Its a slang term basically equivalent to bejesus.
I say “bah” (like bah humbug) “hoo hoo” (“hoo” like “who”).
I should have spelled it bahoohoo, not bahohoo.
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Interesting, to me the horse doesn’t appear particularly terrified. It is for sure hard to say from watching a short video clip, but he rather struck me as sort of a mellow, rather amiable good old boy type who was maybe a bit slow with the hind legs, and he really just wanted to be left alone to do things his own way and was annoyed at being chased by someone with a whip, and esp. annoyed when the whip hit him - and that is really the only times I saw any flashes of temper from him (which I don’t blame him for). He didn’t strike me as truly terrified or po’d - otherwise I think he might have done something truly dangerous that resulted in injury to his rider. He instead just seemed irritated that someone was expecting him to work harder than he wanted to.
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I have to say I agree with this assessment.
I think a truly terrified horse would have had the kid in the rafters.
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Wow, I didn’t see that at all. I thought he looked trapped and confused and scared - not sure what he was being asked to do, not being given any real feedback, just hit and chased.
I didn’t see him a lazy but as an absolute saint for not launching his rider and getting the feck out of there and away from CDJ.
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wait, what? The sponsor was/is Alicia Dickinson and she is the one who sought out the attorney and filed the complaint? The rider did not file the complaint? how do you know who is laughing in the video? are they laughing in a private conversation or to what is happening with the rider/horse?
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My three thoughts, after feeling very upset about this all day long
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The video is an effing disaster for CD. It was a topic on the UK national news this evening. She is that rare sportsperson who has broken out beyond their sport into general public awareness. No excuses: she had to remove herself from the team and accept the FEI investigation and any sanctions. I hope her mental health survives the battering.
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The timing of the actions of the whistleblower looks highly deliberate and very malicious. There is currently debate about when the video was made (4 years, 2.5 years ago?) but it certainly wasn’t just last month. If, as stated, the Whistleblower simply wants “to save dressage” then why wait until three days before the Olympic Opening Ceremony, when the horses are already in France? Taking out CD removes any chance of a TeamGB medal. Interesting: it is a Dutch lawyer who is acting on behalf of the whistleblower. If there was honest intent I feel the allegations could have been made a long time ago, particularly with the video evidence.
3.This incident is likely to be the end of equestrian sport in the Olympics. The IOC is looking to modernize the games and horses don’t fit anymore. The disaster of the abuse in Modern Pentathlon, the poor picture of horses being pushed to extremes in Tokyo in Eventing and Show Jumping - because of the “three in a team” rule, the huge cost and complexity of equestrian participation and a perception that equestrianism is just not sufficiently popular with international audiences. Horse abuse is the final straw.
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Charlotte has short arms if I am not mistaken…some riders have to make adjustments by bringing the the hands up a bit higher to get the bend in elbow.
Carl made light of the short reins comment at a symposium a couple of years ago…saying it was obviously more than short reins that won medals.
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I keep coming back to the notion that I’m not sure the sport as it stands is salvageable. I think it’s naive at best to assume that CDJ is an outlier in terms of internationally competitive GP riders resorting to “methods” like this. Maybe (certainly hopefully) not often, maybe only in moments of impatience, but maybe not. She did not learn this in a vacuum or come up with it on her own. And I would bet good money that if we had 24/7/365 video of Isabell, Jessica, Patrik, Hans Peter, Edward, et. al. we would see things comparably horrifying at least once. For many of them I suspect it would be a lot more than once.
I also agree that I’m not sure if the whip is actually making contact in all of the strikes, it’s hard to tell. Of course it’s better if she’s not actually making contact, but it’s still bad.
The sport has evolved into something that rewards ridiculous movers and ignores obvious signs of tension. We are breeding animals that struggle to stay sound and the path to the international upper levels cranks them through a meat grinder of pressure, both mental and physical. A lot of them break, mentally or physically. To be internationally competitive it’s not just good enough to have a stupid-good mover, there’s a constant push to make them move better, higher, bigger, flashier, etc. For too many folks, the ends justify the means.
I think this will probably kill equestrian sport in the Olympics and it saddens me. The entire thing saddens me greatly.
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Ah, I remember seeing those kind of comments in SM posts, articles, etc. And when I had dinner with said 5* judge after a clinic and she made the same type of comment, I thought, “Interesting!” That judge, BTW, had judged Charlotte several times at very big name competitions, and admired her for her riding talent.
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I am honestly concerned about this as well.
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What better time for maximum impact and exposure than immediately before the Olympics?
No, it doesn’t “save dressage” immediately and certainly not in this Olympics. No, it doesn’t help the welfare of the horse in the video as years have now passed. But damn if it isn’t getting up front news coverage in multiple mainstream outlets and the public is outraged. Does anyone think that would really happen if it was released in 2022 when nothing big was happening when the public was concerned? It would have been a news story on COTH and H&H for a couple weeks, she would be sanctioned for a few months, and then life goes back to normal.
No larger and broader discussion about horse welfare and use in sport.
I get that the timing looks malicious, but if you think about it from a broader perspective, the timing is incredibly perfect for the big picture discussion and review of horse welfare in sport.
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The horse looks clearly stressed and frankly is the reason I think this is so egregious. If he was lazily cantering around, maybe he needed one or two sharp smacks, but certainly not this many. But he’s going against the hand and kicks out a few times, so he’s getting the “go forward” message loud and clear.
I also don’t think she’s popping the whip because that’s a different motion in the arm/wrist than swinging the whip at him repeatedly. I will say that the sound is much louder than I would expect from the end of a whip on a horse’s hindquarters so maybe she is popping it? I hate to say it, but is there a possibility the sound of the whip has been artificially amplified? I’m just really surprised that the lash of a longe whip makes that loud of a sound (unless it’s a heavier lash than I’m used to seeing?).
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I have seen more than my share of terrified horses and I think if this guy was truly terrified he would have launched the kid and bolted. And someone would have been hurt - the rider, maybe even the horse and/or Charlotte.
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Same. She’s losing a lot (sponsorships, support, etc). She’s also going to get thoroughly and repeatedly roasted. I’m also not sure that it’ll be over quick.
Now, it was her own actions that led to this consequence, but everything is just amplified these days with social media. F*cking up sucks. Nowadays, you can be destroyed from all directions, and things spread like wildfire.
While I don’t agree with what she did, I do actually hope that she can come out on the otherside with something left intact (in respect to her mental health).
Maybe I’m being too kind, I don’t know. It was a horrible thing to do.
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This! And also: if you have a horse that gets too excited about the treats, downgrade the treat quality. My mare kind of loses her head over cookies, but she’s just the right level of engagement when I give her alfalfa pellets as treats.
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This has been my thought, and a frequent topic of discussion at my barn, since this happened. I have a fairly strong feeling - not from personal experience, though I ride with a trainer who has trained many horses to successful (not international) GP careers - that it is not possible to get a horse to successful international dressage level without at least occasionally engaging in practices that non-horse people, and many amateur types, would find very troubling from an ethical or animal welfare perspective. To get these animals to be in front of the leg to the degree they are, to have the constant extreme sensitivity and immediate responsiveness to a mere whisper of a request to go so extremely forward in the manner that’s rewarded at the highest (and not even always highest) levels - I don’t think it’s possible without at some point(s) fighting with the horse, and sometimes just hitting him til he goes. I don’t think most riders beat them bloody, but I’d be shocked if the type of thing CD is doing in the video wasn’t consistent with the norm at her level.
This makes me very uncomfortable and conflicted. Is this what our sport should be? What would dressage at the highest levels look like without these methods? And with social media etc, what will happen to the sport, because if you read the comment section of any of these articles you can see clearly that many laypeople see no reason for international dressage competition at all, much less eg in the Olympics.
Then again, horses have always paid a big price for their domestication, and public outrage is easy in the comment section or on forums but isnt equivalent to action. Horse racing continues with all the deaths and drugging despite public outcry, with offenders receiving nothing more than slaps on the wrist… As I understand, Helgstrand can ride for the Danish team again in 2025. I wonder if the consequences of this scandal will be any more substantial.
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Yes, that is something the 5* judge mentioned - that Charlotte brings her hands up a bit higher because of her shorter arms. I believe that Debbie McDonald rode much the same way on big ol’ Brentina.
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Exactly, I don’t use R+ methods on a client’s horse if a client doesn’t understand the methodology well or if they won’t commit to using it. That’s a recipe for a confused and frustrated horse and might cause more problems for the client, which is not what I want for them and not what they pay me to do.
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Thanks. I may not have been following SM for her too closely at that time.
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Several Thoughts here…
- That horse’s reactions: one of three things, either the horse is already SO desensitized to being beat that this is it’s reaction to it now. Which is scary… Think about that. Or… The horse is not actually getting contact with the whip and it is making sound, or hitting the kick boards. Or that kid has an absolute strangle hold on it. I am actually leaning to #1, because… all the horses I know, if they had a whip swinging behind them like that would be OUT OF THERE… If it had that much of a strangle hold on it, it would be standing up…
My first reaction to the video was: that horse is not reacting to this like a “normal horse”
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