She needed longer reins so her hands could bounce around.
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I wonder … if CD had spoken to the rider afterwards and had a convo about getting overwhelmed and going too far, about the perils of frustration… would we be here today?
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I thought Amy Skinner’s words on this were very interesting and definitely at least some truth to it.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/JWChaAcTePaC7TKt/?mibextid=xfxF2i
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This. And I’ve mentioned it before, but $10 says more people will be carefully watching the Modern Pentathlon riders this year: careening around a 3’9" course, crashing through fences, horses falling, and overall putting an even more visible blemish on horse sports.
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I am pretty sure that they removed horses from the modern pentathlon after the Tokyo Olympic disaster. Edited to add: I checked, and Paris will be the last time show jumping will be part of the modern pentathlon due to horse punching incident in Tokyo.
I have been pondering this poor horse in the video with CD and it’s chance to be a GP horse because of CD brutalizing it with a whip. I watched this wonderful training video from Heath Ryan showing proper use of a whip by a trainer. https://youtu.be/1x8ilxZPYb8?si=6RDpvhPesteEcP9Q
If anyone questions whether CD’s whip use constitutes abuse, you need to watch this video.
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As our old instructor used to say, “horses will tell on you”.
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I think she is right. It used to be referred to as “come to Jesus” meetings. Horses drilled in a round pen until they are heaving and dripping with sweat, jumpers poled, dressage horses in the show ring with blue tongues, racehorses in training as long yearlings, etc.
The pix of Marilyn Little’s horse with more hardware in its mouth than an Ace store made me sick. How many times at events was there blood on that mare?
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Yeah, I was disappointed to see that. The very least they could have done is lower the fence height to something more forgiving, e.g. 3 feet, but no, they’ve kept it at a ridiculously high level, which will only exacerbate the riders’ (lack of) training and ability.
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Source, please.
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I remember watching videos of it at the London games. The audience was largely non horsey and thought the refusals, run outs, and wrecks were hilarious. China was much worse; I was surprised some of the riders did not get seriously injured.
I have doubts that Equestrian will be featured at the Los Angeles games. PETA has been intensely lobbying IOC to drop Equestrian events and this could be the last straw. Videos of both CP and CDJ are on their website. They were very effective at Santa Anita–change or get a mass protest. Changes were made through negotiations and breakdowns largely diminished. I hope this does not happen but these are my thoughts. PETA is very popular and well-funded in the LA area.
OTOH, maybe if the panache of the Olympics disappeared some of these ahem overzealous “training” practices will tone down a bit.
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Now let’s go a bit further. How does this sound ?
“Being a horse and especially at Charlotte’s level has a lot of responsibility, but we are horses and we all make mistakes.”
The horse deserves the benefit of the doubt, and an advocate, too. As FEI Judge Axel Steiner says about training and communicating with horses: “Always a conversation. Never an argument.”
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IMO, if we want to see equestrian sport continue to have a social license to operate, horse people will have to accept the scrutiny and address the systemic problems within the horse world directly, even if it’s painful. Start being proactive about making change, or you will no longer have a choice.
I see people doing serious mental gymnastics in this thread and elsewhere on the internet to excuse what has happened, or shift the discussion away from the content of the video/what to do about it. You know what the average person sees? An Olympian beating a horse.
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From the BBC Sport article in a previous post.
“Because of the Olympics, [the whistleblower] was thinking if I don’t do anything now [Dujardin] will probably win medals,” Wensing said.
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Maybe they were, but if they were so pleased to have her on video aimlessly thrashing a horse, why didn’t they contact a lawyer then and there and not wait for 2.5-4 years? If they were so concerned about her treatment of a horse and the downfall of dressage, then they shouldn’t have waited until a few days before the Olympics to release it.
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Wow. Just wow. Being at “Charlotte’s level and responsibility” if anything should make her a more responsie trainer! So if someone beats there spouse do u give them a pass because they’re “just human”?! God I can’t believe the people saying “yeah but”. I sincerely hope u don’t own horses.
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If there’s any perspective on whipping a horse from the ground while the rider hauls it around I don’t want to know it.
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[quote=“blue_heron, post:440, topic:797726”]
Every trainer I know had handled a horse that has been over-loved. These horses are anxious and dangerous to handle.
[/quote
I think ‘over-loved’ doesn’t make sense to your reasoning. A horse can’t be over-loved. But included in love is providing all of the horse’s needs, which includes setting clear, fair boundaries. Without them, he can become dangerous which makes him more than likely to come to a bad end.
I think the more appropriate word would be spoiled. That says to me that the horse has not been taught what is acceptable and not acceptable (boundaries) and has been allowed to set his own behavior standards without consequences. That is dangerous.
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I did watch. It is bad.
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Flame suit on, here but… Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing equestrian dropped from the Olympics. The IOC is doing Eventing no favors and in some opinions it is actively destroying the discipline. Not to mention the oversight issues we have where only one governing body is allowed for a sport in the Olympics, and the problems with USEF that has created. I HATE that it may be due to abuse that we get dropped, but getting dropped really wouldn’t bother me personally.
To all those saying “we are human, we make mistakes” - sure. I have absolutely lost perspective with a horse and been unfair, but nothing like this. More importantly - those once-in-a-while OOPS mistakes do not happen in front of paying customers with smartphones. If someone does things like what’s shown in the video in a lesson to someone else’s horse - with such detachment - what the heck is going on when no one is watching?
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Completely agree with everything in your post.
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