Live Stream of Wellington Young Rider Clinic January 4-7

[dags]

Zoom In: A screaming child being drug through a doorway by one arm

Public: OMG child abuse!

Pan Camera: House is on fire and top floor is collapsing

Knight’s Mom: Doesn’t matter.

[DownYonder]

@anon56064099

Ok - I’m really off the thread now but I have to say - this is the worst quote I’ve seen from an organizational spokesperson in a long time - The U.S. Equestrian Federation has removed “problematic clips that were not aligned with our values” from archived video of a gymnastics clinic conducted by U.S. show jumping team veteran Katie Prudent, a spokeswoman for the federation said this week.

“Problematic”? Fire whomever came up with this language - this is not Tik Tok.

It’s a serious organization discussing a serious matter that deserves a serious and thoughtful response. Let Katie speak to the context of her comments or issue a statement if she’d like. You hired her to lead the clinic which she did, used some language that people didn’t like, had it ruthlessly edited to show her at her absolute worst, and is now suffering through days of character assassination as a result.

Straight garbage. Apologize to everyone involved for the fiasco, acknowledge welfare is at the heart of USEF’s every action, state you’ve reviewed the video and found no evidence of actual abuse in it, you’ve met with all trainers and riders and horse owners to ensure no horse was flipped, no horse was beaten and they understood the direction to be hyperbole. Then state that you understand some members found the language concerning and you’ll do better for everyone in the future for the sake of the horses.

PR used to be a solid strategic partner to executives, now they just cash checks, tell the clients what they want to hear and ride whatever social tide surfaces that day. Zero strategic offense here and a pretty weak defense.

Preach it, sister!

This hullabaloo is a prime example of mob mentality and cancel culture. Someone got offended by someone else’s strong language about something and is now trying to destroy her reputation as well as that of the organization she belongs to. Even worse, multitudes of others have jumped on the bandwagon and are brandishing their pitchforks and lighted torches and are trying to stir up the rabble even more so said organization will “remove” the offending person from its ranks.

And the leadership of said organization is being mealy-mouthed and knuckling under to “the rabble.” What a pathetic example of LEADERSHIP.

(And how long will it be before someone accuses me of supporting the beating and flipping of horses?)

[LuvMyTB]

I cried reading this. Bittersweet and hopeful at the same time. Amazing post, thank you for sharing with us!

[Midge]

@Knights_Mom

@Midge

@Knights_Mom

The endgame is easy. Sympathetic training and riding. No violence.

At a clinic, lower a jump. Ask an easier question. Bring back confidence of rider and horse. This is very basic Clinic 101 stuff.

Um, you know she DID do this, right?? And she started with half Xs that some horses didn’t even jump because only one end was in the cup and it was maybe 18 inches off the ground. She HELPED the horse that didn’t want to jump the skinny panel, noting that maybe he didn’t know how so they would teach him. Not with chasing or whipping but by just being human wings. Horses that couldn’t pace themselves between the elements? She gave them something to look at by placing a pole on the ground. A POLE ON THE GOUND.

A DMK noted above, the idea that this level of rider had trouble answering pretty basic questions is rather astonishing. The jumps were not high. The questions started very easy and grew in technicality but did not challenge the abilities of the horses. The riders, however had giant gaps in their educations exposed.

I appreciate your passion but it is clear you are arguing from ignorance.

Again, she said it. Unless she immediately followed up with a no, don’t do that, it doesn’t matter that she managed to do her job the rest of the time.

She did, but I was addressing what you said about Clinic 101. I figured since you brought it up as if she didn’t, I would let you know she did.

[Bonnie2]

Good for you! You have been a voice of sanity over the last 777 posts!

[Scribbler]

It is hyperbole [quote=“crackerjack, post:706, topic:791402, full:true”]
The way I’m reading things is that some people are saying it’s hyperbole so it’s not a big deal. I know others have agreed that it is problematic.
[/quote]

It is hyperbole and it is a public relations disaster for the equine industry because of how hyperbole gets interpreted online. You can’t talk like this in public anymore and everything is public.

[Angela_Freda]

@CBoylen

Albert Voorn is now responding to comments on the COTH article, if anyone wants to check that out .

where?

[dags]

@Angela_Freda

where?

I think maybe on COTH’s facebook post, but there were nearly 200 comments and I couldn’t find it with any ease so I give up rather quickly, which is probably a good thing because (a) I don’t have time to wade into a FB mob and, (b) it’s not gonna make a lick of difference.

[crackerjack]

@Scribbler

You can’t talk like this in public anymore and everything is public.

Exactly.

[dags]

There are 700+ posts that all agree with that.
Saying that KMP is a certified horse abuser is where some of us are drawing the line.

[Sarah616]

These were the two responses of his that I saw. Nothing super exciting but he does appear to have a grudge from a long ago occurrence

[Knights_Mom]

At a show today speaking with 2 USEF judges, an R and a r scribing to get their R.

Said KMPs words.

Both jaws dropped.

I suspect many here are going to be greatly surprised in the future.

[TatteredDaydreamer]

THANK YOU!!!

[Midge]

And yet R and r judges here have offered a perspective different than yours.

[MHM]

@Alterration

Rider was not even remotely pulling on horse.

This is clear from watching it.

Horse was blowing through the aids because rider was allowing it. They weren’t doing anything different. No harder pulling, no change in pressure, no wiggling of the bit back and forth, nothing - the rider was simply being a passenger and allowing the horse to blow through the aids and canter right or left instead of halting.

The chastising was meant for the rider. They needed to DO something and they were not. They needed to quit letting the horse carry them off and do something.

You know, I don’t recall now which kid it was on that horse, but I believe it was a strange horse to her that she was just riding for the weekend.

So maybe she was a little hesitant to be more firm with the horse since it didn’t belong to her and she didn’t know him very well. Especially if she was one of the younger riders.

I mean, presumably she had ridden him in the flat session the previous day, but that is not always a good indicator of how that same horse will react when you point him at a jump.

[Inimitable]

And both of these R and r judges are so out-of-the-loop in their sport that they had not heard KMP’s words until Knight’s Mom came along and enlightened them both at a horse show today? Seems legit.

[Alterration]

@MHM

You know, I don’t recall now which kid it was on that horse, but I believe it was a strange horse to her that she was just riding for the weekend.

So maybe she was a little hesitant to be more firm with the horse since it didn’t belong to her and she didn’t know him very well. Especially if she was one of the younger riders.

Yep - and KMP often had catch rides, so I think she understood what was going on there. Catch riders especially need to be effective, because you can really screw up a horse for their owners.

I had a catch ride at a clinic blow me off once. They had us jump a fence at a strange angle, and horse threw his head in the air above the bit and tanked off with me. I was totally helpless. Still my fault - I should have ridden better to the base. Later, the owner said that they gave me the wrong bridle (I was in his flatwork bridle, as typically they would have put him in a pelham for the jumping phase) and that was a known trick for him.

Doesn’t matter, still my fault for riding him poorly to the base of the fence. I shouldn’t have been counting on him to be good. The ride was my responsibility and I blew it.

[MHM]

@anon56064099

You hired her to lead the clinic which she did, used some language that people didn’t like, had it ruthlessly edited to show her at her absolute worst

I still question who edited that video with that slant, which I don’t think is too strong a word. Was it USEF? Or Voorn? Or someone else, and Voorn gave it more oxygen by posting it?

I believe it showed up on his Facebook page last Saturday, so I wonder if it was somewhere else before then? It certainly made a big splash at that point. The clinic had not gotten anywhere near as much notice until then.

[HipNo34]

Thank you so much for expanding on that.

I had completely forgotten about Obama’s comments and I’m also realizing that a lot of the media that I’m consuming is even less of the picture than I’m giving it credit for.

I also feel like I’m going to sleep a little bit better going forward.

[anon56064099]

Yes - good catch here. Not what I intended to say - I intended to convey it was ruthlessly edited by someone, not USEF. It was a live stream. I will edit the post for clarity, moving fast. Thanks!

(Also ignore the withdrawn post - I thought I had not replied in thread so double replied. I have an ancient phone which I adore.)