This is simple: My Barn – My Rules.
Definitions…meanings…feelings…blah…blah…blah are irrelevant. This is someone’s private property.
I don’t blame the landowner. No one needs this grief in their life.
This episode should be a reminder that we riders are the beneficiaries of the generosity of landowners over whose property we ride.
What!!! I had no idea.
Got it. ALL CAPS!! THIS IS IMPORTANT!! According to EN, EN did nothing wrong. And according to USEA, USEA did nothing wrong. And yet, Mr Walker, mysteriously, decided after 20 years to permanently revoke the lease and cancel one of the premier series of horse shows in the country and write an email stating he regrets ever letting us on his property. Doesn’t sound like a person who has been slandered and bullied to me, does it to you? This is so great, so deftly and sensitively handled by EN and USEA. No name change. No Events now or forever. Ad both white and black athletes are being excluded equally.
Plantation Field International Horse Trials
1d ·
Plantation Field Equestrian Events, Inc. (PFEE), a Non-Profit 501 ©(3) Corporation, Loses Property Lease
September 16, 2020 – Unionville, PA – We are sad to announce today that Cuyler Walker, a PFEE Board member and landowner of Plantation Field, has with great regret canceled our lease for the property on which the Plantation Field International Three-Day Event is held. This is directly due to the attack on the name “Plantation” by Eventing Nation, an equestrian online news journal.
EN and their editors approached the equestrian media and the United States Eventing Association in June, 2020 to state that they felt the name “Plantation” was insensitive to people of color.
Let me explain the history of this property: in the 1930’s Plunket Stewart, who had purchased land in the early twentieth century, allowed the Boy Scouts to use a section of the property to plant hedges and trees. The dictionary defines the word “Plantation” as “an area in which trees have been planted”. Colonial Pennsylvania considered properties less than 100 acres a farm and properties with more than 100 acres a plantation. There is no reference to race in this definition.
The Unionville area is historically a Quaker community. The Quakers were one of the earliest abolitionist groups and fought against slavery. This area was also part of the underground railroad.
On a personal level, PFEE and the Unionville community have long supported Work to Ride, an organization in Philadelphia created with dedication by Lezlie Hiner, that gives disadvantaged, often minority, youth an opportunity to ride. This program has had impressive results with Kareem Rosser, who is an outstanding polo player, and who has taken lessons from PFEE Board member and Olympians Boyd Martin and Phillip Dutton.
The editors of Eventing Nation have aggressively led the campaign against the name Plantation Field. Consequently the USEA and USEF have since notified PFEE that they would not use the word “Plantation” in any media or articles. Plantation Field Equestrian Events, Inc. is the legal name of the Corporation and we will not accept censoring of our First Amendment rights.
I want it clearly stated that as a member of the USEA since 1960 and as a longtime resident of Unionville, I find it incredibly sad that the staff at a publication who do not understand the history of the area are directly causing the end of one of the best and most consistent events in the country.
A major factor in Cuyler’s decision was his feeling that he and his family were being called racist. He will not have his grandparents’ generous support of the Boy Scouts vilified by Eventing Nation and the USEA.
Having spent sixty years supporting the sport of Eventing in every capacity, I am extremely disappointed in the lack of leadership at the National level in dealing with this situation. This event welcomes riders from Elementary to the 4* level at multiple competitions at the local, National and International level each year. It is also local to numerous professional riders including several Olympians. The loss of Plantation Field will be a huge loss to the entire equestrian community.
Denis Glaccum
President, PFEE, Inc.
Did I say otherwise? Did anything I have said indicate that?
The post I quoted clearly said that the land owners feelings don’t matter. So ask yourself the question.
It is really disingenuous to say no one called them “racist.” That is certainly the implication of the EN article and many of the comments on this thread and social media. You don’t have to use the word “racist” to invoke that connotation. EN wanted the name removed. Why? Because they think it is offensive. Why is it offensive? because…the unsaid but certainly implied part, they view it as racist.
If it wasn’t implied that the name is racist or seen by many as racist, then why bother with pushing the name change? It makes absolutely no sense to take the position that since the word “racist” wasn’t in the EN article, the landowner’s feelings of being accused of racism are invalid.
You do accept that those ULRs are also just trying to make a living, I presume. Owners, vendors, local hotels and restaurants all benefit from events at Plantation Field. This is not an insignificant loss.
The letter posted seems sort of generic. The LO just says that his family was being viewed as racist, but it doesn’t say anything about that view being caused by EN or by the request for name change. Maybe his family is being viewed as racist because of some of the relationships they have with certain others?
For the people on this thread who are unfamiliar with the property in question:
It is literally a field. Open space surrounded by farms, farmettes and homes. This is not an estate or farm. No one lives on the property. There are the ruins of an old house from the late 19th, early 20th century that was never completed because the owner’s wife did not want to live that far out. These ruins make up one of the most iconic and photogenic cross country jumps on the property.
In addition to PFEE, it is used by the local hunt (Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Hounds. Mr. Walker is a descendent of the Stewart family), local steeplechases or point to points use the property. It has also been used for Tough Mudder events and Hot Air Balloon Festivals, plus a host of other activities. The field is a community treasure and Mr. Walker has been more than gracious in allowing diverse groups access to the property.
Until recently, the field had no electricity, that was installed by PFEE and paid for by PFEE, which also recently installed WiFi.
There is no running water - Porta Potties for everyone.
For the people who ask, why can’t someone else take over the lease? PFEE paid for & owns: The Electricity, The Internet, The Jumps. So when PFEE leaves, those important items for hosting a horse trial go with them. Very few start up events would be willing to front the cash to put all that back in (in the UNLIKELY event that Mr. Walker would let someone else take on an eventing lease as a result of this fiasco.) It has taken over 20 years for PFEE to get to this place in its existence. In the early years, it was mostly borrowed skid fences, portable generators and working out of horse trailers.
For those who speculate that Mr. Walker got petulant earlier this week when EN published its now infamous piece, this has been going on since the early summer. EN did not call Mr. Walker racist, but it did threaten to go to the non-equestrian media. That was a direct threat. It was uncalled for and I believe EN overstepped its bounds. You can believe passionately in a cause but threatening others will not win them to your side, no matter how right you are. Whether you believe the name should be changed or not, EN came into this and knowingly poked the bear. First rule of combat, know your opponent. EN has had extensive access to PF and the Walker family in the past. It should have known better. EN came into this not with cudgel, but with a howitzer, expecting capitulation. EN got the nuclear response, and now everyone is fighting the wrong fight. EN blundered, badly.
Thank you. I had heard the swastika symbol was also used in traditions other than Hindu, but since I didn’t have direct knowledge of that, I didn’t want to make that assertion.
All of these situations–the word “plantation,” the USC professor, and the swastika symbol–are reminders that the first step should always be to educate ourselves about the varying contexts in which words and symbols are used before leaping to a conclusion of racism.
So…someone comes up to you, on your property, and tells you they think your farm name is offensive and racist. A farm name that has been around for what, 80 years including 20 years as a USEA Event without any complaints or problems. We may never know the exact wording of the exchanges that took place, but if the Walkers say they felt smeared as racists, do you think they’re lying? Is all of their anger just some kind of made up bullisht? Could be, but that doesn’t make much sense. What is crystal clear is that the Walkers were so angry, so upset, that they told the USEA and EN to go fck themselves and they regret ever letting us on their property. Reminds me of how Richland was handled. The very generous owners there were so angry at how they were being treated by USEA they shut that incredible venue down permanently, dismantled all of their XC jumps and sold the whole lot off. We are totally dependent on the generosity of these landowners for our sport, perhaps they are all unreasonable, selfish pricks, perhaps it’s all their fault. Or maybe we need someone at USEA that has far, far better diplomatic and people skills than what we have now. I have to wonder what other property owners are thinking, those who are currently running shows or thinking about running shows in the future. If it were me, I would not touch the USEA with a 50 foot pole.
I’m sorry you took my question defensively. Why did you take it that way?
I have asked myself the question already, many times.
Because I feel like anyone saying “maybe the landowner isn’t a racist, maybe the way he was approached made him feel he was being accused without merit and that caused him to clam up” is immediately labeled a racist.
Change is hard. There’s a way to address tradition and get acceptance and change without using a hammer.
Did I say those words?
It may be the worst work EN has ever done. Do you think Equestrian suppliers will be keen to advertise with them, or other venues welcome them ? Every one of them must be giving thought to who is next.
I think a number of us are interested in EN providing data regarding what percentage of their staff are people of color as well as a listing of all the Inclusion and Diversity activities they sponsor and participate in. I don’t think the Walkers overreacted at all. Based on some of the reactions I read on Social Media I would be very concerned about some idiot deciding I was racist and doing some serious damage to my property or family.
Apologies - I’m going to quote you in reverse order because one answer feeds into another.
They did. That’s how they got barred from attending the event. They reached out privately and said that it was uncomfortable for them to publish “plantation” all over their website, and asked if the venue had a preference for alternative nomenclature (ex. FEI uses “Unionville”, etc). The event responded and told them not to darken the doorstep.
That appears to have been EN’s intention (to transition to alternative nomenclature), except when they reached out privately to discuss that they were barred from attending the event. I fully expect that site to cover that event, as does much of the readership, so that’s when EN was forced to publish an explanation of why they would not be present. And thus you have the current fire storm.
Our of curiosity… are any of the folks who are all over the internet providing explanations and excuses for this mess of a situation, by explaining how insensitive and offensive the word “Plantation” is to people of color given American history, etc, and how this change to a private property owner’s chosen farm name was necessary to avoid offending and hurting people of color… because we need to make this sport more inclusive and diverse in order for it to survive…
Are any of you folks planning on competing at Morven Park anytime soon?
Because if you are… all I can say is…
The SELECTIVE OUTRAGE is truly SURREAL.
Morven Park is a beautiful place, run by a nonprofit, funded by generous donors for decades, and it benefits the equestrian community in the mid Atlantic area across the board. I have no desire to see anything there “canceled”… but honestly… I find it the height of ironic and STUPID that this whole controversy is stirring around Plantation Field because of its name, and all of the folks talking about it have been justifying their talk online by lecturing others on sensitivity and racism and American history with respect to slavery… yet they have not one word or concern to mention about Morven Park… an event in the same area happening in a few weeks less than two hours from Plantation Field that is actually taking place at…
wait for it…
A place that was once a plantation. Where slaves lived and labored and suffered. Look it up.
This sort of irrational frenzy is why many folks are tired of social media firestorms like this. Because they are divisive and ugly… and not constructive.
And often, poorly thought out.
I have sat on a reply, worked and reworked it, over and over again since this thread started.
I am all for change and progress. I agree Plantation is a word that is inherently tied to racist roots. I see why the name ought to be changed. I grew up very close to Plymouth(Plimouth) Plantation in MA where that word has been entirely bled of its racist connotation, and even then I always thought “Plantation” as the event name was a bit off the mark.
But damn if I will ever support EN - I liked them very little before this fiasco, and now I like them even less. I am so at a loss for words. From the information provided, EN approached this delicate situation with all the finesse of a chainsaw.
There are ways to enact and effect change, that do not involve a devastating fallout for an entire group of people. Really. :no:
To all of you so woke and outraged…
Where were you a year ago?
The connotation of the word plantation didn’t happen in the last 3 months.
Without question. They have somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I cannot believe this couldn’t have been done in some manner. Christ Almighty even the Israelis and Arabs are getting on…
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