I understand the page founder is a legendary nutter, but I genuinely don’t get the purpose of the page. What is the point of posting photos and videos on the internet just for strangers to criticize? How is this educational to anyone, when most of the posters clearly have no basic dressage knowledge and / or believe everybody riding “competitive dressage” is abusing their horses?
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Well, I think you answered your own question. I googled this and it requires joining. I’m not going to do that because I filter out enough nutters on FB 
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹So no idea what it’s about. But there is a great deal of crap online and I daresay the ratio of WTF outweighs the useful material overall on the online universe. So not sure why this iteration of crap is more noteworthy than any other legendary nutter.
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That there is a group I’m in that I keep perpetually snoozed :lol:
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All those groups are a waste of time. Dressage for Adult Amateurs is another one.
Groups inevitably get co-opted by people who talk a lot more than they ride, and it shows in their advice.
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I’ve been on some closed FB dressage training groups where everyone shares the same program, people are kept positive and on topic, and nutters are kept out. And these groups have all just dwindled away. It turns out there just isn’t that much to say, people have coaches IRL to fix things so no one has a genuine question about fixing a problem. Once you subtract trashing pro riders videos, fighting over whose program is best, asking how to fit a saddle on an Andalusian, and the Barisone event, there isn’t that much to discuss on FB unless someone kicks it up a notch and starts actually making instructional videos.
If you want a high traffic, high engagement, FB group the easiest course is to be “controversial” and that means stirring the pot by engaging the crazies. We’ve seen that in many political groups, and it applies to horses too. The crazies are the ones that give you engagement.
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There are a couple of people on that group that really know their stuff and are super kind and helpful. If I could read just the contributions of these people without the other nutters, I would.
The admin of that group is an troll. He will drag anyone and everyone into the mud, including group members targeted by name if they dare disagree with him.
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I guess it depends, I have been a member for years now and I don’t have any problems…there are some very knowledgeable people posting so that should answer your question… I guess not everything is for everybody and just stay away if you don’t like it…
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I guess I haven’t come across too many of the knowledgeable people yet. Most of the post seem dedicated to sharing pictures of lovely horses and riders, and screeching about how horrific and abusive it is. It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
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I have no idea who BigMama1 is in real life, but I have the exact opposite impression on her on here. While I don’t always completely agree with her on every topic, she seems to be always be respectful in her posts even when disagreeing with someone or something.
I do completely agree with her here though … one glance at the ‘about’ part of that group tells me it’s run by people who learned everything there is to learn about dressage by reading books and looking at decades-old still photos, and who believe that modern dressage is abusive and has nothing good to offer.
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So, even if they are a group of people who believe that modern dressage is abusive, Why is it necessary to open a bashing thread about them?? And Big Mama is very active in Dressage Hub and NP Threads…in all of them…
The internet isn’t a vacuum chamber where we just praise or say nothing at all.
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Can you explain why what Big Mama did was so horrible but you found it necessary to take a personal swipe at Big Mama?
Don’t actually explain it because I don’t care what your justification is. Just exercise some self reflection for once.
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Ok, go ahead with your bashing thread, obviously you like to do it and there are not enough other possibilities right now…
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Did she open this thread or maybe I misread and she did not?? I would have questioned anybody open a thread with this topic, but she did…
[Edit]
What I like about facebook groups is you can pick and choose which you want based on what you’re interested. Here it’s all lumped together and you have to try to guess what it is something you will be interested. If I’m looking for very technical info, I’ll prepare myself to weed through the people suggesting Art2Ride and look for the people who know what they’re talking about. If I want cheerleading and no snark, I’ll go to Dressage for Adult Amateurs. But people who can’t stand being told to be nice really resent that group because they don’t last long. :lol:
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And you chose to rush in here and bash BigMama as you have done to others in those threads you complain about and yet take part in… so obviously you like to do it. That is a lot of Pot-Kettle-Blacking.
I was part of that Facebook group. Why I persisted in staying there, I do not know. There are some great folks posting there with great advice… but then you have good old Allan. Not every discussion is about abusive dressage - it is often analyzing other riders and finding abuse where there is none - but if you say that, you get in trouble. In a recent discussion, the dear Mr. Buck got pissy with someone for disagreeing with him in a very reasonable and respectful way… and banned her. He then announced she was a troll (not) and disruptive (as in, only agree with me or else) and raged on, disobeying his own carefully posted rules. No dissent allowed! I asked if she had been banned and got a PM from him telling me what a terrible troll she was and how clueless I was not to notice etc. That was not the case. I did not respond as I just considered the source.
There was a recent discussion about a sales video of a horse posted by a minor - and some of us had the gall to object to several uncalled for (and untrue) comments about the riding being abusive/incorrect… it was a sales video about her horse made by a young girl who is still learning, for heaven’s sake!
And then a couple of days ago, a few people asked Buck to clarify some comment he made about his riding expertise and that no one should question him and other words to that effect. Someone suggested he post a video of him demonstrating some of the things he had been saying we all should be doing - for clarity. He said he did not have to do anything of the sort and should not be questioned. Someone else said that there were videos Out There of him riding and teaching (both badly) and that was all any of us needed to see… and I made the apparently heinous mistake of agreeing.
When I went to join in the discussion yesterday, I have been banned from there. Just as well. Allan Buck says dressage is EASY and yet he cannot seem to do it or show us how to make it that way… and unless you agree with everything he says, you will be shut down.
I will miss the people who had decent comments and advice - but when the guy in charge is a nutter - as BigMama correctly pointed out - it gets in the way of the smart, interesting, knowledgeable posters.
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Indeed I am. Because I am quite vocal in my stance against bullies, liars and frauds - all of which describe DH and NP. They do nothing to promote the sport or the people working hard and trying their best to succeed at it. All they do is tear those people down for their own amusement. I firmly believe the only way to stop that kind of behaviour is to call it out when you see it, refuse to support it with shares, clicks or likes, and to correct falsehoods when you see them posted publicly.
That’s why I questioned the purpose of the correct dressage schooling group. At first glance, it seems like a place where people might be supportive and share educational information. But my impression of it so far as that it exists largely so people can share photos and videos of other people for the sole purpose of tearing them apart, with a healthy dose of criticizing judges and trainers thrown in.
Wanted to see if it was the impression others had too, or if perhaps I had happened to join the group at a time where there were an a usual number of these posts. I’m guessing now that is actually the norm there.
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Meh - Manni has a long history of posting personal swipes at me, although it’s been a while. Not sure why she finds me so objectionable, other than the fact I am fat. She did tell a mutual acquaintance once that was the reason so perhaps it still is. Water off a duck’s back. Certainly not something I’m going to lose any sleep over, and certainly that fb group isn’t one I will be visiting anymore. That kind of toxicity is contagious.
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That sounds like a more positive group - I will check it out!
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For the record, I left (was not banned) because I got tired of reading a bunch of grandiose brag posts. There is little to no useful training content, just adult women posting verbose versions of “look at my pretty horsie.” I suppose that might be appealing to some, so, by all means check it out, just temper your expectations as far as actual content.
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