I think Clark was there for something like 20 or 30 years, so it must not have bothered him too much. Lol.
I will also add that I’ve seen John Madden driving the truck and I’ve seen Beezie cleaning tack, so I know neither one of them will hesitate to jump in and do the work themselves.
Phew, I was scared you had a negative story to tell about her. She is one of my roll models from afar.
I am kind of sad to hear the things about Ian Millar. I have admired him since the Big Ben days. I guess most of the people we admire are not as perfect as we think. I used to think all of the top riders were such great people and loved their horses so much. Now we know that is not always true. Unfortunately.
I have a good story about Ian Millar, though it’s the only story I have. A friend was riding a jumper in Florida and was completely overwhelmed, as she’d never shown there and felt out of her league. Ian Millar came up and said, “It looks like you could use some help,” and coached her for her classes. He wouldn’t accept payment, although she offered.
I’m sad, but not surprised, to hear the negative stories. It’s tough at the top.
The same thing happened to a young friend of mine. There were always ads looking for help in Horse Sport, and she was excited to go work with/for them.
She lasted a couple of months, and had stories. She said his late wife was very unpleasant to the workers, and their living conditions were very substandard. She said staff would often drive in to town ‘to get cigarettes’ and never come back.
Again, that being said, I have met him a number of times and he has been unfailingly nice and complimentary about my horses.
I guess the takeaway is that working in a stable is not always fun, and people are complex and not always nice, all the time.
While I agree that the work is tough, my Dad would often repeat that I should judge people by the way they treat the ‘help’, whether that be waiters, retail workers, customer service reps, or stall cleaners… There are ways to communicate your wants and needs without being demeaning or rude.
I also support people choosing not to work in bad situations if they have the choice. Speak with your feet.
I don’t disagree with this at all.
Of course. And I think all people should work as servers for a period of time, so that they learn how to treat others.
Agreed! When I used to have my horse and we went and did Oktoberfest at Spruce…. She was training their riders for the show and the night before it started I was lunging. In typical Sullivan fashion he was super lazy and fine in the lunge so I got on…. He suddenly was “I’m a gonna buck you off” so I went back to lunge and Leslie laughed and said “well that was unexpected “! That whole show she was out walking every course , right down to the ,85 saying “good morning “ to everyone and sitting and chatting with all the other trainers!
My respect for her went up higher than ever after that!
Now…. Ian…. That’s well, a diffeeent bottle of fish! Ugg
Ben’s case was resolved in 2014 I’m pretty sure. The Olympic success mentioned is London 2012, GB won team gold in a jump off.
A former coach of mine used to work for a Canadian BNR and family, so she was at the big shows with them frequently. She said I didn’t want to know what was done after hours, including at the show grounds, if I ever wanted to have any respect left for most of the big riders. Captain Canada was one of them. I mentioned how I loved how his horses looked so rideable and he could be soft with them and she said there’s a reason why they’re like that, and it’s not a nice one. So disappointing.
One of the worst stories she told me was one of the BNRs (jumpers) who had a horse that was not careful enough at the open water and would often step on the rubber or put a foot in the water. BNR electrified the open water so that if horse touched it he’d get zapped. I’m pretty sure this was at the show grounds after hours. I would think that would just cause the horse to refuse to go anywhere near the water ever again but what would I know.
I also used to board with someone whose lovely horse had come from a jumper barn, and you couldn’t have anyone standing near a jump/standard because he’d go bugeyed and you couldn’t get him near the jump. I think she said he’d been poled so much he would only jump if nobody was near it. (ETA - she had nothing to do with the poling. She bought him like that and realized what must have happened).
That’s all in addition to withholding water all night and LTD which apparently was standard practice at a lot of barns.
I never showed at that level and remember being just appalled at hearing these stories and realizing I was just some naive nobody even though I’d been riding 20+ years at that point.
I’ve hear the same thing re. the water jump although I was told they took the horse home in between classes to do what ever they did, Many times I’ve done night check and there have been people lungeing in the dark.
I’m happy to be a nobody if it means my horses are well treated and not… electrocuted or poled… My last one came from an “associate” of a BNR and I’ve since heard stories about his early days. which explains a lot… He was a very anxious boy when he came but luckily he’s now a pretty content pony.
I quite honestly personally know and have been absolutely disgusted by most of everyone’s heroes. I’ve come to the conclusion that when BIG money and animals tricks are involved it truly brings out the absolute worst in people . people will do ANYTHING for fame and recognition . The only ones that I truly truly believe are nice to their horses are people like Lillie Keenan, Brianne Goutal , - and those types - wealthy girls that are actually riding animals that are naturally careful that also are not relying and forcing stuff to happen- they also don’t HAVE to produce a results ---- there wonderful lives will continue the way they are ---- and that at the end of the day is the difference … if there show day doesn’t go well - ah well - they won’t lose owners / rides/ or it effect there stretched out finances . Everyone else - and I mean Everyone . You would be absolutely shocked . And horrified , and that’s the truth.
I rode there and didn’t see or experience anything out of the ordinary. Lynn had already passed away at that point. The kids were super normal and nice. It was pretty chill.
It was understood that working there was a totally different experience. So I can’t deny that aspect.
Generally speaking, riding and working somewhere are not necessarily going to be similar experiences. At all.
I only know what my young friend told me, her experience.
How she and the other young women were treated,housed, and spoken to.
She was a very matter of fact young woman, not prone to hyperbole or hysterics.
YMMV.
I also shared my own, limited, but positive experience.
I find this story absolutely shocking about him, unless your friend is uber rich and he was hoping to make a client 
He has those PR skills. He knows when to put a smile on but at home or in the show shedrow…watch out.
what’s the reasoning for withholding water?
I always thought it was to keep horses quiet. Not that I ever rode at a barn who did it though
If they’re dehydrated they tend to be quieter because they don’t have the energy to act up.
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