^ I’d like that list as well. Some who I’ve seen supporting GHM on Facebook, I have known for eons.
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Robert Dover - who has a lot going on inclduing his vegan tack line
Bernie Traurig - Equestrian Coach.com
Eric Lamaze (this pains me to type because I love Eric and how much he has overcome)
Chris Hector of Horse Magazine https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/whos-who/hector-chris/
A small list to start of those to unfollow.
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Awesome, and please then offer to share intel with others who may be similarly inclined to know which persons to shun.
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I have to ask, why do you continue to attend his clinics? If you’ve seen him publicly fondle a boy and be horrid to countless others–enough to never ride in his clinic yourself–why did you show up? Why are you still supporting him with your attendance only to talk badly about him online?
This is the problem. This is how someone who has had so many negatives said about him, has such a reputation for bullying and belittlement, has been able to carry on. It’s not just the wealthy owners and parents who have helped create his position, it’s everyone who did nothing but whisper and talk over the last 50+ years.
Kudos to LaurieB’s dad. He’s the only one mentioned here who seems to have actually tried to stop the bullying and verbal abuse. Everyone else has gossiped. I wasn’t part of the inner circle who witnessed first-hand sexual abuse, but I still take ownership because I did hear the stories and still rode.
Until we all step up when we see or hear a problem, any problem, the sport’s culture will remain a “carry-on until you’re caught environment.”
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^^This. You can vote with your wallet. I never paid for anything by or from or about George Morris once I was aware of how nasty and abusive he could be. Still haven’t bought the Relentless autobiography although I’m curious about the “carousing” that was noted in the description on Amazon’s page.
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:eek:
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Wow - a small but disappointing list.
Chris, you too? Really?
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I only peeked at The Horse on facebook, but he even had a comment in there that people who believed GM was guilty (I assume this means anyone explaining or defending the SS process as well) would be summarily deleted from the comments.
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A few observations:
No authority in this land can legislate or mandate “lack of compassion” or “empathy,” a word never heard before 2 years ago. Ditto teaching style. The marketplace can take care of this very nicely; simply take your business elsewhere, and tell people why. To date, GHM has had zero problems filling any of his clinics. Not your style? Find someone to train with who embodies the traits you seek.
The top levels of any sport are very, very tough–tough to enter, tough to attain, and in this sport, very dangerous and with hundreds of thousands of dollars riding on the outcome at the Grand Prix level. A bad mistake can kill you or that very expensive animal you’re sitting on, and that’s why trainers don’t always have time to sugar-coat it. Frankly, if all it takes is words/attitudes/gruff style to destroy you mentally, you’re nowhere close to the caliber that’s ever going to jump the big stix. Go ask your brothers how much “empathy” coaches are dishing out in topflight lacrosse or ice hockey or football!
Torch-and-pitchfork brandishers here are now accusing GHM, publicly and in writing, of animal cruelty. That’s a serious criminal charge, and if not true would certainly be actionable as slander/libel. I’d be a little careful of that.
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Nonsense. Perhaps that’s just from my perspective having worked for people who fired George Morris and have more medals.
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I’m a nobody. Couldn’t ride as a kid, and didn’t get into the sport until I was in my 30s. And that was only for fun. Even so, I gobbled up mags and books, and enjoyed reading GM. Knew all about his credentials. But then the internet came along and you could see his clinics online. And my God - the man was clearly an abuser. I don’t mean sexual predator. I had no way of knowing that. But he abused his students, even - and maybe most particularly - his teen students. In front of crowds. And any person who enjoys abusing children in front of crowds has some huge psychological problems. This was so apparent to me that I couldn’t fathom why the crowds sometimes tittered at his abuses and didn’t instead rush out there and lynch him. I watched a couple of clinics and then could stomach no more. What a piece of filth.
IMO, the whole equine community should share the blame for lionizing him and enabling him. Shame on us.
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@Crashing Boar,
In Unrelenting, he admits to poling a horse with a hot wired pole in an out of the way corner a show grounds and getting caught.
Pretty sure that meets the definition of animal cruelty.
Read the book. It’s quite the education, and not in a good way.
ETA: He was also caught in the great testing for Resperine scandal in 1978, along with a lot of other BNTs and suspended. That’s in the book as well, along with a pretty weasel-y explanation,.
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Um… I’d say that’s really wrong and short-sighted, and a cop-out for people who want to say “oh, you just aren’t at this level, you wouldn’t understand.”
I have a close family member who is one of the best female ice hockey players in the country - she was drafted, skated with, and has played at the Olympic level. No, abuse and nastiness is not inherent in the top of the sport; it’s inherent in awful cultures that may or may not be prevalent in the sport. The two are not distinctly correlated.
P.S there was plenty of empathy for her, when she broke her foot and lost a season. I have a lot of respect for the top level professionals in her circle.
I also, as someone who has first hand experience as a working student for BNTs who are just as competitive and lauded as GM in their chosen discipline, have not seen that be the case in my circle.
Cruelty is not a cornerstone to upper level success.
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I’d hazard a guess he is regretting publishing it. Can’t argue with your own words…
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Add Holly Hugo-Vidal too.
I`ve been accepted to the group
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Yes…and from what I remember, a now-California based trainer took the fall for it (willingly)
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literal piece of human waste.
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Sounds like some things will haunt him. Anyone have those old issues of Practical Horseman where he’d critique rider photos?
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I see there are still people popping into this thread to wail and gnash their teeth about due process and constitutional rights and so on. I won’t quote any of them in hopes that they’ve decided to leave but I am going to paste my response to similar sentiments an acquaintance posted on Facebook:
Doctors can be prohibited from practicing medicine for misconduct without a criminal trial (just investigation from their state medical board). Lawyers can be disbarred. Social workers can have their license revoked. Every professional licensing entity I can think of to look up has some kind of internal investigation process that can result in a licensee being banned from the association without criminal conviction in a court of law. It’s a near-universal practice in the professional world and pretty clearly NOT a violation of anyone’s constitutional right to a fair trial. Why should voluntary participation in an organized sport be different? We obviously don’t know the facts in this case (though the NY Times reporter who wrote the Jimmy Williams story has been investigating GHM for months before the sanctions dropped and is poised to publish an in-depth article), and the appeal may well overturn the sanction. But to say that the sanctioning process is a violation of constitutional rights is obtuse at best.
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