What the whip?

Im no stranger to spurs, whips and nosebands and I understand their purpose. However I have chosen the slower path to training objectives and have foregone all of the above in my work with Q. Which has been working well so far, in part because Q has a lot of try and is very sensitive.

Despite the icy trails, I still made the trek to the barn today and was planning on riding in the arena because ... I just realized I havent cantered in 2 weeks! Partly because of poor trail footing, partly because of rambunctious Q, partly because of slower training objectives. Regardless, I woke up this morning with a mission. A canter mission.

We were in the arena with two other trainers, one in reining, and the other in dressage. All was good, and it was just about managing traffic and keeping left-to-left despite their circles, spins, canter half passes, and protruding dressage whip, etc. I had a good session with Q and I was really happy with his canter-to-trot transitions from my seat. We did some cantering on both leads and I was about to call it quits.

Considering that conditions outside were treacherous and that Q would spend the rest of the day in his stall ... I decided to just keep walking around the arena for a bit longer. I was maneuvering between dressage trainers canter half-passes across the diagonal when I would catch a glimpse of a struggle from time to time. A harsh half halt here. A spur jab there.

And then I heard the sound of a whip snapping. Q raised his head and turned his ears to me. I turned my neck towards the sound and saw snap, snap, snap of the dressage whip across the neck. What?

I ignored it, Q dropped his neck, and we proceeded until 2 minutes later it started again. This time both Q and I turned our heads towards the sound and looked on incredulous.

I decided we did not need to see this. I dismounted, gave Q a peppermint, and walked out.

Im still stunned, and have lost all respect for this trainer. I understand how it got to this point, but it is so wrong.

This horse is the trainers, and it is a terrible match. The mare is dull and strong and trainer wants delicate movements. The mare has been for sale for years, but trainer has big $$$ expectations so she is never sold.

Im not quite sure how to handle this, with the barn owner or the trainer. It is not the only trainer in the barn, and of course Q and I do not use any of the trainers ... but ... it is very inappropriate.

So I get home and tell my non-horsey husband the story, with the caveat that the mare is dull as a fence post and totally not my type of horse. Not an ounce of sensitivity. And then my husband, in his inner yoda says :

The mare is dull because of trainer.