[starchild excalibur]

On another note, this is a big-ass guinea pig: here

[Kinyou]

You guys have never seen or heard of dressage before? I guess its more of a European thing. And it's not dancing, it's demonstrating training.

This.

Come on guys.

[shadyspace]

Do you think the horses enjoy it?

[Stop It]

You guys have never seen or heard of dressage before? I guess its more of a European thing. And it's not dancing, it's demonstrating training.

Yeah, this.

I came into this thread wondering if someone had invented horse disco dancing or something, when I realised it was Dressage, I couldn't quite understand the fuss.

Maybe because I'm British I'm just used to seeing this on a semi-regular basis. And yes, it is still an Olympic level sport too.

[GJS]

In relation to this and other horse sports.

Horse sports are open to lots of abuse and in different circles things are looked at differently as to whether it is abuse or not, some of the things certain people decide to do are horrible.

I know that this is/was used in dressage and a few other sports, not many studies have been done but some say it is more stressful for the horses, some not so much as they get used to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollkur

A lot of riders get into the habit of over using spurs and whips as well, some areas are good with penalising riders for this, others not so much.

It's all well and good if the riders and trainers are educated and the sport is rigorous in monitoring and looking for signs of abuse, but this isn't always the case.

[sangreal]

not funny, the horse died after this

(well, maybe a few years later. http://www.eurodressage.com/equestri...d-unexpectedly )

[bangladesh]

I feel bad for horses. They're so majestic they shouldn't be bossed around by humans. They should be free, dude.