But we have. Think about the things people have done to horses.
Break legs? Break tails? Break jaws? Spur wounds? Pole horses? Flip horses? Rollkur? Artificial gait gadgets? Soring horses? Burning substance on anus? Tying chin to chest? Horse tripping? Starvation? Yes to all and to so many more things.
All of which goes hand-in-hand with, on the individual level, with the current online ācancel culture.ā Where vocal minorities have an outsize impact on shaping the perception of a person/industry/organization/viewpoint.
Speaking very generally, the internet comes with a lot of benefits, but a lot of drawbacks.
As much as I appreciate early morning gaslighting, how about NO? Iām not the enemy. Iām telling you how it is.
You can minimalize it all you want but understand everyone else is going to go bat chit crazy. Just the way it is now. Your approval is not required.
Nothing! Iām a fan. I love the goatses.
From the article:
āAre you sick of talking about or hearing about social license to operate? If your answer is yes, the U.S. Equestrian Federation Annual Meeting, held. Jan. 12-14 in Louisville, Kentucky, was here to reply with a gentle but certain, āToo bad.ā The concept of social license to operateāthe idea that an activity needs to have a certain level of acceptance from the public to existāis here to stay, and how equestrian sport responds to that challenge will dictate its level of survival (or not) in the future.ā
Call it cancel culture or Karen syndrome or whatever else, our acceptance of the concept of SLO is irrelevant. Best to get ahead of the curve.
Can we go back to a topic at the top of this thread about how these clinicians are selected?
Prior years itās been McLain, Kent and Beezie, maybe a few others, all of whom are current, ride on the team, have students who also show at the top of sport, and are exceptional teachers. They explain the theory, they explain the exercises, they take the time to help each person make it better. They are generally kind to the horses and approach things very positively and technically.
I donāt understand Anneās involvement at all. Sheās literally the most verbally abusive person Iāve ever taken a clinic with, although I hear sheās gotten less gruff with age. Her flatwork demonstration was rough and at times just incorrect (haunches leading in a half pass, no steady connection to the bit, above and behind the bit, indirect rein use, blah blah). Admittedly I did not watch the group sessions with her so maybe they were fine. But if you want those kids doing really good correct flatwork, why not bring in a top dressage rider who understands jumping?
And Katie, well, brouhaha about clinic asideā¦ as noted in many other posts, sheās supported George, decried basically everyone who can afford horses who is dumbing down the sport. And if youāve watched Adam Prudent ride more than a couple rounds, youād understand what you are getting here. Again regardless of what happened in the clinic, just a terrible choice from the optics alone.
Is there literally no one else they can pay to do this?
Iām guessing they will now! 
Well, Iām old, so I blame social media. 
I think itās a consequence of the inability of people to distinguish between fact and opinion. A few years ago there was a flurry of news reports related to a Pew poll and some academic opinion pieces that talked about how the vast majority of people canāt distinguish between a fact and an opinion, especially if itās an opinion they agree with.
I remember seeing memes where someone would state some irrefutable truth, like āthe Earth orbits the sun,ā and another person would say something like, āwell thatās just your opinion, man.ā
Anyway, social media provides the platform for people to post their opinions, which are then treated as facts.
So much this. My childrenās school teaches them media literacy starting in 5th grade tech class, because this has become such a huge problem.
Again, Anne is our developing team chef. Sheās currently the most important person to involve in this clinic.
Yeah, I glossed over that but think the point I made about the verbal abuse in the above post also addresses why sheās a really strange choice for that role.
Likeā¦she could potentially be safesported for verbal abuse and bullying in the past, or she could head up the developing team of teenagers and young adults. Or in this weird universe we live in, somehow both of these things could be true.
Not gonna lie.
Every round of his that I have seen, I have had questions.
To think, in school, they used to teach us and test us on facts vs opinions.
Iāve worked with Anne, speaks just like KMP, with the same training practices as much as youāre questioning KMP.
And for those who praised Jeremy Steinburg further up the post- and his ridiculous post about his abhorrence of the clinic-
Iāve seen JS beat the shit out of a young horse with a dressage whip because he wasnāt happy with the how the horse was moving off his leg. Beat so bad left welts and blood all over the young horse. Which is why I will never work with him again or have him sit on one of my horses.
Every time I hear an abuse story it really makes me question the ethics of top sport showing.
Itās really amazing the stuff you see when people donāt think others are looking.
There is a hunter trainer in the mid-atlantic who everyone LOVES. Well one time on a Monday when I was out at the farm checking on an injury, she was doing some training rides, covering for the trainer who was out of town. I got there after her so she didnāt know anyone else was there. When I walked around the corner past the indoor, I watched her run my friendās nice young horse literally into the arena wall and smash itās headā¦ for the crime of missing a lead change across the diagonal.
Well simply focusing on the pentathlonā¦. Hope you are kiddingā¦. Eliminating the riding part was overdueā¦. Have you ever watched one in real???
I had the honor to watch a World Cup qualifier in Florida some years ago and it left me speechlessā¦. I have never seen rules more unfair to horses and athletes beforeā¦. no idea who made them but Iwas shocked afterwardsā¦
And we donāt help ourselves.
I donāt know what the right thing is either or how to manage or fix it. And Iām not unappreciative of social licenseās impact. As a horse racing fan, I have been frustrated by what seems like a dismissal of optics in that world. Dutrowās Breederās Cup win, where the network commentators were talking about him being away (serving a suspension) like it was a feel-good story, and he was coming back from a tragic injury or on vacay, and then casually dropping in the ādrug violationsā part.
Speaking of not minding your language and how it lands in mixed company. I wanted to crawl under a sofa.
There have been discussions here and on other platforms about how society has moved away from agriculture and firsthand experience with large animals. And we havenāt, as has been mentioned in other comments, really kept pace with that from an educational standpoint. And the response is always reactive (Iām thinking of Dagsā and CBoylenās comments above).
And as a runaway train, I am scared that it is well out of the station and well past āpick your words carefully,ā not when you can splice together whatever story you want.
Even if you have a carefully thought out lock on everything that comes out of your mouth, think about every trip to the barn and every ride and break the visuals down frame by frame by frame. Your horse is never going to spook or act fresh (what does that look like)? Are you supposed to just let a dangerous situation go and pray, or not work through a problem ā because your horse might ālook stressedā out of context?
Iām also waiting for a reasonable plan to help people - whose day job isnāt White House spokesman - how to āact right.ā
Yeah, the internet. Simultaneously your best friend and worst enemy.
Amen.
This was drilled hard into us as journalism students in the 90s (the old days again, lol).
I remember doing an exercise where we sat down with newspapers and magazines and had to identify bias in articles.
She did ask for consent.
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