terryn wrote:

Quality of care shows pretty easily - if a horse is in "show shape", I tend to assume that a person is a solid rider. Tack and attire are where most of my assumptions come from. Synthetic tack or AP saddles typically make my brain go "Oh, not an H/J person." Brightly colored nylon tack makes me cringe and assume that the person is going to be your typical Playday Wahoo. LOUD and somewhat obnoxious with a preference for cheap beer. *



I'll admit that I do this too. I don't expect someone with neon/nylon tack to be a good rider. That kind of thing. I also judge what kind of rider you are based on the quality of your horse. I wouldn't expect someone who does the A/Os successfully to be riding a horse that clearly is a 2'6 and below horse. I know I shouldn't, but to be honest, most of the time it's fairly accurate. The person in the green nylon bridle isn't a very sophisticated rider, the A/O rider is on a nice, athletic horse, and the Weekend Warrior is on a slightly crooked legged saint of a low level packer. If you show up with a horse who's feet are raggedy and long, with a dull coat, unclipped, with a long, unpulled mane, synthetic tack, tack that doesn't even fit or is dirty and cracked, low end/ill fitting riding attire on, etc etc....well, it just doesn't send a message that you're very serious about the sport. And if you aren't serious about it, you're probably not very good, since it isn't a sport that you can get good at without being really dedicated.