

None. Yup, none sounds about right.

Well, none, if you don't do any riding in the real world.

For the rest of us, having a horse tolerate all sorts of weird stuff comes in handy.

Like when you're out with friends for a trail ride along country gravel roads and happen on a garage sale that has something you want, and the only bags they have are big plastic ones. The three miles riding home while carrying it was completely uneventful.

Comes in handy when one decides to take off/put on a jacket without dismounting as well.

Ninety percent of having a horse who will tolerate "all sorts of weird stuff" comes from teaching him to tolerate "VERY, VERY WEIRED STUFF" far exceeding the level of "weird" he'll likely encounter in normal circumstances. When you've climbed Mt Everest, hiking to the top of the Appalachians is a piece of cake. But for a flatlander, the Appalachians might as well be Mt Everest.

That said, mayhaps the rider in the flapping plastic runaway video did not go about the process as ideally as one would prefer. However the basic concept is not flawed.

[crazyhorses]

Wow I think I would have fallen off the first time lol. I think the bag is a Good thing. Why? Because at horse shows (or trails or whatever) you Never know what is going to come flying out at you. I've seen entire tarps literally "fly" over hunter rings here a few times haha

[Sudi's Girl]

I have two Arabs that are definitely NOT afraid of plastic. They LOVE plastic bags especially. They come running for it. Mostly, I think b/c they associate it with carrots. :cool: Wooops... :-D I've always thought that they would totally fail at one of those liberty classes at the Arab shows.

That jumping round was awesome. Wow - Love that leg!

[Frank B]

Definitely a Velcro-butt!

[Huntertwo]

My only question would be: WTF was she trying to teach the horse by carrying that bag and trying to scare the crap out of him? :confused: I will never understand what people think it is teaching a horse when they rub the plastic bag all over him

She wasn't trying to scare the crap out of him. She was trying to desensitize him to unfamiliar objects.

I did a lot of that when I first got my trail pony. I covered her with tarps, rolled plastic trash cans under her belly, dragged ground poles etc.

And it paid off - Today, virtually nothing bothers her. Unlike a lot of horses who spook at every darn thing that comes into vision.

We've encountered plastic grocery bags on the trail. Again, because of the proper training, she doesn't look twice at them. I know some horses who would have a melt down at the very sight.

I also look what the girl was doing as useful training. I want my horse to look at ME as the leader. If I say it is safe, she is to listen to me. Yes, she can be afraid, but I want a controlled spook. I don't want a dangerous bolt or a spook to the side.

Don't forget - many trail classes have similar obstacles. Like picking up a sack of cans from one barrel and placing them on another.