“Snitmobile” lol I love that
I think it is very exploitive of women and really don’t care for that either. However, they are not the face of equestrian sports in the Olympics.
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Oh you mean the ones who like to bring up policies and political issues despite repeated warnings not to then blame everyone else for the threads getting locked ? Those posters? Yeah I saw them too.
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I mean I don’t think Megan Thee Stallion or Snoop Dogg were, exactly, either.
I didn’t even know, and I watched a decent amount of the Olympics last year, that the Megan Thee Stallion ad cited further up in the thread existed. Hadn’t seen it until literally today. And Snoop Dogg was more like an all-around mascot for the Olympics not “the face of equestrian sports.”
Why’s it a problem? Because to you, equestrian sports shouldn’t have rap culture in them? Or youth culture? Or any culture that isn’t stuffy old white fuddy-duddy culture?
I’m not sure if I’d consider cheerleading inherently exploitative but then I tend to be in camp “not my cup of tea but it’s not my life, not my choice, live and let live” when it comes to that sort of thing. Can it be exploitative and rooted in sexism? Absolutely. Can it be seeing as objectifying women? Absolutely. Again. Not my cup of tea, I was never a cheerleader but they’re a part of sports and also a legitimate competitive sport.
EDIT: And for that matter why does a subset of this forum love to act like rap has the lock on misogyny?
The Beatles had an entire song called Run For Your Life with choice lines like “You better run for your life if you can little girl, hide your head in the sand little girl, catch you with another man, that’s the end, little girl” and other lines in the song talking about the singer being a jealous guy with a knife.
Or how about the misogyny in “Under My Thumb” by the Rolling Stones? https://genius.com/The-rolling-stones-under-my-thumb-lyrics - that all sure sounds like a song about a man abusing a woman to me.
And I say this as a Beatles and Stones fan.
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Oh, I think we know why…
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Nope
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Yup.
Just wish they’d own it instead of acting like rap is the only music genre with misogynistic lyrics.
There’s definitely country that has misogynistic or downright dumb, asinine lyrics. Didn’t one of those bro-country dudes have a whole song that goes “country girl shake it for me girl” 
I don’t even actively listen to or seek country music and I think I’ve heard that one before. Might’ve been blasting from some ride on a county fairground midway at some point.
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There has been plenty of questionable country music over the years along those lines. I usually can’t watch too many country music videos before I see something that irks me. But I could say the same about plenty of music genres.
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When you discuss the sexualization and exploitation of cheerleaders as the face of America’s #1 most spectated sport, from 50 year old men to 11 year old boys, do you call them hoochie mama strippers?
Because that is what we’re really talking about here. Not whether a Cowboys’ cheerleader makes for a more digestible icon for the sport, but the ease with which you assign a vile personality to a black woman but not to the white woman doing the same thing.
Just like this book is trying to pin the downfall equestrian sport on inclusion efforts of the past what, 5? years and not on 3+ decades of stereotypical white man greed.
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Anyway to drag this back to the topic:
Equestrian sports, IMO, all of them, are going to have to find ways to be accessible if they want to stay relevant and thrive.
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Their problem with Megan is a red herring. A bit of a bone to divert from the true issue. ( The strange preoccupation with people of color and LBGTQ+ and inclusion. )
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Besides the fact that Megan is WILDLY successful and also no slouch intellectually or in the hard work department…
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I actually think it would be better if some of the current equestrian sports would just retrench and admit they don’t want to be accessible. Just say it out loud already! I don’t believe that their interest is in being relevant, and I think the upper levels are “thriving” if you are one of the elite show barns we frequently see described here. They have created their own world that is perpetuated by current practices. To be clear, I think the blatant racism expressed in the passages we’ve seen quoted here is disgusting and deserves to be highlighted over and over so there’s no hiding from what some people believe should be the foundation of this elite world they are pining for…
That said, think about how much angst would evaporate if people could just release themselves from the pressure of keeping up with the proverbial Joneses and enjoy their horses! While I am not so naive that I don’t understand that old-fashioned lesson barns, friendly local show series, and happy hackers are getting harder to find, I do believe that in many areas of the country, they absolutely still exist if you’re open to an experience that doesn’t look like a Sidelines magazine feature.
Every time I see a harried new pony parent come on here and ask if the way they are being treated is normal, I wish I could intercept them and direct them to a gasp backyard barn/lesson program, and give their kids a chance of building a lifelong love of horses. I played in the competitive travel soccer and softball leagues when I was a kid, and played softball at a D3 school in college. I enjoyed both sports, but I desperately longed to be around horses (my parents didn’t prioritize that and thought I’d grow out of it). You know the last time I stood on a softball field? Probably 1999? The last time I rode my horse? Less than 24 hours ago. Horses can be a lifelong pursuit, even if you are a horseless kid who has to wait to find your way back to them. But if your childhood experience does nothing but tell you that you aren’t “good enough” for horses, or even worse, that people like you don’t belong at the barn, why would you seek them out again later in your life?
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Honestly - I’ve never really understood why equestrian sports at the Olympic level care quite so much about being relevant past, presumably $$$.
We are never going to be mainstream popular. Let’s be real. I do get needing to maintain enough of a sport for people to find it/gain exposure to the fact that it exists and is more than a trail ride if they want to eventually do more and I do think we need more happy hackers, old-fashioned lesson barns and small, local show series, but we’re never gonna be everyone’s “thing.” And that’s fine.
This, exactly this.
And all the dogwhistle-y pearl clutching around some of the rappers - those people pearl clutching need to slow down and remember that not everything is for them, their culture or their generation.
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80s hair metal comes to mind.
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This is why I love you!
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Advertising money, I assume. They need viewers in order to stay relevant and lucrative enough to keep being included in the Olympic Games. Remember, they keep threatening to ditch equestrian sports…
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I never saw that but I love it! The ah Olympics, the ahh Olympics? The ah Olympics 
Girl is looking good in her pantsuit.
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well we haven’t mentioned any of those other bands, songs etc as of yet in this thread but yes I do agree with you. And much of that is no longer acceptable in music lyrics etc. What we as women continue to allow as far as our treatment is what will continue.
As far as Snoop etc, he was all over the olympics, especially he and Martha doing the dressage stuff. As far as your other comments, you really do like to assume and stretch, don’t you?
Personally, we are involved in relatively elegant pursuits in our equestrian disciplines and IMHO we should have people representing us that mesh well. There are plenty of black entertainers that could have partipated in the Olympics and been much less offensive. One immediately coming to mind is Denzel Washington, as an example. If we had had white entertainers who behaved like trash doing the commentary I would have the same opinion of them. Everything isn’t always racist, although that always seems to be the go to for some.
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Yes i do. A hoochie mama stripper is a hoochie mama stripper.
