Probably because there are very few 
. IMO a high percentage of the top riding industry is rotten… it’s a lot worse then people want to make you believe…
Imagine you bought a horse from one of these people how do you think the relationship between you and the horse will be?? A horse who lost all trust in people…. I think it’s sad and there need to be efforts to expose this!!!
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I had a coach who moved back to Germany so I found a new coach. After a few lessons, I remarked to new coach that the consistency was fabulous - I felt there was no adjustment time to get used to a new coach. “We are all the same. We learned all the same things.”
At that point I was in awe of the German system. Now after things that have come out about abuses (and one particularly upsetting thing I saw about “new coach” and another trainer known to be “hard” on horses) I feel very disillusioned and upset, and at the same time thankful that circumstances took me away from those circles many years ago.
If DHO had even a slight inkling of some the abuses, then good for her for fighting the small fight until the big one behind most of the small stuff finally festered long enough to open and be exposed.
I hope that more and more are exposed until this sport is cleaned up.
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This is beginning to sound like the comment section of a FB Reels. Where not a single person on the planet can ride well and everything is abuse.
I wonder why people ride dressage at all if they feel the entire top levels are abusive and corrupt.
You can make ANY rider look abusive with a few careful screenshots.
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[quote=“enjoytheride, post:128, topic:793592, full:true”]
This is beginning to sound like the comment section of a FB Reels. Where not a single person on the planet can ride well and everything is abuse.[/quote]
I don’t think anyone has said not a single person on the planet can ride well and everything is abuse. What has been said outright and alluded to is that abuse is probably much more wide spread than many dressage riders believe it is.
Because we love horses and dressage. It’s ok to question the top levels of competitive dressage and still love the sport.
Yup. I’m not sure you can fake blood, swelling, lameness, etc. all that effectively though.
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When someone says that there are “very few” examples of good riding, and that a “high percentage of the top industry is rotten” it says otherwise though. There are plenty of FB pages geared toward telling people that all riding is bad and wrong and that all pros are abusive. If all you do is hang out on those pages then you probably would think that.
Abuse and bad riding exists, but not all riding is bad and not all bad riding is abusive.
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Certainly not where I hang out. Certainly not where I, and I believe @Manni01 is getting their information. I, for one, am olde and have been around the block a few times. I’ve seen more than I’d like to see. I’ve heard more than I’d like to see. And that is going back 20-30 years. I’ve been out of the loop pretty much since then. The stuff that has come out about trainers like Parra, Helgstrand, Strasser, et al has been horrible to me, but not even a bit shocking. Charlotte? Also, unpleasant, but not shocking, disappointing, but not shocking.
I think a more appropriate question is why are we not asking more questions, making more astute observations of horses’ behaviours and ways of moving, etc. Why do we make excuses for riders we like? <- because it’s easier and we don’t like being disillusioned and losing our heroes/mentors.
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No that’s not at all what I wanted to to say. there are a lot of very gifted riders around! I assume most riders on the top are very good riders (theoretically).
My problem with the industry is that many of these good gifted riders throw their ethics over board and use their superior skills to reach higher and higher goals and make more and more money….They don’t really care for the horses and their relationship to them but they only see them as objects or sport tools
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Thank you! I developed my opinion not by reading FB. I have been riding 50+ years and I have been in international top Dressage barns in the past and I know exactly what I saw there… And it was really shocking for me that the German guy who hold on to the longe in that video with Parras horse and gave advice what to do, was an apprentice in that barn I rode 45 years ago. ( I rode with him every day) and somehow I came to the conclusion that this knowledge was given to the next generation of professionals and probably already to the following generations as well… Also the highest judge in Germany brags that that trainer I witnessed abusing horses 40 years ago was his revered trainer and taught him so many things……
Maybe I was simply the unlucky person who dealt with the only cruel professionals there are… Maybe….
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I’ve had a few good coaches who were successful in the show ring. Not international level, but so much of that is just about money. Anyway, enough good ones that I know the entire industry isn’t bad. Not even most of the industry IMO.
I just think the good ones are probably “trapped” at grass roots level because keeping the horse at the forefront doesn’t always align with the money needed to be big.
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I agree, I think very few trainers at the upper level can escape or resist using abuse as a shortcut.
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I agree totally on every point you made. That’s my experience too.
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Anyone who believes that Dressage Hub / Susan Wachowich is doing any of this out of the goodness of her heart… is sadly misinformed and granting her a compassion she has never had. It is all for the clicks and notoriety and attention… and nothing else. She adores being the bad girl who stirs the pot and gets people upset… and always has. She has said as much repeatedly over the years - relishing her role.
Accusing Dover of being a pedophile is just more fun and games for her… SHE DOES NOT CARE. She seeks to ruin people - even by imaginary means as she has shown in the past.
I find it sad that she gets to be the “hero” here in yet another sad abuse case… she is anything but a hero. Friends who knew her well back in Alberta can attest to the fact that her motives… are all about her.
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I have a couple of now 4-yos one in Germany, the other in the Netherlands, bought as foals and left over there to grow up. The people who have them on turnout think I’m crazy for not starting them under saddle. But, I don’t trust how they would be started. It’s not worth the risk. I do know one place I would trust but they only start their own homebreds. I originally was going to bring them over here but because of a recent political event in the US am now going to apply to emigrate to France this spring. A sad state of affairs when you can’t have confidence in people in such historically great equestrian cultures. 
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Yup that why I start them myself 
. But I know a young horse starter in a remote part of Germany whom I trust. I bought a 3 year old, started by her, which was under saddle for 4 weeks. I tried her and a the young horse felt exactly how it should be.
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It sucks that maybe she’s not an upstanding person. Many people aren’t, sadly. Many people are “all about themselves.”
OTOH, she’s getting more done than you or me to out real abusers. To me, that trade off is palatable. Maybe it’s not to you?
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Here’s the thing.
Dressage Hub has shown herself over and over to do despicable things with her online platforms.
Once in a while, yes, she will hitch her wagon to a real issue. She’s after scandals, especially related to Canadian dressage riders, so when there is a real scandal obviously she will be all over it.
But I am perfectly content to wait for that issue to be discussed on other platforms. When these issues are substantive, they get covered widely. When they are unique or exclusive to DD, they generally prove to be untrue or exaggerated.
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This. There is nothing that could entice me to give that vile woman revenue via clicks. If there is substance to the claims, someone who isn’t insane will pick it up.
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“You are judged by the company you keep.”
Once you’ve been in horses for a while, you learn who are the people in your local circle you want your name to be associated with, and who are not. (I’m sure it’s the same with dog training, etc., too.)
Of course, everyone’s level of tolerance is different. But at some point ignorance or naivety is no excuse.
I realize I can’t change the world, but for sure I’m not going to support or promote anyone whose training practices I consider questionable, or their clients.
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no one is calling her a hero lol
I’m just not - not going to watch the videos because they are on her platform. I don’t agree with a lot of the way she does things but I can also appreciate her ability to bring these specific truths out.
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This is the perfect other platform to discuss!
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