Dani Waldman admits to never turning out horses

[To_the_MAX]

I took a screen shot video of her story yesterday - once it’s done uploading I’ll share the link so that others can watch a “day in the life”.

[Equkelly]

@To_the_MAX

I took a screen shot video of her story yesterday - once it’s done uploading I’ll share the link so that others can watch a “day in the life”.

I’d love to send that video to her sponsors. I will probably write to them and explain why I don’t want to support brands that support equestrians like her.

[To_the_MAX]

Day in the Life - Dani Waldman IG story 5-18-21

[Haliburton]

@crackerjack

I don’t think DW meant to influence people.

There’s definitely a reason folks with large social media followings are called “influencers”

[Nova2000]

And from today’s question and answer session.

IMG_0496

[Ghazzu]

That singsongy voice becomes grating quickly.

[Spudsmyguy]

At first I thought the feathers were cute but she’s gone overboard with the whole look. The horses look incredibly bored and wish they could do something else. Watching that mare eat was sad, it was like she was just doing it because there was nothing else to engage her and ate automatically like a robot. I’m surprised those horses don’t all crib or weave.

[RND]

@mmeqcenter

Personally I thought they looked more “sad and stressed” than “dead-eyed.” But looking back through her Instagram, all pix of any horse yeah, I think they all look the same. Behaving differently or having different feelings in different environments isn’t “flipping a switch,” it’s responding to the environment they’re in.

I’m not sure what a “sad” horse looks like but that chestnut was anything but stressed throughout the recording. Although I don’t agree with not turning out horses at all, especially when turnout is available, it sounds like she only does this with the horses she is competing, and once they aren’t competing they get regular turnout. I also strongly dislike all the anthropomorphizing that goes on in threads like this.

On the other hand, the feathers look ridiculous to me - I thought she would have been over them by now, but she just keeps adding more.

[anon510129]

I was going to poke the bear and ask a question, but she can choose not to answer them so of course it would’ve been a waste of time.

Good on you.

[mmeqcenter]

Acknowledging that horses do feel basic emotions is not anthropomorphizing.
But I guess when you believe they don’t “feel” anything, it’s all just anthropomorphizing, it’s easy to treat them like robots and have no moral qualms about it.

[Nova2000]

I do have a confession though. I love the feathers. Absolutely adore them. I had smaller little subtle feathers in my hair long before I had any idea who she was. It was actually Steven Tyler(Aerosmith) when he was judging American Idol many many years ago that inspired me to do it

That doesn’t change the fact that my heart is sad for her horses.

[RND]

@mmeqcenter

Acknowledging that horses do feel basic emotions is not anthropomorphizing.
But I guess when you believe they don’t “feel” anything, it’s all just anthropomorphizing, it’s easy to treat them like robots and have no moral qualms about it.

Nope, I all but admitted that horses can be stressed when I stated that the chestnut appeared anything but stressed; that must have slipped by you. Can you point out some time stamps in the video that show that the horse is “sad”, and point out what behaviors or expressions show that the horse is “sad”? I honestly don’t know what that looks like in a horse. It can be any of Dani’s videos; it doesn’t have to be the chestnut.

[Nova2000]

@Ghazzu

That singsongy voice becomes grating quickly.

That’s not fair. Don’t make it a personal attack, that’s how bullying starts. The focus should be on the horses and their welfare. We are here to disagree with the way she keeps horses, not to personally attack her.

[Ghazzu]

@Nova2000

That’s not fair. Don’t make it a personal attack, that’s how bullying starts. The focus should be on the horses and their welfare. We are here to disagree with the way she keeps horses, not to personally attack her.

Oh, balls. It’s an affectation that I find distasteful.
And since I don’t know this woman from Adam’s off ox, it is unlikely to have any impact whatsoever on her.

[anon510129]

I’ll bite. I think the video that parked this entire thread, the horse looks “sad”. I’ve been around plenty of western pleasure show horses to know this look.

Just my opinion.

[Equkelly]

@Ghazzu

Oh, balls. It’s an affectation that I find distasteful.
And since I don’t know this woman from Adam’s off ox, it is unlikely to have any impact whatsoever on her.

I don’t disagree with you, I also had to mute the video but I think the issue is when you mix in “petty” criticisms with actual legitimate welfare criticisms or even the criticism about cultural appropriation… it can kind of undermine the bigger issues and make it all seem petty. I mean someone like her already sees all the backlash as just a bunch of internet meanie heads so when we comment on her voice, we’re kind of justifying her so in that sense I do see @Nova2000’s point.

[Equkelly]

@anon510129

I’ll bite. I think the video that parked this entire thread, the horse looks “sad”. I’ve been around plenty of western pleasure show horses to know this look.

Just my opinion.

IMO that look is “learned helplessness”.

[Postandrails]

I don’t know if that was a typical day or not, but that small grass paddock didn’t look like it received very frequent “daily hand grazing”.

[RND]

@anon510129

I’ll bite. I think the video that parked this entire thread, the horse looks “sad”. I’ve been around plenty of western pleasure show horses to know this look.

Just my opinion.

But this doesn’t answer my question, and it just kind of proves my point. Saying the horse looks sad in the entire video and I know that because I’ve seen plenty of sad horses doesn’t help identify behaviors or expressions that identify a sad horse from a not sad horse. Saying “the horse is sad because it looks sad” is just perpetuating the whole anthropomorphizing phenomenon. Give some concrete examples and call out the behaviors and/or expressions that mean the horse is sad.

[lenapesadie]

@RND

Give some concrete examples and call out the behaviors and/or expressions that mean the horse is sad.

I’ll bite. I’ve not watched the videos in question so I have zero clue if any of these behaviors are present in the video. I will say that the same clues can be interpreted as sad/stressed/anxious/shutdown/internal.

1. Ear mobility. If the ears aren’t reacting to the sounds / stimuli in the environment that’s a big clue.

2. Eyes. If the horse turn his eyes farther than his head, he isn’t looking at something rather he is looking away from something

3. Nostrils. Are the nostrils the same size or is one larger than the other? If so, this is a horse holding some tension. A moment of this is nothing to write home about. If that’s the horse’s nostrils all the time or a lot of the time…that’s something to note.

4. Lips. Held tightly producing a lot of wrinkles.

5. Respiration. Is horse holding his breath or barely breathing?

6. Eyelids. Lack of normal blinking