What a great interview! So many positives, I have so much admiration for her. Being an upper level rider is not all sunshine and roses, this girl has an incredible spirit…and I hate how some people on here are just so hard on the upper level riders. She said that she tried too hard to have a good reputation and was crushed by some of the hateful things that people said.
I wonder how many people on here would feel under the microscope? We need to show compassion, I hope everyone listens to this and thinks about those things that are said on here.
4 Likes
Don’t do drugs, don’t drug your horses. Don’t end a bunch of events with your horse bleeding at the mouth, and don’t beat your horse around the course.
I don’t think these are super high expectations.
16 Likes
science? It is not often I have seen a horse fall on its head. I have ridden during quite a few horse falls without any landing on its head. I have, in 25 years, had 2 bloody a nose bumping it on the ground with unfolding issues. So Maybe? I am sure it happens occasionally but the only head trauma my horses have had is when my TB got kicked in the head in the field being an ass, by another horse. He had issues for a year with supposedly dissolving stitches working out.
the two falls in which I got TBIs the horse was not injured at all. I can’t think of any concussions resulting in a bump to the head of the horse, either.
i am sure it can happen but it seems much more likely for a human to get a TBI than a
horse.
2 Likes
There was an Australian vet doing research on TBIs and horses a few years back and I seem to remember the findings were that there were that head injuries in horses were actually much more common than is generally thought. I’ll have to go back and have a look later and see if I can find it.
10 Likes
I wondered if @JER was obliquely making the point that the horses are affected secondarily because the riders are dealing with physical issues that impact their ability to do things like make split second decisions, etc.
5 Likes
I’ll change that for you with this page.
A human can suffer a TBI even when landing on a body part other than the head. It’s the effect of the brain hitting the skull. The cranium is a tight space.
The same is true for horses. We just don’t have good assessment measures for equine concussions.
15 Likes
I honestly came away from that interview with a more positive impression of her than I had before this whole thing even started. She was well-spoken, thoughtful, had clearly done some work to make sure she understood the situations and its full effects, and most importantly, she spent a lot of time in that interview talking about other people. How they had helped her, how grateful she was, how she could lead by example, and how her actions have impacted them. She did a great job seeing the positives in the situation and appreciating the lessons, while also acknowledging that of course this isn’t what she wanted (I often feel like too many people deliver messages like that as if trying to say it was almost better that this happened, which of course it isn’t).
I also appreciated how open she was about how multiple, conflicting drugs were in her system at once (they were only just beginning to treat her pharmaceutically for these symptoms, and were transitioning from one to another while trying to determine the most effective course of treatment).
I will be cheering for her to have a happy and successful return in November.
13 Likes
I really admired her prior to all this, and I agree we need to support each other - that being said, I don’t think eventers are too hard or have too high expectations. Most of the grief comes from riders who abuse horses, abuse grooms, or abuse the system. None of which is OK and I don’t think we need to pussy foot around feelings when that happens.
I also didn’t really see any hateful things said about her, it was more looking for details.
8 Likes
If you take the post on knowing when to quit together with the facts in the interview, isn’t it just as important for RIDERS to know when not to compete? Sure riders have to compete to get business and make owners happy, but one would think that if JB was being treated with so many drugs for a condition related to multiple concussions that it would be wiser not to be competing until everything is sorted out. We do this all the time for horses; why not riders?
When my sister had a moderately bad concussion sixty years ago, she was not allowed on the back of a horse for six months.
6 Likes
I am sure that it would be smartest if we never rode again, any of us! But we are stubborn horse people and aren’t going to give up riding because of some elevated risks. I know my neuro is clear I need to stop falling on my head, but it isn’t like one intends to fall on one’s head…
At least with humans, we have a choice in the matter. The horses don’t get to make that decision so as their caretakers we owe it to them to be conservative.
3 Likes
Made me kind of sad when she mentioned going to Bromont and wondering if her 3* horses would come home with her, and then her friend called her to say her horse had died on the way home 
1 Like
Tha’s fine for those of us who do this for fun…but when your livelihood is based on swinging a leg over a horse…you have to get back to work.
When I did horses for my living…I mucked stalls and rode when I probably should have been in bed. I worked with broken bones. Was it best for me? Of course not. But I needed to make enough money to cover my rent.
Now now there are plenty of riders who have other sources of income. And they don’t have to work. But not everyone has that luxury. It is the number one reason that I don’t do horses for a living anymore. Your chances of getting hurt are high and yet you have to work to support yourself.
5 Likes
I don’t necessarily disagree with this, but competing is far different from mucking stalls and training horses. When competing, especially at the levels these people do, mental acuity is one of the factors for success. You have to be able to assess and make decisions quickly, sometimes changing “the plan”. The mental intensity level required is far higher than for other horse work.
Given the levels of prize money in eventing, if it’s a choice between competing while impaired and not competing, wouldn’t a rational person know when not to fight so they can fight another day? Competing is expensive in and of itself. And risky, more so than just training or just riding. After all those jumps are still unforgiving.
3 Likes
I wouldn’t say those who train horses for a living, particularly young horse trainers, don’t need to have mental acuity and ability to think on their feet at least in equal measure as those who compete.
5 Likes
As much as I do agree with this statement, probably 90% of it. You have to also realize some people NEED medication to function in day to day life. It’s not them doing drugs because they want to, but more for the fact they need to in order to function. Your statement comes across very closed minded.
If she was using the medication for her advantage then I totally get it. She wasn’t, it was prescribed by a doctor to her.
As you see in other posts, doctors use medication to help with concussions. Shouldn’t we be happy she’s taking the right precautions to better herself and make sure SHE is ok and good enough to keep riding and it not be dangerous.
You can’t please everyone on here that’s for sure.
I don’t know Jennie, I’ve seen her in the barns, listening to this interview was positive and I’m glad she’s moving ahead.
Knowing she was depressed for 4 days shows you just how hard this was to take for her. Lesson learned.
7 Likes
So introducing lawfully acquired prescription meds as a counter to don’t do drugs is pretty much a red herring. That said, I’m sorry you didn’t understand what I said.
Also depressed for four days? Four whole days? Haha haha I’m sure you don’t mean to liken that to people who suffer from depression day in and day out.
3 Likes
Current discussion aside (sorry to derail) but I cannot STAND this attitude towards mental health.
Everyone has a brain. Everyone is susceptible to problems with that brain. Some are worse than others. All should be treated.
Similarly, everyone has a body. Everyone is susceptible to problems with that body. Some are worse than others. All should be treated. You wouldn’t say “cancer that went into remission after one round of chemo? One whole round of chemo? Haha haha I’m sure you don’t mean to liken that to people who lose parts of their body or die from cancer.”
…and if you were to say that, yes, actually, I do mean to liken those things to one another. Anyone with depression would tell you that every single minute they suffer is hell, and they would give anything to avoid just sixty seconds. Four days at Disneyland is a far different measure of time than four days when you cannot physically leave your bed. No matter what the clock/calendar says.
8 Likes
Depression is different from sadness. It’s observable in brain function scans. It typically lasts far more than 4 days. A “depression” that lasts four days is comparable to an ankle strain instead of an ankle sprain or break.
I’m not so sure about “everyone should be treated.” There are many variants of normal. What God medicine man decides which variant of normal is “normal”, should be the only one allowed, and all other states are abnormal?
9 Likes
Depression is absolutely different from sadness. It’s absolutely diagnosable as a distinct issue. And it’s absolutely not the responsibility of strangers on the internet to override a personal diagnosis disclosed by an individual, especially not one who is currently working with a LOT of doctors with a very keen eye to following the rules.
I do not understand the ongoing need of the general public to play the “your mental health is not as bad as mine/hers/his, therefore buck up, sissy!” game. You are not her doctor. You. Don’t. Know.
Sure. Life isn’t cotton candy and rainbows, and tough stuff comes with the territory. But anyone who can’t leave their bed to do their job needs and deserves to be treated. Body or brain, that’s a critical issue.
4 Likes
