āIt wonāt be happening again.ā Why did it happen in the first place?
According to the article, he used the whip to crash the horse into the first part of a double that the horse had already decided was beyond its scope. Sounds like the horse never came off the ground.
What does he do at home?
The worst thing is that it seems that there is always some owner out there who will send their horse and their money to trainers like this. So it goes on and on.
That seems like an incredibly light sentence. IMO that was not excessive use of the whip. To me the definition that means they smacked their horse one too many times if they are behind the leg, or balking. What he did in my opinion falls into the category of a rage tantrum . He should be assigned anger management in addition a much steeper suspension and fine. Poor horse.
Hereās the video.
Itās ironic he completely misses and crashes the horse the second time. He could have killed them both and would have been safer if the horse had stopped.
That is disgusting! Poor horse!
I apologize to my horse out loud every time I miss a distance.
Doesnāt prevent me from missing distancesā¦
Especially at homeā¦
When no one is lookingā¦
With that behavior, I wonder what he did to the horse when they got home. 
I agree, when you beat a horse (at all times unacceptable) while facing him away from the fence and holding him back - that is a rage tantrum. In my opinion, punishment for the rider is way too light.
The headline says āRider under investigationā¦ā I didnāt read what āinvestigationā was going forward.
Poor horse.
The horseās reaction after the first refusal says it all - he knew he had a beating coming, and he was reacting before the rider lifted the whip. That speaks to a fair number of previous refusals followed by beatings.
And the horse then crashing through the fence. Ugh. Horses DO NOT want to do that. Poor thing had no choice.
How many ways can the horse say āI canāt do this!ā before someone listens?
WHEN are the laws regarding animal cruelty, abuse, neglect, etc. going to be REALLY enforced and the POS arrested, tried and punished (as in prison!) for such mistreatment. This horse should have been taken away from him as well as all other animals. He should be banned from having any contact with animals - what a disgusting bastard!
That article was written in March. The OP article was written in May when the investigation resulted in the rider suspension and fineā¦
Thank you, I thought I missed something.
And maybe the horse could do it, if it were properly presented ā¦ but when they are that intimidated and upset and frantic, all the skill goes out the window.
And this riderās reaction is to double-down on the intimidation and fear. I agree with those that see a horse that has had this experience before.
I just want to clarify, I donāt think the use of the stick alone necessarily qualifies as abusive. I think people overestimate how much force a 150# person can inflict on a 1200# horse with a stick.
However, it can be psychologoically abusive, bad training and bad horsemanship. The fact that the horse wasnāt facing the fence when he used the stick and that he held the horse back while using a stick (itās legit to use a stick to reinforce your leg, but youād have to be facing the fence OR asking the horse to move forward off your leg and then adding stick to get a better response. Beating the horse while restraining it from moving forward and not presenting it to the fence is pointless and abusive. )
That this poor horse was clearly frightened, that he expected the beating/knew it was coming and that he felt his ONLY option was to crash through the fence is what makes this abusive. Also that the rider didnāt withdraw when the horse was clearly overfaced is also highly questionable.
I donāt want to jump on the bandwagon that any use of the whip is abuse. Iām fine with limatations on how many times a stick can be used on course or after a refusal or even requiring the jockeyās soft touch bats. A stick, used correctly, is an extension of the riderās leg and an useful aid. Itās just a very easy aid to abuse.
while the association penalty is one thing, I think a stronger penalty will be to lose clients. Lets hope they are paying attention
The horses owners should apologize to their horses by removing them and then by finding humane trainers.
might not be easy but itās always about the horses (at least it SHOULD be in my book)
This type of angry behavior is just so unprofessional and disappointing.
