The Maestro has posted a petition to “Stop The Bullying” on Mr. Steiner’s FB post in case anyone wants to sign. It all comes back to The Maestro!
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:eek::lol: Ah, but of course it does.
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Because many of them get similar rider scores and that is really messing with their minds
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Wow, just wow.
According to the ride times, she is not entered this weekend.
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Where? I just looked on AS’s page and don’t see anything from The Maestro
Why, are they planning on whipping their horse one handed, jabbing with their spurs and yanking on their horse’s mouth and don’t want to be caught on tape?
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I’m about to pack my bags and head to the US, specifically the West Coast, and practice optometry because clearly a lot of people need their eyes checked.
But in all seriousness it’s just too political and PC. This rider was criticized by the dressage community, and rightly so. That ride was not what dressage is about, it counteracts the very definition. This rider stood out from the others due to her riding and poor treatment of the horse. There were so many other riders that day, but there is no buzz about them because they didn’t ride like SB did.
The fact that some ammies are afraid of potential bullying is kind of strange seeing that there is no real bullying going on. For me, I am there to compete, exhibit myself and my horse to the best of our abilities and receive my score from the judge. Rail birds are irrelevant. I am not going to let other people deter me from competing. There is NOTHING to be concerned about if you treat your mount fairly and genuinely give it your best. There can be ugly moments in a test, things happen. I’ve had a horse mistake a canter cue for a cue to exhibit his bucking abilities. The judge made a comment about the horses hotness and that it was handled well. Every one moved on with their lives. I encourage other ammies to do the same. Move on and continue to pursue your competition goals. If you do get criticized GROW from it. That speaks volumes and will put the lid on any commentary.
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That’s what I am left with after what Axel Steiner has said. Who got to him? What made him chastize the dressage community and call people bullies who are taking a stand against the abuse this woman apparently wants a pass for? Now, the outcry is against the judges, venue, commentators for being complicit in authorizing her behaviour, and shaming people who object. I seriously am dissillusioned. I seriously am not interested in the least in competing in this kind of sport.
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YES, Yes, and Yes! This is it in a nut shell. I am still blown away by some folks comments that we are judging this rider unfairly because of a 4 minute ride where she made some mistakes!
Do they even know what bad riding looks like? and this woman is riding I2?? Come on. This is fact, not bullying. Forget bad riding, that was not even Dressage.
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I don’t think its the sport. Its the system… I tried to explain it before.
Dressage in the US is based on the money the participants spend there. A lot of people depend on that.
Although I also think that there was a lot of bullying involved (I know by now that there are different views on what is bullying but I am sorry I have my opinion) I agree with everybody here that that ride was not excusable and something like this should be prevented in the future.
There need to be changes… And they are possible if people would be open to it. Unfortunately all sides are totally against it.
The professionals are afraid to offend their clients and the AA´s are against qualifications because they are afraid, they might not qualify or it might become even more expensive…
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I’ve been sad that some of the local trainers and a local judge were justifying the riding. “It was not that bad”, “I’ve seen worse”, “once a horse gets behind your leg at that level, you have to get a horse in front of your leg” in response to the whipping in the test.
Really sad because I feel like no positive change will come of this. 
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So that’s it? Now if the trainers are afraid there pockets might become lighter, they are just giving an excuse for that.
I rode with a s Judge for some years, and I can tell you she would have bodily drug me off the horse and taken the whip to me, had I ever displayed that horrid piece of horsemanship.
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Is the video still up?
I looked at the FB page and couldn’t find it.
Reading this thread has really made me curious!
I saw this and cracked up laughing!!! I almost responded to his post “LOL!” but then I decided I didn’t want to open myself up to that can of crazy 
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No I do not think it is.
I can only “speak” for myself. My problem isn’t that people think the ride was bad, I agree it was. My problem is that the discussion went beyond commenting on the ride to include statements regarding the mental state of the rider (still waiting for those Powerball numbers), the financial motivation of the trainer, and frankly slandering the judges (most of whom did not judge the ride), to forwarding conspiracy theories (they got to Axel).
Yet nobody has indicated that they are filing complaints within the system, and many posts reflect an ignorance of the governing rules in place. I guess it’s just easier to rant indignantly on an internet board.
This combined with a sense of entitlement to live streams of privately funded competitions just is outrageous IMO.
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I agree that it was getting a bit personal. We can only speculate motives, but what’s the use?
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AMEN.
We are so obssessed with safe space these days apparently we are supposed to create safe space for riding abusively.
We are supposed to search for every possible reason or excuse, no matter how far fetched, that would justify this, and we are supposed to understaaaannnnd.
(case in point: “Maybe she’s terminally ill?”)
Do we have the powerball numbers to know her motivation, people ask?
COME THE F ON.
What if a leprechaun farted in the next county and she is allergic???
IT DOESNT MATTER.
THE POINT IS THIS RIDING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT HER PERSONAL CONTEXT IS OR WHAT HER MOTIVATION IS OR EVEN IF SHE IS TERMINALLY ILL AND RIDING THIS HORSE BRINGS HER THE LAST RAY OF JOY.
IT’S STILL UNACCEPTABLE.
If people have compromised nervous systems or are prone to seizures we don’t care what their motivations are about car driving or if they can’t help it that they are legally blind or if they are terminally ill, we still say it “that may be so, but you’re not fit to drive on the highways like this, no driving for you.”
We don’t say, “well, maybe they wrecked the family in the minivan because they were drunk or couldn’t concentrate because they are very distressed over the death of their grandma. we can’t know WHY they steered into oncoming traffic unless we are buying powerball numbers.”
we say, “how completely unacceptable that they got behind the wheel when they should have known they were in no condition to drive!!! who cares WHY they hit the minivan headon, the dashcam shows that IT HAPPENED.”
We hold -wait for it- BASELINE STANDARDS for car driving, and below those standards we don’t give a sh*t what anyone’s personal context, motivation, or possible justification is.
(Furthermore, while we’re busy wracking our brains for every far fetched excuse that may apply, remember, if this AA is able to drive car legally down the highway she’s better off physically than a lot of people and we know there is AT LEAST ONE CONTEXT where SHE IS CAPABLE of not jerking the wheel around violently or spasmodically applying the gas with both legs getting away from her. And btw, what with the para riders out there who are able to ride kindly despite the fact they have no legs or literally do have compromised nervous systems or impaired ability to breathe, what even would be an excuse???)
THERE DOES NOT NEED TO BE SAFE SPACE FOR THIS BS.
We do not need to make safe space for anyway cruising down the dressage highway ala this travesty. It’s unacceptable and there is no justification that trumps the welfare of her poor horse. What about his “context”???
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