Ringside Pony Spooking

[Deleted]

During some of the shp RI qualifiers on the Sunday of the BSPS winter champs it was noticed that lots of ponies were spooking in one of the top corners of the ring during their show, always the same place and the ponies were fine going past this area on the go round. Word wandered down the lineup that the people at said corner were tapping/knocking down chairs in an attempt and succeeding in many cases to spook the ponies. Of course I can't be 100% on this but some ponies spooked more violently than others and just think that these spooks have ruined classes for jockeys, wasted money for parents and wasted lots of time and effort for people who are helping prepare the pony. Just imagine if one of the younger jockeys had been hurt!

I know that RIHS tickets are coveted and very special but surely you wouldn't want to risk a child's safety just to achieve one.

Thank goodness no one was hurt and remember that being so competitive is not as much fun as being relaxed and just enjoying yourself! Showing is meant to be fun! ☺️

Saying this, the pony that won really did deserve it well done!

[not-a-charity]

Which height class was this? didn't happen in 12hh

[gillwales]

All I can suggest is if anyone sees behavior like this they should inform a steward and take photos of anyone deliberately spooking ponies, then send with a covering letter to the BSPS. This is cheating and is abhorrent. If anyone that did this is reading this thread then you should be ashamed. I would urge anyone that witnessed this to write to the BSPS and advise them of what you saw. This type of behavior needs to be stamped out quickly before it escalates and someone does get hurt.

[Toaster]

I dont know if I was watching the same classes but I did notice several ponies spooking at one spot in the indoor arena. I was about 20-30ft from where they were spooking and didnt see anything untoward in fact there were no people exactly at that spot that I could see and didnt hear any noise, rattling etc and I did take a careful look after the second or third spook. I did notice that the people sitting nearest to the spooky area had a dog which was on one person's lap and just assumed that the ponies were taking exception to that.

There was building/maintenance work going on outside on the other side of the seating area and there was certainly some banging noise associated with this but again I didnt notice a pattern between this and the spooking.

This is possibly not the same arena and class/es that you allude to though


I did feel desperatly sorry for the riders of the spooking ponies, one rider(possibly the youngest in the class) was particularly unlucky I thought

ETA - Apologies I dont think I am talking about the same ring as you but strange that there was a sucession of spooking in other classes. I do hope in your case it wasnt deliberate!

[xJBDx]

I was in the RIHS 14hh SHP class today and noticed it too, so I'm glad you have said it. My pony did spook in that corner in my show, twice, which ruined the class for us!! Some other competitors in my noticed it as well and two people came up to me at the end of my class and said the same... I don't know who it was but we have do have an idea. It's actually disgusting that somebody would spook other horses just to give themselves a better chance of winning.

[pipandwill]

If this is the case, and someone was doing something deliberately to spook the ponies, I hope they are ashamed of themselves, I feel pretty disgusted reading this that some pathetic individuals have lowered themselves to this.

What is showing becoming?

[gillwales]

xJBDx, I urge you to write to the BSPS asap. they can do nothing about this unless they are informed, without definite facts they will be unable to much about this incident, however they will be able to advise shows and judges to keep an eye open for it in the future. This needs to be stamped out NOW before someone gets hurt. Please get anyone else you know that saw this to write too.

[Deleted]

It was the 143 shp class, it is probably the same sort of thing in the indoor. We considered telling the BSPS but we weren't 100% sure of it. It is fairly appalling behaviour and if you've read this I think you should be ashamed of yourselves!

[Deleted]

Also at least half of the class spooked! Some of the spooks were a bit more too, like the dun pony and sycamore candy man- I would not have liked to jockey them yesterday! Not even the pony's fault so lucky that ours was fine.
Just think these people have wasted everyone's long journeys, money and time, it's horrible

[diadem]

underground power cables/vibration from the works that are going on there?

[sophoclees]

Absolutely Disgusting. Cannot believe that people would actually go to these lengths. Surely it is of utmost importance that riders are safe at all times, regardless of who gets their ticket or not.
xx

[apple123]

I watched the class as was with some people that had a pony in there - the only time I noticed spooking was on the go round when they nearly all had a woopsy at the horse galloping round next door & a couple had a buck or chucked their heads in their show?

[Deleted]

Apple123- didn't notice any spooking on the goround because mine didn't bother but many of them spooked in the top corner and people further up the line up warned me that someone was trying to spook them, as I said in the post, nothing can be confirmed but since posting quite a few people, some in other classes with the same ponies and the 133 classes have said they noticed it. Wasn't to dig at anyone just to make sure people were aware.

And Diadem sorry forgot to mention This was in the outdoor

[diadem]

nevertheless its a busy place, theres bound to be cables everywhere, i think it does affect some....but perhaps i am being naive hehe.....if its tactics, that is utterly deplorable and should be reported if deemed to be true.

[ponyclubpartbred]

Absolutely appalling!! Have photos gone online yet as wouldn't it just be convenient if a photographer was taking images near that corner so proof could be submitted to BSPS and maybe even catch the person red handed in an image with/without pony spooking!! Keep your eyes peeled when photos go live, just an idea! Hope no one was hurt.

[Rockstar]

Apr 20, 2014 21:04:39 GMT gillwales said:

All I can suggest is if anyone sees behavior like this they should inform a steward and take photos of anyone deliberately spooking ponies, then send with a covering letter to the BSPS. This is cheating and is abhorrent. If anyone that did this is reading this thread then you should be ashamed. I would urge anyone that witnessed this to write to the BSPS and advise them of what you saw. This type of behavior needs to be stamped out quickly before it escalates and someone does get hurt.

I couldn't agree more.
Moaning on here may help you get it off of your chest but taking action with the relevant society is the only way to get behaviour like this stamped out.

[justkeeptrotting]

I know it's quite a while back now, but I have noticed this happen a lot this year. In one case at winter champs I noticed someone dropping a plastic bag as soon as a pony was doing its extension past in its individual show. I was appalled because this was a show pony class with riders as young as 9 riding! I didn't know that a ribbon and a ticket was that important that you wanted to sabotage these young riders and potentially risk their lives. Absolutely silly if you ask me, one of the reasons I don't do so much anymore! I just hope that it doesn't continue and it is sorted. Sorry about the rant, just wanted to voice my opinion :/