My point is, in BNT operations, there are assistants and often you train with said assistants unless you are at the very top rung of the ladder. It’s how it works. That LK was so offended by that is… interesting. Especially given her supposed lack of financial investment and commitment.
People with extreme NPD often fear rejection more than anything else, usually due to having suffered severe emotional trauma at a very, very young age (such as extreme emotional neglect or abuse). They get “stuck” emotionally at the age at which the worst trauma occurred, which is usually infancy/ early toddler years. And like an infant, everything in their world must revolve around “me-me-me.”
Couple that with delusions of grandeur (often accompanies NPD) and you get a mindset of:
I will NOT be rejected. Or there will be serious, serious consequences.
And couple THAT mindset with a sense of entitlement because 1) she has multiple horses there so therefore believes she is deserving of being the focus of MB’s attention; 2) she has been coddled her entire life and has never had to face consequences for her actions.
And couple all that with a 20-year(?) history of dependence on opioids/narcotics, which also interferes with her ability to understand the reality of a need for real work and commitment to reach her riding goals, and of her ability to have sympathy/empathy for others, especially if they get in the way of what she wants.
So there you go…
[Edited to fix a typo and for clarity.]
As a retired high school teacher, I just want to say I saw plenty of children allowed to run amuck while their parent(s) passively sat back whining, “Stop it now. Just stop.”
Frequently followed by some request to trust Jesus.
I assure you Tarlo, you have no idea what my family has done to help. You don’t know us.
Lauren made a deal to train with Michael that he agreed to. He didn’t have to agree to this but he did because he wanted the income. I had many conversations with people there that knew what the situation was. MHG as, per my observation, tried to interfere with that arrangement because, in my opinion, he had promised them both that they could progress rapidly. MHG seemed to have Olympic aspirations. However, it must have been difficult for Michael because Lauren was a paying boarder of 4 horses and was doing work on the house. Mary Haskins had 9 horses and did not pay board as per her own testimony here:
If Michael had not agreed to this, she was talking to other trainers and could have chosen one of them. Seemed to me like a “bait and switch” operation which was not uncommon in his world. This seemed unethical to me.
I think you need some perspective on this situation other than your daughter’s, because your statements represent a very skewed reality.
Lauren was not competing with MHG for Michael’s attention. That’s a product of Lauren’s disordered thinking. MHG is a successful professional rider and trainer at the International level.
She was an asset to the business at HH because she taught and trained.
Lauren is a lower level amateur, then working on her Bronze medal, who was not fully committed to improving.
They were not in competition with each other except in Lauren’s mind.
Also, Lauren was not “a paying boarder of 4 horses” and “doing work on the house.” That was thoroughly debunked by the trial testimony. Barisone was likely losing money every day the horses were there.
There was no competition. Not as riders, not in personal relationships.
ETA: In the USDF database, Lauren has 95 recorded rides. MHG has 433. Literally, four times the show experience, not factoring the difference in levels.
Progress requires work, showing up, daily, to ride to improve.
Yes. Realistic ones. Which she also worked to achieve and maintain and improve. Most trainers recognize and value students like that.
MHG had nine horses there, but I’m not sure how many she owned herself.
She also teaches and trains horses. She brings in income through her riding others horses and training riders and horses.
She’s a partner in the business in that sense, as well as a student.
As a “partner” in this business, I’m sure she was very concerned about this client who wasn’t paying what the experience was worth, and wasn’t even riding and improving enough for the business to at least use her progress and accomplishment to sell their services to other potential cluents.
Lauren was just a casual amateur student with horses there to be trained.
She did not improve MBs business reputation. She didn’t even pay adequately for what she was purchasing from the business.
What you’re suggesting by comparing them shows you don’t know much about how this works, and is like saying a published college professor and his student are the same because they both write papers.
Newsflash mumzy: PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO CHANGE THEIR MIND ESPECIALLY ONCE UNHINGED AND UNLAWFUL BEHAVIORS BEGIN
This statement has no foundation in either logic nor law. It is a flawed statement on multiple levels.
MHG has also been riding and training in Dressage, I’m guessing pretty regularly, for… Decades? She did Junior Young Rider, I believe back in, ??, the 90s? '00s?
Lauren hasn’t been in a Dressage training program very long at all I don’t believe. Certainly nothing comparable.
Sadly too often people are so ignorant of the dedication and time it takes to truly be great, think a year of once a week lessons will make you a star in the ring.
Let’s unpack this statement. “She was talking to other trainers”. WHY did she not leave???
People are ignorant of the time and dedication it takes for most of us just to be okay riders, forget about being truly great. 
Your whole post was spot on and the best, most concise debunking of the ‘MB wanted to keep her for the money/work RG was providing’ myth. It will be the simplest forensic accounting in the world to put a value on what she was getting: (full training board x4) + (value of apartment/mo) - (whatever work RG actually did [he testified under oath to doing the minimum]) + (any extras - supplements, wrapping, etc.) = total cost. It will exceed USD5000/mo by a fair whack.
I hope after your fact-based, calm, thorough explanation, we can wave goodbye to the ‘he wanted her money’ myth for good. 
On the subject, I remember way back in the beginning being struck by the inconsistencies in the financial claims. There was a screen shot referencing ‘unlimited means’ or a similar phrase. But, truly wealthy people do not dig in and refuse to leave a ‘free’ apartment in a partially condemned building and a barn where literally not one person wants them. Not one. They have a problem? They throw money at that problem. They pack up their horses and their toys and they leave that all behind then turn around and sue your 
for whatever they think you owe them. That’s what people who are actually wealthy do.
This scrapping around on the ground and yelling and playing music and bugging the premises and 
posting on social media and calling inspectors and threatening and basically making a great big public noisy humiliating fuss and dragging in your parents is what’s common as muck. No sophisticated, educated, normally function person is going this route if they truly have unlimited means. Not a chance in hell.
Hearing RG testify that they could not afford rent anywhere else and that they lived in a trailer in FL the previous winter are two other indications that means were and are far far from ‘unlimited’.
No. Lauren only offered it up S a suggestion of something she was willing to do after finding out she had access to the office.
Or so she says…
My interpretation of Seekers post is that, in her opinion, MHG was jealous of the attention MB was giving to LK. That’s quite different from LK being jealous of the attention MB was giving MHG.
MHG was legitimately on track to be in the running for the Olympics and was the assistant trainer and MBs fiancée. Of course MHG is going to get lots and lots of his attention. Do you imagine LK or Seeker do not understand this?
What evidence is there that LK did not understand this or resented it?
As a paying client, even at the favorable rate that was agreed to, LK was entitled to receive the training she was paying for. If MB had changed his mind about wanting or tolerating her as a client, or if he wanted to do as MHG requested and get LK out, he could have unilaterally ended the client relationship at any time, giving 30 days notice.
Why didn’t he?
