Wow, amazing how the company even treated hard-working, competent OUTSOURCED workers (working at a fraction of what Americans could accept to live on) so shitty that they quit.
I don’t have kids and wouldn’t work those hours.
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The TLDR of this is
w-2 work even in tech, eng, medicine, law will never get you to WEF for weeks on end with multiple or even 1 6 figure horse.
Late stage capitalism babyyyyy
Gotta have generational wealth, a HELL OF A LOT OF LUCK, marry rich and stay married to said person who supports your hobby and goals, or make some compromises on what you want.
It is baffling that people still hold onto the “working your way into” something THAT grand.
Can you work your way into a 7 figure house, riding regularly, owning nice horses (high 5’s), occasional or even routine A shows, etc. YES, technically a small percentage of us the top 3% in the US have & continue to do so. I have a lifestyle that was only made possible by the boom of PE and VC in the aughts/ 2010s.
Can you work your way (w-2, 1099, or entrepreneurially) into more than that — probably not unless something HUGE changes from a global socio-political-economic perspective.
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Indeed! Last week the age-range in the amateurs at a smaller show was 19-76, guess who rode the course the best and was champion?! Crossing my fingers I’ll ride half as well as she does in my 70s.
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They are wealthy or taking out second mortgages on their home.
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She was bullied off? I can’t picture that.
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Seriously? Even before the creepy, gross Trump sex stuff came out, people were pretty rude and mocked her openly. As if how she makes her money has any bearing on her as an equestrian 
IIRC she had some pretty horrible bad luck including the death of some of her horses from drowning, I think? And a couple people needlessly interrogated her over details when she was pretty understandably distraught.
And then when the Trump stuff hit fever pitch, it was clear she wasn’t going to be able to rely on this place as any sort of haven for getting away from the news cycle.
Maybe she still lurks, in which case…Stormy, I’m sorry your whole life blew up and I hope you’re still out there enjoying your horses. We owe you a debt of gratitude for being one of the shocking few to help hold Trump accountable for his many, MANY crimes.
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I think she had her horses with ellen doughty and lost horses in an awful flooding situation. While I think the focus was primarily on the trainer, my memory is that she got way more criticism and judgment than COTH would normally do for a random other member.
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Looks like she last logged on in June. Stormy, if you are reading this some COTH members were real shits to you back in 2016 when you really bravely made a thread and I’m still sorry for your loss. It is also eye opening to see the behavior of some members who are still regulars. I hope they feel at least a twinge of embarrassment realizing their callousness is permanently documented.
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Well if this isn’t the truth. I have almost hit $150k so far this year and am “struggling” to show (A level barn).
I don’t pay for board, or any bills related to my horse (thanks to my sponsor mommy, I’m 30 btw). I only pay for show bills, which range from $3-4k for local shows (I’m in WA and consider WA and CAN/tbird local).
I also don’t pay for a lot of other non-horse related bills, which I won’t get into, but I still cannot comfortably afford this sport.
It’s a struggle for sure, especially when your friends are going to more shows and getting new horses, etc. but I try to enjoy what I do have and look at the big picture - I have a horse!
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I think of bullying as someone being cowed. I can’t really picture Stormy being cowed. I think it’s more likely she flipped us the bird and said, “F*** off, Beaches!”
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It’s not exactly how I remember things. I remember her coming on and saying her piece and then going off to do other things because she didn’t have all that much interest in sticking around. Which is fine. Maybe my memory is faulty but while some people had negative things to say about her situation I don’t recall anyone doing anything that could be fairly characterized as bullying. She got plenty of support in addition to people pointing out her responsibility as owner to ensure her horses were safe. She took the questions gracefully and comported herself well and it just seemed like the conversation ran its course and people turned to wanting to ask about Trump and this just wasn’t the right venue so she stopped posting.
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I appreciate your candor. I remember being a new graduate thinking if I hit around your salary I could have a horse in training and show regularly. To your point, at $4k a pop six shows a year ends up being a substantial portion of your income post taxes. It’s awesome that you have family support to combine with your resources to show during this season of life.
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I agree about the bullying. I didn’t think she actually posted what I said, but if some are imagining she was bullied and slunk away, we can also imagine she responded with a figurative flip of the bird and never came back.
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I recall Stormy starting the Ellen thread where people chimed in that Ellen was known to be horrible, but she didn’t get any bullying. Just drifted away after her part in conversation was done.
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Bullying should be defined by the actions of the aggressor, not whether the victim displayed the right combination of actions to seem appropriately meek or hurt. Someone can walk away with their head held high, rise above, and still be deeply impacted by the actions of a bully.
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Oh I agree, however, the bully is looking for that cowed response. And as far as being impacted, we have no way of knowing that about Stormy, either.
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I just don’t recall any behavior even close to bullying. Polite disagreement/questioning and even being challenged/disbelieved is not the same as being bullied. It’s not a binary between an echo chamber and bullying. There are plenty of shades of discussion in between and I recall the Ellen thread being firmly shy of bullying.
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Yes, if you can manage to be a high end criminal, you too can afford a WEF string. However, the downsides can be a bit tough to bear. (Spoken as a poor public defender who NEVER had high end criminals.) hahaha
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I have another question- how do the well known horse families (like the sweetnams, maddens, cawleys, etc) afford the horse world?
For example, Olivia Sweetnam (amazing and talented rider no doubt) has probably 5 horses at a high level, and she shows probably every weekend. How do families afford this? Because I know that her parents are trainers but there is no way that a trainer could afford this level of showing (probably millions per year).
Are they sponsored and are able to use others horses? Does the training and winning money make them able to afford showing? Or do they come from extreme wealth already?
Sorry for the weird wording, I don’t know if it makes sense!
Well a solid half of my show bill is always trainer fees/groom splits/etc. So without that, the cost comes down a ton. And then usually the top folks afford it through buying and selling high end horses at volume. Those good-riding kids-of-trainers are frequently paid to ride the string of junior hunters they are sitting on.
Some of the trainers also run complimentary businesses - things like horseflight, arena installation, etc.
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