This is my preferred method too but I bet if she could, she would. Between the bolting and the BIG bucks it’s probably safest for all parties that it goes over his back versus around his hind end. One big buck and the line goes under his tail and given what we know about his back end and feeling constricted, I doubt that would end well.
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I hardly think that asking to see already-existing videos of the green horse you are being asked to take on for training is “micromanaging”, and I’m not sure why you seem to be very invested in trying to convince me otherwise, but I’m absolutely willing to agree to disagree. This train of thought makes sense with a client that already owns a horse, but Amos said that she spoke with the trainer while she was in the processof buying the horse. I don’t see why a trainer wouldn’t want to see videos of what they’re agreeing to take on, if nothing more than from a sense of curiosity.
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I think I’m mostly hung up on how this was presented as proof that the horse’s behavior was pain, and that the trainer thought this was the most suitable way to demonstrate that pain. When learning, yes, horses are likely to make mistakes on the long lines. I certainly wouldn’t use long lines to demonstrate lameness or pain.
But between the timeline as we’ve been presented (he’d been with the trainer a few weeks? a month? when this video was taken is my understanding? that is, for me, pretty quick to be going straight to long lining/double lungeing in a wide open arena at the canter on a horse who’s never done it before, and who lacks fitness), the IMO reasonable assumption that this horse had not been worked like this prior to coming to this trainer, the fact that it’s being done in a big open space when he is clearly green to them and being pushed forward into what appears to be a pretty unyielding hand, and what was clearly disclosed by Benchmark about him getting frustrated/upset when feeling trapped…I’m not surprised by the outcome of that video. Which is why I was wondering if he behaved this way on a normal lunge line? I’m guessing not, but I’d also guess that the NQR would still be pretty apparent. As presented it basically looks like goading the horse into a reaction with an unfair ask that he wasn’t adequately introduced to or strong enough to answer.
Honestly if the video was posted without rads or context I’d be more horrified, because I wouldn’t have the context of it being pain. I’d go straight to poor preparation on the part of the handler.
ETA: I am also coming into this with my own personal context of knowing several dressage trainers who have tried to crank young TBs into a very unyielding hand and getting the same results as above, both on long lines and under saddle. Horses who end up vetting clean, but who are not willing to be ridden the same way these trainers would start young warmbloods, with a very heavy hand and driving leg. Not saying this is correct or that all dressage trainers do it this way or that all TBs will resent this or that all WBs will accept it etc. etc. etc. but it’s something I’ve seen firsthand several times and heard about from others, as well. Without seeing those back rads, the video doesn’t look much different to me than what I’ve watched some trainers try to do while “showing this horse how to go into the contact.”
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Could you point me to an example of what you mean? I haven’t seen these claims on her website or the occasional Facebook posts I come across, and I am functioning under the assumption that she presents herself as the seller or seller’s agent, not as the buyer’s agent. If she advertises her business to amateurs as “let me help you find your perfect match” and suggests that she is providing a professional service to buyers, then, while I’d still stand by all of my comments about the roles of sellers and buyers and the lessons to be learned from this very unfortunate circumstance, I’d be more critical of her marketing approach for sure.
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She doesn’t claim any of these things; trubandloki is exagerrating and being very melodramatic. She does care about the horses and wants her buyers to be happy, but as you said she is not representing buyers and her website is very clear about how she does things. She’s selling OTTBs, and she’s offering buyers one level of evaluation above what they could get if they went directly to the track themselves. She’s selling green horses and she doesn’t have a crystal ball.
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This is a small nit to pick in this whole mess, but…
I know that selling horses is the Wild, Wild West and that people play fast and loose with the roles of buyer’s agent and seller’s agent; but if you are correctly acting as a seller’s agent, you are required to deliver any legitimate offers to the seller, regardless of what you think of the buyer. The decision to sell or not to sell is the seller’s alone, not the seller’s agent.
How do I know this?
I was once threatened with a lawsuit for refusing to sell a very nice horse to a completely unsuitable buyer. I shared all my concerns with the seller, who consulted with their attorney, who advised them to complete the sale but carefully document all the concerns in the bill of sale and have the buyer sign it before delivering the horse.
Said buyer took me school over my responsibilities as a seller’s agent. It was a little ridiculous. I had a small local lesson and training business, and sold maybe one horse per year. I was the farthest thing from a dealer imaginable.
I regrettably completed the sale and shipped the horse the second the check cleared.
Fortunately the buyer got hurt on a different horse before he got hurt on the one I had represented, or I would have been threatened with another, different lawsuit. 
If the offer was legitimate, and the seller was okay with the terms of the sale, the seller’s agent was obligated to complete the sale. The buyer had a chance to do the PPE.
Maybe, just maybe, Jessica’s statements about matching up horses and buyers applies to horses she actually owns; not horses she represents as a seller’s agent. Because as a seller’s agent, she could not have correctly turned down a legitimate purchase offer on the horse unless the seller agreed, whatever she thought about suitability.
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A legal obligation as an agent to CONVEY an offer and a legal obligation as a seller to ACCEPT that offer are two different things and I feel like your post slightly conflates the two.
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You are probably correct, I have conflated the two.
However, the moot point I was trying to make is that even if Jessica Redman had serious doubts about this sale, she was obligated to convey the offer. And if the seller wanted to accept the offer, despite Jessica’s reservations, then the sale would have gone through.
I also suspect someone who buys and sells as many horses as Redman does is way more familiar with the rules of agency than I was at the time of my anecdote.
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My bet is that she was not engaged as an agent for Amos so was not involved in the purchase.
Which is entirely fair, as a pro they are justified in charging for their time and expertise.
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Does anyone else see the constant posting of Benchmark being called a “trader” over and over as a poke? This is a difficult sad situation on all fronts but for some reason reading that monicker over and over in what seems like a negative light makes me pause. Small detail I know. It just seems unnecessary. She is a seller. A broker.
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Jessica’s own words, in this very thread:
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My take on Benchmark is they ‘do right by the horses and the riders’ through providing many comprehensive videos of their interactions with each horse, their opinion about who the horse is suitable for based on extensive OTTB experience, and disclosure of known issues. This doesn’t mean they’re always right, or have crystal balls, and obviously they aren’t extensively investigating each person they’re selling to (and have never seen them claim they do).
Just offering as a take on how you could interpret the marketing without concluding that it’s lying or nefarious.
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We’ve known from Amos’ first post that there was no trainer acting as an agent in the purchase of the horse. You cut off the rest of the sentence that you quoted, which asked why a trainer would not be even slightly curious enough to ask to see videos of the horse she just agreed to take on training full time while the client was in the process of buying it.
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I don’t disagree with you at all about the agent’s obligation to convey the offer! Just wanted to keep the two issues separate because it’s not the case that a seller is obligated to accept an offer just because it’s conveyed.
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All of this can be true, and situations like Amos’ can happen at the same time. Cherry-picking single sentences from a post that clearly had a lot of thought behind it is disingenuous.
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A trader by definition buys and sells large quantities of horses. She’s a trader, and that’s fine. A spade is a spade.
Remember I bought one from her that she hadn’t even posted a ridden video of yet when I scheduled the PPE. I knew the risk I was taking, knew my own riding skills, and went for it.
Stock broker. Stock trader. Same thing.
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Maybe… but in the horse world I’ve always viewed the horse trader as the one who shaves the 30 year old horse’s teeth and calls him a colt. Perhaps it’s me. Carry on. I also think about the lament about finding horses. Jess does this. And especially the coveted thoroughbreds of old. The jacks of all trades. That needed a pipeline into new places that didn’t include shoveling them into a cattle truck for shipment. People who were connected enough to the backside of the track to find the gems.
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So you will not be happy no matter what is posted?
If you hit the up arrow in the upper right corner of every one of those quotes you can see the whole post.
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The only reason to NOT quote the entire context (not necessarily the entire post, but enough to show the intended meaning) is so that people won’t see the entire context. It’s purposefully disingenuous.
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Or, I was asked for specific examples. So that person so nicely posted specific examples. Not a whole post so one had to figure out what the specific examples are. That is the typical response of being asked for a specific example.
But sure, you find fault in it if it makes you feel better.
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