But when the whistle-blower has a long history of charging people exorbitant fees for services that are sometimes not even delivered, isn’t there a moral duty to expose it? Should she be absolved for her years of shady activity, and allowed to continue fleecing people, simply because she has done thing right, ie exposing Dujardin? Or is if somehow the fault of ignorant people that they allow themselves to be fleeced. Btw, Dickinson herself admits to previous horse abuse on her podcast.
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Oh my god thank you. I just don’t understand how people are still saying they don’t care about the whistleblower. If I hear “We shouldn’t let the whistleblower distract us from Charlotte!!!” one more time I just might have a stroke. Alicia is 100% worth investigating.
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Totally worth investigating and weeding out!!! BUT!!! It doesn’t change what was seen on that video… I toss out both tainted baby and toxic bath water here.
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Not sure why you get so excited? Obviously the whistleblower did get a lot of attention after she exposed CD. Everybody knows her now as well and can decide whether they want to do business with her…
Still doesn’t excuse what CD did IMO.
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I don’t think Alicia’s target audience will know anything of this, though, and therefore folk dive in with no knowledge that her fees are off the scale and that she has no coaching credentials or resume of any merit. She has a special talent for reeling in newbies to the scene who have no idea where or how to look up anyone’ coaching record or competition results, or who know there are knowledgeable discussion platforms like COTH forum. Her apostles therefore take at face value claims, for instance, that she topped the leader-board at the Sydney CDI, even though a quick look at the FEI database will show she has never started any FEI class anywhere, anytime. At last weekend’s Alicia convention in Fort Lauderdale (relocated because the previous place canceled her after hearing about Willinga), attendees had paid upwards of $3,500 each to sit in a hotel for a few days and just listen to her ramblings that are available free of charge on you tube. Some paid much more - depends whether you got a “discount” for having already paid her $$$$1000s to become a life member of one of her schemes. A lot of Dickinson’s previous history is escaping attention because in Australia her surname was Fielmich. Her name changed after she moved to London 6-7 years ago and got married. But there is plenty of verified information on various public Australian Facebook groups.
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In the US, plenty of people choose their coaches by how pretty they are on and off a horse. The majority of “FEI” trainers (in my area at least) have either (1) never ridden to that level, or, if they have, (2) have never trained a horse to that level. There are even FEI judges who earned their riding requirements on horses trained by others. People learn their lessons the hard way, or are content to putter around for years and years, or have credentials but not the knowledge to understand WHY abuse entered the equation to train horses so quickly to be more expressive than their natural gaits. There are judges who have no concept as to what it takes to put correct basics on a horse, so how could they recognize them? Why focus on one sham trainer? Why not stand up against them all?
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Well IMO people do what they want to do… if those people want to pay to see her fine…. It is sometimes hard to understand why people do things…
I rode in a clinic a while ago which had quite a toxic environment. I did not know this when I booked this clinician… we were supposed to sign up in a list for our groups, when we arrived, which I did…
but then the other riders declared it needs to be rewritten and they put me into the last group with somebody. Well it was hard to find her but I finally did and said Hallo to her… the first thing she told me was that we are the “ loser group”. Obviously up to this year she had a Haflinger while everybody else had a nice Warmblood, so they declared her the looser of the group of riders… well I was a bit shocked and asked her how many times she had ridden in this clinic (it’s every year) . She answered 10 years because the clinician is so amazing…
…
I couldn’t believe it… why would somebody ride in the same clinic for 10 years if everybody else bullies her 
… I recommended another clinician who is just as good and the people in that group are extremely friendly 
…. But I am sorry I believe she had no problems being the loser of the group somehow…. I guess she got what she wanted!! So if this people want to listen to the whistle blower, fine with me…
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Because she enjoyed the instruction and is willing to ride anyway, ignoring the bullies. Seems pretty simple to me.
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Honestly this clinician is not any better then the other two always giving clinics in this facility… I know it because I have ridden with all three. A clinic is not only about riding, it’s also about going out for dinner and watch other riders You spend three days close together….
And you spend money on it…. If I can get the same with nice people, I wouldn’t think twice about…. BTW I didn’t feel as a looser anyhow so for me this was rather funny 
. The others just didn’t know me that’s why they classified me as a looser…. I just got in because one of their friends dropped out…
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Who is trying to excuse what Charlotte did? Saying Alicia is wrong doesn’t automatically make Charlotte right. We’re all old enough to grasp that. If exploring Alicia’s shady actions exposes more wrongdoing, then why not? This isn’t about pointing fingers away from CD. This is about making sure that everyone involved is investigated so that the abuse that needs to be exposed is exposed.
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I am going to drop this in here. It is from the chronicle, and about the FEI being shocked SHOCKED about blue tounges and high dollar trainers. I call BS as there were photos at the Olympics, and after they threw Charlotte out, did nothing to these guys. They are going to have a special meeting. Whoop-de-do. I am sorry if this wouldn’t go here, I didn’t think it needed it’s own thread. If it is wrong to post it here, mods, take it down.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/fei-announces-special-meeting-to-tackle-critical-juncture-for-sport/
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They did this before in 2012. It means nothing.
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I think one possible and realistic prescription is a reboot of the tests themselves to focus even less on extravagance and more on correct basics.
Attacking the judging hasn’t worked and doesn’t work, looking at you, western pleasure horses and aqha.
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I dare say the tests are alright but they really need judging emphasis on relaxation and harmony.
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So maybe tweaking the collective remarks and educating all parties, from judges to participants on what is desired. That’s really what I mean about tweaking the tests.
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Was that not obvious to everyone who saw the video? The horse is trying to plant both back legs, at which point she will rear. I’m guessing she also has kicked at the grounds person too in the recent past.
I would no longer just get on a habitual rearer and force them to go forward or have someone chase from the ground, and I don’t think this is the way to fix the problem or very fair to the horse or just an OK thing to do in any way. But that was what I was taught was the correct thing to do in my youth by at least one professional. Luckily I had others to teach me better.
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Sometimes I feel like such a fool for going to work in an office every morning…
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I disagree. They took out the tests of self carriage (uberstreichen and schaukel) because “too boring”. They shortened the test, so less time to properly set up a horse, horse has to know it like a robot. They emphasized gaits over basics. There are no real figures. If anything, I’d say they need to put in a compulsory test of basics. THey need to ensure that people won’t skip this stuff just because the horses are more purpose bred and born uphill. It does’t matter how purpose bred, there are things those horses cannot do well, I would wager. Like stretching down forward and out maybe??? Like extended walk. Like the halt.
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Eh then serious error of judgment putting a minor on this horse and when the horse started to do that–not yanking the minor OFF. There is so much ground work that could be done with this horse that a nice lesson could have been had on that alone.
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That’s what I said in my post? No need to virtue signal, I’m not saying she was justified.
