# Horse people-how well does roy moore ride? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404 "2017-12-13T16:19:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/41 "2017-12-13T23:52:21Z")
The thing about a good rider is that they make it look effortless. It takes a lot of skill and experience and some good coaching to get there. Shatner is using his seat to cue the horse. How he shifts his weight, whether he follows the horse with his pelvis and core muscles, or resists, can all cue the horse to go faster or slower. The aids are subtle. I suspect too, that he is riding a very well schooled, smooth gaited horse, but he is a nice, quiet rider. Roy Moore is painful to watch. Heavy handed on the reins, unbalanced, bad position, bounces, rather than follows the movement of his horse… Brain stall - who just started taking dressage lessons after ten years out of the saddle. I don’t remember sitting trot being so freaking hard. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/42 "2017-12-13T23:58:50Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I wasn’t aware that the term “sassy” only applied to females? > > \*sassy > adjective [-er/-est only] us ​ /ˈsæs·i/ > > rude but not seriously offensive: > > I was a sassy kid who sometimes talked back to my mother.\* > > [SASSY | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/sassy) > Maybe you could critique Moore’s horse handling, or riding style? Perhaps you can junior mod your own life. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/43 "2017-12-14T00:02:35Z")
> [@B-Rad](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by ThelmaLou > > “… in a single world?” > > Gaudere, right? 😃 > > … Hehe. Oops. :o ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/44 "2017-12-14T00:05:18Z")
Late to the party here, but he doesn’t know how to ride. He can barely sit on the horse. That poor thing is a saint and should have dumped his ass in front of the cameras. The bridle doesn’t fit, I’m betting the saddle doesn’t either. That little beast he’s on is gaited, as in a Tennessee Walker or Racking horse of some kind. They are known for smooth, easy to ride gaits. Here’s a random video I cribbed showing what a good rider on a nice gaited horse SHOULD look like: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz-q-BPIWlI) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/45 "2017-12-14T00:46:34Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Couldn’t help but noticing that the end of the video is of the horse riding away from the videographer. IOW, a view of a horse’s ass. :dubious: ONE horse. TWO horses’ asses. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/46 "2017-12-14T01:09:34Z")
That was a wonderful horse with the smoothest gaits known. A three-year-old child could have ridden better than he did. Guy couldn’t manage a rocking horse. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/47 "2017-12-14T01:33:40Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > In the linked video, the horse appears nervous with all of the asshole press photographers crowding around and snapping pictures. Might have been a new experience for the horse? Yesterday, several news media outlets showed videos taken earlier where people were repeatedly warning the ignorant press people to back away from the horse. I half expected at least one photog to receive a kick to their body, or head. > > I wonder how a horse person would compare Moore’s horse handling when he was arriving at the polling station with a calm horse, vs Moore’s horse handling when he was trying to ride a nervous horse thru the clicking, crowding, media-types? It’s doubtful he’d be any better. He was a jerk to put her in that situation in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/48 "2017-12-14T01:36:53Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Sew, according to several news media outlets, the Moore’s’ have been riding horses to their polling location for years. Some news media-types even said it was a tradition. :eek: > > **I assume the Moore family, under normal conditions, know how to handle their own horses.** OTOH, it appeared that many of the photographers may have been city-folk who wouldn’t know an ass from a pinto. Considering that he can’t even adjust his bridle correctly or keep from reefing on the horse’s mouth with a cruel bit (in bad hands), I disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/49 "2017-12-14T01:40:19Z")
**doorhinge** , I don’t know much about horses, but one thing I do know is that the reason that many urban police forces still use horses is because they’re really _good_ with crowds. This does not seem consistent with what you’re saying. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/50 "2017-12-14T01:45:39Z")
> [@brainstall](#): > > The thing about a good rider is that they make it look effortless. It takes a lot of skill and experience and some good coaching to get there. > > Shatner is using his seat to cue the horse. How he shifts his weight, whether he follows the horse with his pelvis and core muscles, or resists, can all cue the horse to go faster or slower. The aids are subtle. I suspect too, that he is riding a very well schooled, smooth gaited horse, but he is a nice, quiet rider. > > Roy Moore is painful to watch. Heavy handed on the reins, unbalanced, bad position, bounces, rather than follows the movement of his horse… > > **Brain stall - who just started taking dressage lessons after ten years out of the saddle. I don’t remember sitting trot being so freaking hard**. That is so cool. I’ve been out of it for about as long, but I still have a garage full of tack. Five saddles, no horse! :rolleyes: It’s just too expensive around here for a good facility. We plan to move in a few years so I’m keeping all my stuff in the hope that I’ll be horseless no longer. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/51 "2017-12-14T01:50:47Z")
All I know is that _[Sassy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassy_(magazine))_ was a magazine aimed at teen girls. The kind of mag a guy with a thing for teen girls might peruse. A bit too much of a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/52 "2017-12-14T01:59:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **doorhinge** , I don’t know much about horses, but one thing I do know is that the reason that many urban police forces still use horses is because they’re really _good_ with crowds. This does not seem consistent with what you’re saying. Police horses are screened from a much larger pool of horses. Police horses are unusually calm, not freaking out over things like loud noises, screaming people, fire, traffic, and small bits of paper or leaves blowing in the breeze. They are to normal horses what seeing eye dogs are to normal dogs - unusually intelligent, trainable, and resilient. Horses range from incredibly high-strung and skittish to, well, police horses. Most tend to bunch up closer to “scared” than “calm”, but they do occupy the full range. Also, police horses are carefully desensitized to what would cause horses to react with fear by being exposed to things like traffic, noise, people, and loud noises like gunshots. The animal learns that these things are not immediate threats to life and limb, and combined with a good match of partner, the horse is unusually well-adjusted to city life and, again, takes a lot of cues off the rider. A well trained horse matched with a rider the horse trusts will do things that normally would scare the tail off a horse. A combination of all of the above means that police horses are good with crowds. Horses also are very hard for an angry crowd to, for example, turn over because, unlike a squad car, the horse will resist such treatment. This makes them good in riot situations. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/53 "2017-12-14T02:08:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **doorhinge** , I don’t know much about horses, but one thing I do know is that the reason that many urban police forces still use horses is because they’re really _good_ with crowds. This does not seem consistent with what you’re saying. You mean that crowds are impressed by them so that they’re effective with crowds? I’d believe that. But not every horse can be a police horse. They’re specifically trained for their job and even with the training, some horses don’t make the cut. Ah. Took too long. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/54 "2017-12-14T02:09:35Z")
All I can say is the virtual horse community has not been shall we say complimentary. To say the least. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/55 "2017-12-14T03:12:00Z")
I haven’t rode for at least 20 years (kidney stone and saddle galls killed me on the last 6 hour trail ride) and before that rode mostly bareback/saddle blanket but even I was agog watching Moore ride. It looked like he was water skiing the way his stirrups were way out front. I will admit to the time my oldest sister let me saddle one of her horses at age 16 (so 10 years since I had rode anything besides a dirtbike or bicycle) and, while I managed to actually do it right, a half mile away the saddle slipped and my nephew and I hung upside down for about 12s before hitting the gravel. Horse was a bloater. My sister blamed herself because 1) she knew that and 2) she should have checked. We were really lucky this was a very calm mare who just stood there and craned her neck back at us. I think she was laughing on the inside. I love looking at her horses but between the dogs and cats no way can I afford more vet bills 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/56 "2017-12-14T03:25:49Z")
Why, it looked like he was try to dominate that horse in a heavy handed way. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/57 "2017-12-14T03:51:00Z")
Having been raised around horses all my life, and just retired after 24 years as an officer of the MN Horse Council, it was just painful to watch that video. We call that ‘using the reins to hold yourself on the horse’. The hands stretched out wide and pulling in both directions at once – awful. Indicative of a really poor posture & control of the riders’ own body on the horse. In a lesson, we’d take him off that horse and put him on a steady old lesson horse, and pony him along (no reins) until he was able to maintain some semblance of a seat. The bridle is poorly adjusted – throatlatch way too tight. And from other pictures, seems like that’s the way he wants it. Probably because he drags so hard on the reins that the whole bridle would pull down off the horses’ head if it was adjusted the proper way. That poor horse is a saint for putting up with him. Also, why is he riding a pinto? Don’t Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 22:10 forbid such ‘color mixing’ for a Bible believer like him? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/58 "2017-12-14T04:11:38Z")
If Sassy were the kind of horse that doesn’t like being around a crowd - then that would be another proof of Moore’s lousy horsemanship, for riding her into a crowd and putting her in a lousy position. It’s the rider’s responsibility to be the brains of the partnership and look out for his horse. Moore deliberately chose to put her there. If she was upset, that’s on him. I agree with other here, that she’s far too good for him. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/59 "2017-12-14T04:12:47Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Also, why is he riding a pinto? Don’t Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 22:10 forbid such ‘color mixing’ for a Bible believer like him? That probably falls under the other cherry picking laws or “We don’t follow the Old Testaments (because that is for the … Jews, we only follow the New Testaments”). (But don’t remind them that Christianity and Islam come from Judaism.) ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404/60 "2017-12-14T04:24:08Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > He rides like crap. That little mare is probably a spotted saddle horse, a gaited breed bred from Tennessee Walking Horses (who have been horribly abused in the ring for their distinctive “big lick” gait) and paint horse breeds. They are generally very sweet and patient. > > As for his riding, he’s all over the place in the saddle. He seems to have no sense of balance, and is trying to right himself by tugging on the reins. That sawing back and forth is something no horseman would do. [Here’s a photo taken at a different time, which also shows him cranking back on the bit.](http://cdn.washingtonexaminer.biz/cache/1060x600-288c79b15a329eb8dc9c7af1b6ea6efe.jpg) The mare was clearly much less tense when away from the photogs, and his riding did improve when she wasn’t so nervous. I would’ve liked to see him dumped on his ass. > > StG ☹ I wish there was some way to report this as animal abuse ! I was hoping he was dumped too but the poor horse would of had been whipped to death by the jackass ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-people-how-well-does-roy-moore-ride/804404.md?page=4)