Evi and Tanya Strasser provisionally suspended by Canada due to allegations of "misconduct" in alleged horse abuse

May I ask who else, what other platform has given Shelby a chance to speak out against the Strassers?

Was the FEI beating down her door saying, “Hey, we’re sorry we ignored you the first time. Can you tell us everything again now, please?”

Or maybe it was CNN or CBC who was beating her door down, but she chose to ignore them in favour of DH?

I am no DH fangirl, but damn, I do think the lot of you are very silly indeed for not recognizing that she hasn’t just slammed on to the latest news piece in this case, and is actually getting something done.

Further, if you haven’t watched the Shelby videos, it’s no wonder some of you can’t get the clue that abuse in our sport is more widespread than a few bad apples and Charlotte.

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Thank you sascha for this and your other thoughtful comments.

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I am going to bring up yet again my brain damage from the sitting trot hypothesis.

I feel pretty confident that all or most of these top riders started off like a lot of us here totally in love with horses. Fired by educated fantasies of “merging into one” with an individual of another species while “dancing” in a close embrace, two bodies moving as one with brains in harmony.

WHY do some of the top horse riders end up being horribly cruel to their previously beloved horses?

Figuring out the challenge of riding each different horse is a totally absorbing intellectual and emotional learning experience. The subtleties of how each different equine body moves so that horse and rider can truly and joyfully “dance” together is a never ending process that uses a LOT of our brains and engages our emotions.

IF these riders use a lot of the sitting trot could not the jarring from the horse’s back, no matter how well the rider absorbs these shocks in their bodies, cause repeated mini-concussions in the brains, brain stems and upper spinal cords?

Could these mini-concussions cause damage in the parts of the brain that control planning and the parts that control emotions?

Could this damage, which comes in incremental doses, get to be enough to turn a previously sensitive and empathetic rider into a rather inhumane totalitarian dictator while riding a horse?

With my brain damage from my case of Multiple Sclerosis I have noticed increasing difficulties with my ability to control my body AND my emotions. This is a huge part of the reason that I do not want to ride anymore outside of a lesson with a riding teacher who has educated eyes. I trust my riding teachers to limit my damaged brain’s reactions to the movements of the horse and I also rely on them to call me out if they see anything from me that leads to me abusing their horses.

Because my MS can cause ever increasing brain damage I know that I have to check what I am doing with the horse constantly. I am constantly having to learn how to deal with my changed brain, physically, emotionally and intellectually. IF I did not have my riding teachers keeping close track on how my actions affect their horses I could well end up being just as abusive as the top riders/trainers that this thread is discussing. If I did not listen to the horses I ride and consider the horses’ actions a valid judgment on the part of the horse about my riding I would end up abusing the horses I ride.

For my damaged brain riding is physical, intellectual and emotional therapy, guided by skilled teachers. If I did not realize that I need this help I could go off merrily riding on my own and end up with an extremely unhappy horse who is silently screaming that I need to ride better and more humanely. That would end up in a disaster for me.

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They don’t sit the trot all that much in the Hunter world and there is also plenty of abuse there. I sit the trot everyday for years and I am not abusing horses.

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Oh hunter riders over the years get accumulated shocks to the brain when they fall off, especially when the rider’s head slams into the ground.

Every fall add on to the concussions or mini-concussions afflicting the brain.

And right now I do not know of any school of competitive jumping where dressage training of the rider is not recommended. How many times have I read on here that dressage lessons can help a hunt seat rider solve his/her problems?

How many of these dressage teachers that the hunt seat riders go to ignore the sitting trot?

I realize that the sitting trot is often the best gait in which to explain some concepts to the horse and it is also essential to the rider being able to fine tune the horse’s trot. Beside that every single hunt seat rider gets to ride a few strides of the sitting trot when we sit down to transition downward from the canter.

It is impossible to become a really fine rider without at least some sitting trot. I do think it is important to LIMIT the amount of sitting trot that we use. In my own specialized case I limit my sitting trot to 6 strides and I rarely do that more than once or twice in a 30 minute lesson. Other people who do not have damaged brains can probably stand doing more sitting trot than I do but I think that long sessions of the sitting trot damage the human brain (long like more that the long side of a dressage sized ring once or twice a ride.)

Brain damage can accumulate and because of that repeated mild brain trauma can add up to harm the brain as much as one BIG blow to the head. It just is not as dramatic as the one off type of brain damage event.

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Getting something done to HER benefit - not the horses’. Not dressage. Recognizing the person madly pulling switches and laughing behind the curtain (for years) is not being “very silly indeed”.

Some are praising her and applauding her and painting her as a selfless wonderful person dedicated to exposing all the evil wrongs in the equestrian world (as many of her fans do)… sounds like a “hero” to me. Her “ability” may turn on someone she decides is the flavor of the day who she simply decides to “out” even when there is nothing there - as she has done with many riders (especially Canadian) in the past. All it took was even simply posting something like I just did - questioning her motives. Anything goes if it will get her more attention. Actual abuse, abuse she slyly suggests, calling others pedophiles with zero evidence… anything to get those clicks and attention. Every once in a while she deigns to actually go after real issues and incidents and is not absorbed in herself and her own awesomeness (her words from the past) … so yay. :roll_eyes:

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She has a post now saying riders are having vets secretly inject something into the horses face to numb their ears to prevent ear pinning…

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Is that even possible? Maybe something that works in a similar manner to Botox?

No. It’s all ridiculous.

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There are at least 10 muscles that control the movement of the external pinna of the horse.
Depending upon which were blocked, the position produced would differ.
I would also suspect that the local anesthetic would diffuse, so precise control would be difficult, if not impossible.
An abnormal ear carriage would likely be quite obvious.
And all a steward would need to do would be to stand behind a horse and make a noise, then observe that the pinnae did not move.

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You’re right, ignoring that DHO is the person who is providing the channel to bring Evi to justice, the one who got the FEI to actually listen to Shelby is not silly. It’s short sighted at best.

You can have an opinion about a person.

You can hate everything they’ve ever done.

You shouldn’t let all of that tarnish your view of a positive accomplishment, even if you believe it was not accomplished as selfless act.

None of us are completely selfless. Some do better than others and some are worse. But almost all are capable of a good thing in a lifetime whether any of us believe it to be selfless or not.

For instance, I had a terrible family. They got some things right. I appreciate those things they got right, but it certainly doesn’t change my opinion of them in general.

Nobody else is doing a damned thing to help find the justice Evi deserves. That’s all on DHO whether any of us like it or not.

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Who on this thread is doing that?

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???
This kind of discussion is not confined to this thread or COTH… but some are making excuses for Wachowich and her endless conspiracies and accusations - which occasionally she manages to get right thanks to others giving her info.

If you have followed all her bizarre behavior through the years - or had the honor of having her focus on you for ridicule and bullying as many have… that might tend to dim that shining beacon of amazing awesomeness that she presents herself as being - and her “dedication” to exposing fanciful as well as genuine issues.

She used to refer to her DH fans on FB with some very uncomplimentary terms on her personal page all while bragging about clicks and notoriety and being a bitch - which she was VERY proud of… and still is.

One could choose to share incriminating info and evidence with other sources. JMO.

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Oh silly me, I thought this was the Evi Strasser suspended thread.

Again, who, on this thread is making excuses for DHO? You’re pissing into the wind and coming across as saying people on this thread are making excuses for her while making an absolute mess of yourself.

I’d bet pretty much everyone here understands that DHO is not a paragon of virtue. However, most of us are smart enough to see that DHO got something really right this time and may in fact be doing something that will be in the best interest of at least some horses as long as the governing bodies do something and statements and interviews keep being sent their way whether directly from the source or through DHO.

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This conversation is sounding like what a guy I knew years ago would say “Did I do something nice, damn, I didn’t mean to”.

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The way how this discussion developes sadly reflects the state of Dressage… Nobody really cares about welfare of horses… if anything comes up it’s often only personal hick hack…
BTW did you recognize that Sven Smienk, one of the whistleblowers in the Parra case assured Evi Strasser his friendship together with Janet Foy….
So…. Somebody who exposed another person for cruelty has no problems if the cruelty is done by somebody he has no problems with…

Poor horses……
And just saying DH did point out riders in the past for bad riding…. And as far as I remember this board usually stood with the rider…. One of the reasons why there were threads condemning her…
People (here) tend to support riders who gained for whatever reason fame…. I assume that is normal and if a single person doesn’t agree, this person must be wrong…
This is how the world works and this is the reason why these poor horses suffered :worried:

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Is Janet Foy on the bad list too?!

Every upper level pro is on the bad list. It’s basically the system used in The Good Place. Since “Nobody really cares about welfare of horses” it’s really hard to show what is actually GOOD riding, there seems to be none. It’s what makes me so eye rolly about the entire thing, I’m not saying that there isn’t abuse or that the Strassers aren’t on the bad list justifiably, but how does someone on the internet tell the different between “good” “bad” and “abusive” if every single upper level rider is abusive? Are they really? If we’re crying wolf with screen shots and conspiracy theories, and ear numbing, how do we actually tell when riding is really abusive? Doesn’t that make us less likely to single out actual abuse when the angry mob says that all riding is abuse?

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Janet Foy is a judge and should be neutral…. Why did she think it was necessary to support somebody accused of animal cruelty…Please tell me……

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I think you nailed it and that’s probably the reason for all these people going wild on the internet…. They don’t really know a lot except that horses are cute majestic animals which obviously get abused by people on a regular basis…
I do assume that I know a lot about the horse industry and what’s going on but I admit I start to get confused as well what is good and what is bad anymore :pensive::pensive:.

Maybe all these pros should stop to belittle people who are concerned about the welfare of horses and start to educate them in a positive way by showing good examples of horsemanship…
Also the system needs to be adjusted….maybe riders should try to eliminate the dollarsigns from their mind and train young horses how it is supposed to happen. by giving them time and try to make training fun…. As long as far advanced youngsters are the once’s who get sold for the most money there will be abuse…
In Germany young horses without ribbons in YH classes are worth nothing…. These YH classes are the beginning of a lifelong torture for these young horses… if you watch warm up rings in those classes, you wouldn’t know whether a horse is 4 or 10….:pensive:
Maybe those pros should show reels where they trail ride the young horses or where they do cavaletti work…. I only see reels with young horses trotting and cantering like crazy…. Yes there are trainers who have a different concept and I believe there are more then you would think… But most of them are pretty quiet because they know they are worth nothing in the eyes of the horse industry because they have not produced at least 10 Bundeschampions….
So the system needs to change towards a nicer way of training horses…
But as long as the current system is the cash cow, nothing will change :pensive:

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