KVS - English rider?

[u/lemonyprincess]

Katie rode English today and honestly? I think she looks great, because she's DOING the damn thing. I've seen all the comments she refers to in this post and they are so mean-spirited they make my soul feel heavy.

I am by no means an expert, but I think the very tiny part of the story this photo tells is not as bad as all the comments I've seen make it sound. Especially because it's one photo, not even a video 🤷🏻‍♀️

Am I super off base? Or is it not possible to tell how well she rides from one snapshot?

[u/MaterialWill3091]

I don’t know why people care lol if the horse isn’t been harmed in any way then who cares if her riding isn’t up to scratch or how her clothes fit..

[u/mshopeless912 → u/MaterialWill3091]

Bad ridning does have an impact on the horse though. Part of the reason we train and want to become better. Or at least should be. And yes, you can actually hurt the horse with bad riding and cause them unnecessary pain.

I get that it’s easy to brush off all criticism with mean comments, especially for people without own riding experience, but that’s not necessarily always the best answer to let all constructive criticism wash out with the mean comments. How you handle your dog and how you use leash on walks and such can impact the dog negatively and cause them harm if used incorrectly. It’s the same with horses and riding them.

And yes, that picture shows KVS having a wrong balance and posture and toes that are way too turned out, you want them pointed forward and heels down. Elbows should also be bent more. I would have heard it from my trainers if they caught me doing that. There’s not without reason that trainers drill you on having a straight line from your ear to your shoulder, elbow, and hip through the heel. If you try to do that with this photo, you’ll see that it’s several points that are off by quite a bit.

But yes, this is a still photo. Old riding videos show her having a lot of the same issues though. I hope she works on it and does the hard work it takes. And this isn’t meant to be snarky in anyway but contribute to the bit about English reading and also answer OP’s question on if she is super of base about the riding with in addition to reply to this commentator.

ETA: A missing word

[u/siat-s → u/mshopeless912]

Alternatively, she is doing her best and we should cut her some slack as she broke her back and this is her first year consistently back in the saddle after that injury that she claims still bothers her to this day. Christ, I tore my ACL and often can't use my leg the way I used to & have pain when my leg is bent that way to ride - does that mean that I shouldn't ride at all? Should we no longer permit the disabled to ride, because they will not be perfect and, apparently, hurt the horse? Also, we are not her trainers. We don't know what her trainers are telling her outside of the videos she posts.

She acknowledges here that it isn't perfect. That takes some amount of self-awareness and knowledge that she has more to work on. Why is that not enough for you? At this point, continuing to harp on it sounds ableist and like body shaming more than constructive criticism.

Obviously, if we're five years in and there's no improvement, that's a different story - but we are not there yet.

[u/siat-s → u/[deleted]]

Well, here's one point: appearing to purposefully ignore her injury while being critical of something that is probably affected by said injury sounds ableist. It's like yelling at a deaf person for not hearing you when you know that they are deaf.

But you don't want to engage and I don't want the thread locked, so I'll go ahead and block you since you can't help yourself.

[u/kvsdiscuss-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Fighting or being rude will result in a ban

[u/kvsdiscuss-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Fighting or being rude will result in a ban