How do you get a “green light” to send something to the FEI? Especially if it is your own video??
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I’ve always thought Uta Graf was a good example. Does she do anything wrong?
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I think the lawyer got the “green light” from the client
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My guess would be there is some translation issues. Isn’t this lawyer supposed to specialize in equine cases?
While I agree in principle, I’m not fond of assuming that she is guilty. This is literally coming out to the public today, and no one has seen the video in question.
The timing is too suspicious for me to believe without question that it was career-ending abuse.
I believe it is that the lawyer got the green light to send the video to the FEI from the owner of the video. The articles are not well written and as I said above, may be suffering a bit in translation.
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I read it as lawyer getting the green light from the client to send the video. It was the sponsor’s video, not Charlotte’s, acc to the above.
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Please don’t insult circus horse trainers. You obviously have never met any of them.
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No one is assuming, she flat out admitted it and asked to be suspended.
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This is very sad and very frustrating for so many reasons–least of which, the “social license to operate” conversation that is so prevalent at the moment across all horse sport.
It’s in the NYTimes, and already keyboard warriors are claiming it’s time for the demise of equestrianism.
I do think the suspension, regardless of how error-filled or not the video is, is the right move. We have got to show the world we can self-police and put the fear of god in those who do not abide by good horsemanship. If we don’t, we are at risk to continue on with the sport we love.
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Politics. Someone has it in for her
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One of the articles made its way to Reddit and while the article doesn’t even mention a guess on what happened everyone is assuming the worst and it’s really disheartening.
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This wasn’t directed at me, but I’ve ridden with Uta a few times (in Germany) and there wasn’t anything alarming in our lessons/clinics. I actually enjoyed conversing with her, because her husband (Stefan Schneider) really changed her outlook on some things (such as turnout) because he had some different ideas from her. So it was neat to hear about how she changed how she keeps her horses. They keep their horses in a pretty species friendly way, and I haven’t heard or seen anything cruel about her training. I’m not sure whether or not she does something “wrong” but she seems to generally have good animal welfare practices.
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Two wrong things don’t cancel each other out. The only result one should actually want is that the rapist should ALSO be out, not that the horse abuser shouldn’t be out.
I hope that article disabuses people of the notion that the problem is ‘PETA’ or ‘animal rights nuts’. The person who reported it was (note the past tense) a sponsor. This came from someone interested enough in equestrian sports to sponsor other people riding horses. It does no good to cast outsiders as the boogeyman when, in this case and many others, the call is coming from inside the house.
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It is called “damage control.” Fall on your sword and beg for forgiveness. I await to see the video and make up my own mind.
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What did she admit to other than poor judgement that day? She wants to show she actually is remorseful, so good for her for withdrawing and asking for a suspension while they investigate.
It is dangerous to assume this is more than a one-off incident, since no one else has ever come forward with disparaging comments about CDJ. Unlike CP, who had been fighting off claims of abuse for years.
Now if more people come forward in the intervening weeks, that is a totally different story.
I’ve just seen too many people get railroaded by the one poor day of judgement when they truly understand that it was wrong and are willing to take their sanctions without complaint. As CDJ has.
Let’s not pull out the flaming pitchforks and assume she’s been abusing training horses non-stop for years. We’re better than than.
Today it is CDJ. Tomorrow it could be you.
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The article says that the sponsor, as a non-rider/trainer herself, thought it was normal. When she saw other people recently being called out for similar behaviour, she showed people her video and was told it should be reported. Now, if she’s Dutch, I can see how it could be more ‘complex’ than that. Given the details in the article, anyone who knows will know exactly who this person is. This person is not from the UK, that is also known.
Not saying it’s not to take out the competition, but there could be genuine real reasons it was only reported, for example, post-Cesar videos/documentary being released.
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I have also heard very positive things about Uta Graf and like the interviews I have read with her.
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That makes me happy, because I’ve always admired her for believing that horses need to be horses in their downtime. It’s so unusual in general, but for a dressage horse, almost unheard of. I’m glad to hear that she walks the walk.
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We are reacting with sadness to another “great” being suspended // asking to be suspended in reaction to training methods coming to light. The sadness is that Charlotte Dujardin, too, is now in the hot seat, despite all her many top glories and privileges. Charlotte, too, can “act out of character” (not kind, not fair to the horse, this translates to) and be filmed while doing so. The sadness is not that it was revealed now, or by whom or why, but that she has reacted with admission of responsibility for whatever is in the video. That admission doesn’t ever make it ok. It’s utterly sad and so frustrating for anyone who looked up to her, including (probably) the young 19yr old rider herself, who must have been over-the-moon thrilled to take that lesson with Charlotte.
The video will come out somewhere, but meanwhile we have her laser-rapid PR statement and withdrawal to react to, and it inspires: sadness for the horses and the sport, once again.
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How do we know this?
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