@fairjudy
I am going to make the assumption that it’s because COTH owns this website and the software operating it and that the FB page and software is owned by FB. Different liability so different response.
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Yes… and liability should not be their first consideration. I see many of the comments as treading along the line of Safe Sport violations. To that end I called USEF and alerted them of a possible threat situation against a reporter on social media. This is screaming danger to me.
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My current favorite comment from the FB posts:
“He’s not going to be that hard to replace. Look at his accomplishments against Beezie Madden’s and you’ll realize we don’t need the ever-condescending GM to make equestrianism happen. There are plenty of much more talented riders to fill the void”.
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Much as I agree with the sentiment, I have to point out that the comparison between Beezie’s and George’s accomplishments is not really fair.
Back when GM was at the top of his game, opportunities to ride in Grands Prix every weekend didn’t exist in the US. It was a Big Deal to ship horses to Europe and it wasn’t routinely done. The winter Circuits didn’t exist. You basically quite showing until spring after the indoors. It was a lot different world.
I would never knock George’s accomplishments as a rider and teacher. He just happens to be a rotten human being along with them.
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Interesting. The files would have had a date stamp. So long as the date stamp on the photos was during the time it was out of his possession it would have been rather easy to prove. Digital forensic evidence is and even in 2007 was extremely reliable.
Ok, let’s compare him to Ian Millar then. George had a brief, frankly not exceptional career as a rider.
His legacy is really his influence as an equitation coach.
Even his time as chef was exclusively during a time when people didn’t train for any real period of time with the chef.
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He did write Hunter Seat Equitation, the Bible of equitation. I will give him that.
But IMHO, much of the George-worshipping is based on a cult of personality. If he didn’t encourage it, he certainly gave no indication ever that he was uncomfortable with icon status.
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I don’t have any reason to think this was the case, but if someone is somewhat tech savvy, they can delete photos in a way that only stores the evidence of the photos in unallocated space. They can still be restored, but the information about when they were downloaded/accessed etc. is lost. Sometimes the format is lost too (what was a video becomes a series of still frames, etc.)
I’m not here opining as to the facts of the case of the character of Mr. Soresi, but this is not necessarily so; they can be datestamped for file creation not necessarily download. In addition, it’s unlikely that super high end analysis was done, especially if Soresi didn’t have a large bankroll to pay for his defense.
For that matter, it’s possible that the images were downloaded to his computer while he was using it without his knowledge. That might explain the small number. On the other hand, maybe he did download lots and thought he had deleted them all, but missed some.
(Your computer is quite likely full of images that you didn’t intentionally download, that came to you via email or websites.)
Prosecution is highly motivated to get a guilty plea or finding and really has nothing to gain by doing an analysis that can only undermine the case. (They’re also, though I have no reason to think this is the situation in this case, quite good at getting guilty pleas out of people who are innocent of the crimes they are accused of, because they can make the cost of fighting and/or losing very high.)
The last thing I’ll mention is that if he hadn’t taken his computer in for repair to a retail chain, no one would have ever known about those images regardless of how or when they got there.
For anyone considering training with him, there’s also his admitted history of drug abuse. But just because I would not train with him today regardless of his SafeSport status does not mean he deserves the level of vile as well as inaccurate personal attacks out there. I hope he can find peace and find a way to be a contributing member of society.
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Oh, I absolutely agree that his legacy is largely as a coach and teacher. He was, however, an excellent catch rider, which made his clinics very effective.
It’s not just Equitation as in how-to-win-the-big-E, though. He codified a whole system of riding; one based on principles that others had laid down before him, to be sure. But he made it accessible to the masses, so to speak. And that’s a huge accomplishment.
Some people would argue that in a way, his influence wrecked equitation, in that that %$^&* crest release became ubiquitous as a result of his teaching, thereby enabling riders to launch themselves up the neck in a way you can’t do if you’re using a following hand, but that’s another discussion.
But again I agree - he has encouraged that cult of personality. He eats up all that hero-worshipping. His clinics are always the George Morris Show, not just how to ride. I always think George would have made a great televangelist had his inclinations run that way. (thank goodness they didn’t!)
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Yes. And equitation is an odd sport. The same people create the rules and make the judges and also pick the athletes to win and sell horses back and forth to each other. It seemed rigged to me always. Also they teach to lean on the horse’s neck over the jump, and make the jumps smaller and smaller each season. Overall standards are lower now and skills too.
See the people who ride eventing or show jumping only as children or pony club and they ride much better. Maybe their bums do not stick at the exact right angle over a jump but they are not afraid to ride, nor are they overall worse riders than in the 1960s and 1970s. Competition levels are the same or harder, horses are more skilled and go more nicely, people do not have to import coaching to go FEI so much anymore, it is here already. And dressage juniors are so much better now it is not even a comparison to the past. Amazing difference! But hunter juniors is getting worse…
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Good riddance, GM, and take your stupid crest release with you.
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Some people would argue that in a way, his influence wrecked equitation, in that that %$^&* crest release became ubiquitous as a result of his teaching, thereby enabling riders to launch themselves up the neck in a way you can’t do if you’re using a following hand, but that’s another discussion.
This. I absolutely get so disgusted watching young people on top of a horse’s neck over crossrails! These young people are being taught to use the horse for balance and not the other way around. I don’t know if anyone explained the physiological effects that has on the horse when they do that, but they should. These amature backyard trainers are ruining the sport by teaching that garbage, thinking that is what they should be doing. Kids are not going to suceed as riders learning to jump like that.
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Here’s the reason behind Soresi being reinstated. As suspected, nothing to do with testifying in the Morris case.
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Thank you COTH, for giving us all a link that can be used to reply to that particular rumor.
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I know. I spend half the lesson chanting “wait for your horse, wait for your horse!” Admittedly, it’s not George’s fault that people ride with their reins too long, plant their hands at the withers, and vault up the neck, then snap back, hitting their horse in the mouth and landing on his back in mid air. That’s a sort of Euro-jumper move that he was always hard on.
I came up through the hunter ranks, ponies, then greens, rode a few jumpers, foxhunted, evented a lot in the 70’s, then did quite a bit of dressage, before going back to the hunters. I firmly believe that if you can’t produce a quiet, flowing, hunter round, you probably can’t produce a good jumper round either. I hate seeing kids (and adults, too) bobbing and driving, trying to go as fast as they can in the “itsy-bitsy jumper” divisions.
At the local level hunters, if I see a round that doesn’t make me gasp at least once, it’s probably the winner. I don’t lay the decline in riding skills at George’s feet; I blame the teachers who stick the students in their first shows when they can barely post and then have them doing “cross rail hunters” at the next one. They’re completely terrified and have no idea how to turn, steer, or approach a jump, because no one ever tell them how!.
(ahem) I’ll get down off my soapbox now. Sorry!
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Yes … but those of questionable intelligence continue to comment and can’t grasp why JS was removed from the SS list and GM’s ban was upheld. I tried to reply but I foresee my comment being lost in a sea of those incapable of rational thought or unwilling to accept that SS is just doing its job.
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My guess is that most of the people calling foul on JS reinstatement, don’t really understand the justice system. People convicted of murder get out of jail. People with multiple DUI’s are allowed to drive, & people convicted of having 16 images of child porn are allowed to serve out their probation & seek therapy & get off lists.
I’d bet that if it was GM that only was convicted of 16 images of child porn & nothing else… the ISWG group with be happy with SS for letting their God back in the club.
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I just want to add one more thing. This is not an excuse, but perhaps JS got the child porn in a low time in his life when he was high on drugs & fighting the demons of his childhood Molestation. Perhaps he downloaded it when he was strung out & made a bad choice. He’s now been in drug rehab, and therapy & im
sure regretting his bad choice. We don’t know all the details, but, im
sure the arbitrator Didn’t make his decision in haste.
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Bonnie Navin has reared her head first thing on those comments. It’s hopeless. All her minions with their tiny minds are flocking to parrot the same ignorance. I wish COTH would post the articles and simply close the comments. I’m admitting that I am so triggered now that it is like driving past a deer in the median, saying to myself “ DON’T LOOK” … and then I look. And get that shiver up my spine that always comes. I’m going to thank this community once again for being CIVIL. This is a Safe Place in a world coming under an ever darkening cloud. I rode with the man, respect his vast contributions to the sport and stand Always with the survivor.
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