Horse sports

[diome]

Do people here ride, drive horse carriages, etc?

I would also like to know if other people have the same feeling, that horse people in general are right-wing? Mostly religious and rather conservative, and narrowminded.

That feeling is sometimes really depressing. The people I socialize with at the stable are nice, and I like being there most of the time. But at the same time I know I have a side very different from them, that I don't even want to bring out in public, just because I like those people enough (they have their good sides! and I feel at home with them) and appreciate the atmosphere...

On some horse related discussion forums things are a lot worse. They just seem to be full of rascists, hatered towards fat people and chauvinist pigs.

Is this international, or just Finland?

And am I just experiencing a too harsh a "cultural difference", having for a long time socialized with university humanists, queer people and intellectual nerds?

At the stable I go to, people are mostly working class. That's why I feel so much home with them (my background is mostly working class and part agrarian). And there's nothing luxorious about the stable, and all horses are coldbloods and ponies there. Which is great in my opinion.

[Pogue]

Horse sports and activities have historically been the pursuit of the ruling classes over in England.

[Lynx]

Well, the fox hunting crowd in the UK do come off as being a bit snooty - I can't say if they really are all like that, I avn't met any in real life. Farmers are working class but also independent-minded and sometimes conservative.
The caleche rides I experienced in Quebec were enjoyable :)

[Killfacer]

All Horse sports are posh, apart from horse racing which is generally liked across the board (not by me, i think it's shit).

[Lynx]

Bulimic jockey racing - not my cup of tea

[diome]

Riding as a sport has also been an upper class thing in Finland. Though more than that it has always been an army thing, cavalry.

All farmers had a draft horse, and finnhorses (the local coldblood breed) still today have a label of being "lower quality" riding horses. But the stable I go to is a finnhorse stable.:)

We've never had such an aristrocracy here as in England. And never had such long traditions in riding sport (apart from the army).

I deffinitely agree that races are a popular lower class thing. Though we only have trotting races.

I've been suspecting that the answer to my own "problem" is that riding is such a "good hobby". It has been marketed and labeled as raising responsible citizens, keeping the kids out of trouble, teaching kids to work hard and act responsibly.

One columnist recently commented, that why using mild drugs is very bad, but riding recommended? As riding accidents kill a lot more people than using mild drugs does. Yet parents are ok if their kid starts to ride, as it's a good hobby, and it's a sport. But they deffinitely aren't ok with their kid starting to use mild drugs...

I think that was a good point, though I've never even smoked cigarettes, but have started riding at age 12 and now re-started as an adult.

I agree that competitive riding is deffinitely posh. The kind that they show on TV - both showjumping and dressage. Yet I like watching them. Trotting races aren't posh, but I've always thought there are lots of very rich people involved with the gallop races?

I'm interested in learning draft work driving, and hopefully will have a chance to do that in the future.:)

Actually I currently don't ride, but do all kinds of other stuff. And shoveling shit deffinitely isn't posh.LOL