> The Hunter/Jumper types
 > here figure you're no horseman unless you ride and show
 > H/J.  Even Grand Prix dressage people don't know anything,
 > in their book!  I lost a lot of standing in some people's
 > eyes when I quit jumping.
 >
 >      And, BTW, the horse I was jumping was CASEY.  The cob.
 >  The one who LOVES to jump.  And has the heart of a BIG
 > horse.
 
Quote of the month from Mike Plumb, in his newsletter Horse Journal, to a 
reader who is asking for advice on finding a competent trainer:
 
> If you can't find an eventing trainer who is expert in all
> three phases, you could work with three different qualified
> instructors: dressage, eventing, and show jumping.  I find
> I learn a great deal when I participate in a dressage or
> show jumping clinic or event.  We all have knowledge to share.
Pop Quiz: choose the real horseman.
 
A)  Eight-time Olympic team member; does dressage and show jumping. 
 Also rides cross-country over big obstacles which *don't* fall down 
obligingly when you crash into them.  Publishes helpful newsletter full of 
helpful details; explains what facts have gone into his decision making; 
writes (and presumably talks) to beginning and backyard horsepeople with the 
same straightforwardness and attention to his craft as to a fellow Olympic 
teammate or high-level student.
 
B)  Snobbish rich carefully-groomed brats who saunter around carefully- 
groomed artificial courses on pre-made horses; sneer at other equestrian 
disciplines which they don't understand; sneer at other riders not at their 
skill level, whether above or below.
 
I know which one I'd choose.
 
Vicki, I know I'm preaching to the converted here.  But you and I both know 
what is going on there.  The H/J crowd is a little herd, and everybody is 
obsessed with their own standing in their little herd.  Nothing else matters. 
 If you quit H/J, you aren't part of the herd anymore so you are one of Them 
and don't figure into the calculation.
 
And forgive me if I've posted this before, but it bears repeating.  I saw a 
great letter in the October 96 issue of Practical Horseman.  An Appy rider 
wrote about a chance-meeting with a friendly dressage rider at a show a few 
years back when her Appy club and the dressage riders were sharing the 
grounds.  The dressage rider stopped to chat and asked if the 'spots' on her 
Arabian would be enough to let her join in, since the Appy riders seemed to 
be having such a good time.  The Appy rider talked about how her club only 
had an in-hand class for dressage and wished that one day her club would add 
"real" dressage.  And the dressage rider advised her to go for it:
> -- to not let other people's biases deter me from learning and teaching 
> my horse to do the best we could.  Imagine my amazement when next day 
> I saw this same person in show attire and found I'd been chatting with
> Lendon Gray!
Now it could just be that the folks like Michael Plumb and Lendon Gray and 
Bruce Davidson and Betsey Steiner, and all the other riders who write for the 
advice columns in these magazines, or write free-standing columns, have 
gotten a clue because they work for/with the magazines and have to be aware 
of their market.  But it doesn't surprise me that these top-level riders are 
friendly to beginners:  they are secure in what they know and what they do, 
and don't have to kick dirt in the faces of others just to feel that they are 
boss horse in the herd.  Snobbery is a sign of insecurity, pure and simple.  
Real horseman are concerned about the horses first and status second, if at 
all.  
You can't let the snobs get to you.  Just go on doing what you do, and 
remember that Lendon Gray and Mike Plumb and Bruce Davidson and all the other 
"good guys" are on YOUR side.
--- QM v1.31 
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