Common sense isn't that Common anymore

I’m not sure if common sense is not that common anymore or people's massive lack of awareness is growing, but at a show I attended I had to do a lot of breath work to calm the f**k down due to people's stupidity or lack of awareness.  

When I was growing up I was made aware that anything can happen when it comes to horses being in a different environment rather than their home or where they know very well. 

I was educated to give a lot of space to foals and young stock near me. I was taught that any horse I don't know could possibly kick out anytime. But recently it seems that knowledge might not be as widely known anymore. 

Children getting lost, being left unattended, people walking behind horses with buggies and kids. Drivers with lorries driving so close to horses' back ends that they could have nearly hitched a ride on the windscreen. People standing in the pocket area where horses enter and exit out of main rings. Horses being left in horse boxes unattended and going batshit crazy. People lunging horses in the car park where moving vehicles are , well, moving, surprisingly enough. 

Just because your horse is quiet it doesn't mean everyone else's horse is too. 

Sad to say this but it seems respect has been lost somewhere along the years and I really feel the old type of horsemanship could be dying off. 

It actually puts me off going to shows. I trust my horse and myself but it makes me feel sick to have to deal with some people who have no awareness about them or lack horse knowledge when it comes to being out and about with your animal at shows.  

At this particular event, due to the lack of warm up rings (we actually found one in a corner of a field that looked like a triangle death trap to a young inexperienced horse) people were warming up in the car park which may I add was full and was just getting worse as time went on.

Cars just kept coming. I overheard one steward say " I don’t know what to do now, we are full up here".  

After this, maybe an hour or so, they eventually opened up another field for a few more cars. But I feel it was a case of " too little too late" as I was already blocked in . So even if I wanted to leave , I couldn't.

To enter the class rings , you had to go through a gap no bigger than 10ft. There was a sign saying "horses only" and yet still the public continued to pass through here with buggies and kids, where there were mares,foals, and plenty of young stock. When some classes finished a lot of competitors hung around the small gap causing blockages for others. Also many riders blocked up some passage ways watching other classes while sitting on their horses. 

While I completely understand some people do voluntary work at these events, and it's a tough job dealing with the public, but the majority of these shows have been going on for years now and I would have thought they would be improving standards and facilities instead of it becoming more of a hazard. 

It wasn’t just this show in particular, but many I have attended where people don’t even look around the warm up ring while riding to see where other riders are or if anyone is in need of space or help. 

I understand people are possibly nervous, and have tunnel vision sometimes but they need to be aware that there are many more riders and horses in that ring trying to do the best they can on the day. So slow down , look around and be safe. Think of other people too.  

If all of a sudden I decided to get into dog training and showing I would look it up. I would research everything about it. I would read and learn about etiquette in the dog world and how to teach a dog all it needs to know before going to its first show and how I should be as a responsible dog owner also. I wouldn't just rock up, let the dog off the lead , no treats,  no training and stand in people's way while they're trying to show their dogs. In my mind that would be madness . There is so much free information on the Internet now that people can avail of to help themselves.  I've been a horse owner for 38 years now and I'm still studying horses behaviour and anatomy and constantly learning new things. Every day is a learning day. Talk to someone who has experience, find out the do's and the don'ts before you go out and about. And please, be safe. 

Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't. So beware. Horses are fight or flight animals with their own mind.  

Knowledge is power 💪

But that's just my experience and my perspective. Tell me yours!!