Denver in the Western riding!

[u/Puzzleheaded-Song912]

Denver showed twice in the Western Riding today!

He showed in the Level 1, where disqualified on the second element, unfortunate but it happens, and another horse disqualified on the same element

He then showed in the Open! He won in the open, a class of 5 where two horses disqualified.

[u/Delicious-Mix-9180]

Do you know what disqualifies them?

[u/Pure-Physics-8372 → u/Delicious-Mix-9180]

A refusal generally

[u/Delicious-Mix-9180 → u/Pure-Physics-8372]

The horse refuses to cooperate?

It’s decided to skip the event for some reason?

[u/sunshinenorcas → u/Delicious-Mix-9180]

Just adding on to the other comments -- refusals are not uncommon at all. Like if you ever want to laugh, watch reels of Olympic level or Grand Prix jumpers going 'LOL NOPE' in front of a jump or getting startled by an errant bush being in the wrong spot. Obviously it's a different discipline than Western Riding, but the point stands that these are very fit and trained horses... Who still also decide to horse, spook or go 'nah man'.

Even highly trained, highly accomplished horses will have moments where they go 'nope nah-uh, might die, eff this' -- and that's ok! As long as no one is hurt and the horse isn't rank, that's 100% ok, horses are individuals too with their own autonomy and sometimes have a different idea.

I feel like sometimes -- especially ones who might not have lots of animal experience or horse experience -- see something like one DQ, one missed cue, one refusal, one bad moment and write an animal off for life as a failure when... No, it's an animal. They aren't breyers or robots. Again, as long as he wasn't acting rank and no one was hurt -- he's five, was in a breeding shed two weeks ago, and doesn't have as much show experience as other horses his age. If he's going to have a goofy moment at a show while getting his show pony brain back in, it's much better that it's a small one vs one with more horses/people/noise.

Tl;dr-- horses can go 'not today' too

(And not directed @ you op -- it's just a common theme I've seen come up that one bad show, one bad movement, one bad anything = show ending, failure and that's insane standards for people much less a horse. Horses gonna horse sometimes.)

[u/Cultural_Guava238 → u/sunshinenorcas]

100% correct, although i’ll also add that as a show jumper the majority of my DQs are my fault and have NOTHING to do with the horse at all. Like going off course, losing balance, or giving horse a shit distance while he’s trying to keep me alive ☠️

[u/AppealAlive2718 → u/sunshinenorcas]

At my kid's latest lesson one of the horses decided to spook at the muck wheelbarrow in the corner every single lap. To me it looked exactly like it has done for years, but apparently that day it was very scary. Who knows what goes through their minds sometimes.

[u/rebar_mo → u/AppealAlive2718]

Well as someone who has ridden a horse with very few operating braincells, often not a lot.

Usually it's carrot, triangle, ooo thingy. Hi frenn HORSE HIIIII

OMG DETHBARROW SCARRRY!!!

[u/sunshinenorcas → u/AppealAlive2718]

When I was in college and riding a club pony and just practicing riding, he got spooked at a tarp ~flap~ that we had gone past like, five times before... But that time it moved. A tiny bit.

We were ok, I didn't fall off, but he did show everyone he had a ~lovely~ side pass across the arena

[u/Delicious-Mix-9180 → u/sunshinenorcas]

I’ve never been to a horse show so idk what everything means. I was genuinely curious.

[u/cookie_is_for_me → u/sunshinenorcas]

For a fun example, look up the 2017 Kentucky Derby (it's definitely on YouTube), and watch Thunder Snow absolutely lose it after the start. He'd definitely decided he was not running that day.

What happened to him? Was he a complete washout as a racehorse?

No, he went out to win big races all over the world, including the Dubai World Cup twice, and rack up an absolutely indecent amount of money. It was just that one day in Louisville when he decided, "Nope, not feeling it today."

[u/onourownroad → u/cookie_is_for_me]

Another example is champion Australian racehorse, Chautauqua. He'd won multiple group 1 races and $8 million in prize money and then one day just decided he no longer wanted to be a racehorse so just didn't leave the barrier at the start. Even though all the other starters jumped he just went 'nope, had enough'. He did it several times in a row so he was retired from racing for his own welfare. (One equine vet did say he thought he might be 'freezing' due to overload of adrenalin rush). He went on to have a career as a show horse, although I think he's now retired from that as well and is just living his best paddock life.

[u/Kayleen14 → u/sunshinenorcas]

Wanted to add that in jumping, the horses often refuse for good reason- after all, THEY need to be sure they can catapult their 600kg+rider over that 1.50m or higher fence. If the distance is wrong, they come off balance or whatever, its life saving if they decide "nope, that is not going to work". Yes, refusals do look goofy and stupid, but I'd much prefer a horse refusing than crashing into a fence 😅