That is the problem though isn’t it? She has never been sanctioned in any way. Blood in the mouth on many occasions, on multiple horses, overly tight nose band, riding her horse into the ground. If the officials can’t be depended on to be fair and unbiased, and to watch out for the welfare of the horses, then an all or nothing rule is necessary.
27 Likes
I have a slow motion video of Marilyn and scandalous going over I think jump 7 on xc and you can’t see blood there. I wasn’t super close to the fence, so it might’ve still been bleeding, but it could possibly have really been just a scrape on her lip. Still doesn’t excuse that her horses keep bleeding, though.
2 Likes
@fordtraktor I totally get your point. Maybe I’m alone in thinking split lips really hurt! I also think it’s absolutely impossible to discount or quantify tack or rider influence on bleeding mouths, so it just seems like the better standard is to not have bleeding mouths on course.
3 Likes
It looks like MDC is standing behind her for now
I saw very good resolution pics at fence 22 where I couldn’t see any blood (right side where the cut supposedly was and you can see the front too…like right front quarter angle.). Where were the screenshots taken with the blood on course? That is pretty close to home, I thought there were only 26. I am not denying blood at all, but it would be helpful to know how long it was there to see if the GJ was ignoring throughout the course.
1 Like
i don’t know, maybe we’ll all bring baggage to this. I went to the dentist the other day and they informed me that I bite my cheek fairly badly when grinding my teeth. I had no idea but apparently I have holes in it. So I don’t think of all mouth injuries as painful, only if something is annoying the spot. I had zero concept there was anything wrong with my cheek.
The only time I’ve ever gotten blood from my horse’s mouth was due to a stupidly tight figure 8. He had a rubber gag bit in, but since we were trying foxhunting for the first time, I took what I’d been taught by a previous trainer that when in doubt, tighten your noseband.
Well, he pulled, and managed to get his teeth open enough for his tight noseband to push the inside of his cheek between his teeth, where he managed to bite himself. I found the cut afterward, well above where his bit sat. It was NOT the bit, it was purely because of the overly tight noseband. That particular trainer I worked for never thought I tightened his horse’s nosebands enough. I physically could not get them as tight as he did; it was something else.
8 Likes
I occurs to me that a graphic should be developed showing every single instance that has been documented by photograph of all of ML’s horses bleeding in competition, with the name and date of the competition and the name of the horse, and posted to someplace like Google Docs so every letter writer to the FEI and USEF can attach a copy to a letter. It seems to me that a barrage of disgusting photographs would strike a chord that mere words do not.
I also would suggest sending FEI communications to their horse abuse department, and USEF communication to the most similar department, although I’m not quite sure she’s ever been caught with blood at a “mere” USEF event.
15 Likes
I’m dating myself, but many will remember the scene in the movie Labyrinth where Jennifer Connely’s character tells David Bowie’s character “You have no power over me!” It’s the beginning of her truth. Get a drink now, because this is going to be long just giving you the barest details.
The Littles have no power over us, not anymore. I’ve said nothing for more than a year because of the not very subtle threats, but I’ve nothing to lose anymore and neither does DD. She’s not riding, the whole experience finally broke the strongest, hardest working person I know. Anyone who’s met my DD knows she doesn’t quit, give up, cry or ask for things. I might, but she doesn’t. She’s tough, and she’s unafraid. I’ve never posted what really happened after her lease horse got hurt half way through her last junior year. I really thought if I kept my mouth shut and didn’t try to drag anyone through the mud, maybe something good would come of it. Instead, we only wound up in it deeper when DD tried to turn lemons into lemonade by going to work for this family.
The main thing is that the Littles were originally very kind when I asked them if DD could meet them and maybe pat on some of the babies that were sired by the horse she rode for a few months in 2016. I’m not going to go into the disaster that was her last junior year, as it is a long story for another post/topic, but I was trying to perk her up. We met them and toured their home barn in late 2016, and it was nice. Nice of them to let her. She seemed to hit it off with Marilyn, who can be very nice and charming when she wants to be, and complemented DD’s riding. A couple weeks later I got an email from Lynne stating that they’d had a groom quit on them unexpectedly and would DD maybe be interested in a job? Of course the opportunity sounded great right? I mean, going to work in a barn like that on the “top” of two sports, what 18yo would not take them up on it? Having seen their home and barn, and seeing the horses and the care that is absolutely top notch, it was a no brainer. Except we didn’t know anything about anything. She went to work for them in November, at their farm in MD. She is very competent, and again if you’ve met her you know she’s a super hard worker. She was handed a lot of responsibility right away, which didn’t surprise me as she is reliable, smart and loyal. She tries to do things to her best ability.
I will outline the bigger issues, and you can draw your own conclusions. I’m sure, without any doubt screen shots of this will go scurrying right to the family but I care not at this point. What more can they do to her??
Whatever you believe, having had personal experience I think my opinion and view point are valid to the discussion. DD is not a member here, but if you want her first hand account of things I could ask her to join. No matter what happens in public, the truth is those horses DO get the very best of everything when it comes to feed, bedding, tack, treadmills, supplements, blankets, etc. She doesn’t starve them and their barn at home is nice and so is the facility they rented at WEF that year.
However it isn’t the nominal care that is the issue, is it?
Some things people land on are ringers. Like the black towels. That’s not actually anything to do with blood, it’s just Marilyn’s barn colors are black and black and maybe some red. The coolers, towels, wraps, pads, saddles, bridles - it’s all black at home and on the road. She likes black, and she likes bling. So while her grooms would have a black towel on them, it wasn’t something that came out of a desire to hide blood. It may be convenient, but it was really coincidental. Of course I can’t say that now they’ve discovered how easily black and red towels hide blood, they haven’t continued with it because it worked.
There are more real issues, however. Deep ones that are not okay. First, the groom in the photo from this year is Katie. DD worked under Katie during her employment, however Katie was at the time officially an employee of the Parsky family and she went wherever Blue Angel went. That was her job, and while she worked with all the horses as the “barn manager” I guess you could say, she wasn’t hired originally by Marilyn. Katie came from CA when Blue Angel went from Kent’s barn to Marilyns. If she needed anything, it was Robin Parsky she called to get it. So it’s an odd situation, given she was not at that time on Marilyn’s payroll but still essentially working for Marilyn and riding/working all the horses in the barn.
When it comes to the issues that people have long asserted about Ms. Little, those things are all real. And what you may see in public is bad but what goes on at home is VILE. It would take me a month to list everything that DD saw in just 3 months. So I will just share a few examples.
For instance, DD came home one day about 2 weeks into her “employment” to pack her bags and pick up things for WEF. While she was gone home that day, apparently Blue Angel flipped in the cross ties. The punishment that mare received was several days [edit]. There is a dent in the grooming stall wall from her head. She was there to be bred, ostensibly, however they messed that up (well, the vet did according to Katie) and it was not successful.
Another mare, Corona, got ridden in FL for roughly 3 hours in 90 degree weather for being “a bitch” then [edit]
[edit]
Demeter is a nice horse, and DD enjoyed sitting on her. She definitely didn’t deserve to be mistreated, but was often ridden longer than is humane in hot, humid weather.
Kitty is “insane” according to DD. While she’s a quality horse, she is an “idiot” under saddle. That doesn’t make it fair for her to be treated the way she is. Someone on Facebook asked if the horses don’t “object” to being tacked that tightly and the answer is yes. DD was tacking up one horse at WEF and Lynne Little apparently became exasperated that DD couldn’t get the noseband tighter. She pushed DD out of the way and tried to do it herself, but it couldn’t be done any farther than DD had already done it. This might seem small, but it was an every day occurrence and the horses were absolutely “disciplined” when they objected to their treatment.
[edit]
Also, it seems that Marilyn maybe now employs Katie directly, as Blue Angel is back with Kent (thank God) but Katie is still working with Marilyn and has bought Coco Chanel ( a horse DD actually brought back into fitness after ankle surgery). So it’s possible the Parsky family is no longer the direct employer of Katie. I don’t know.
However horses aren’t the only things that are treated like crap around that farm. There’s a reason that the Littles can’t seem to keep employees very long, and it’s obvious what it is. Those former employees aren’t all “crazy” or whatever issue the family is going to assign to anyone who has left their employ.
I have to go get groceries, but I will share exactly what led to my daughter leaving their employ and coming home. In the mean time, I want you to think about a couple of things. Because I can already hear some of the ML supporters and the things that will be said in an effort to discredit what I’m saying. And I’m sure a screen shot of my post will find its way to them quite quickly and that’s fine. I know they will say anything to make it look like I’m crazy or that DD is lying for gain, or whatever it takes.
Please consider that they have a really deep interest in making sure no one believes DD. She feels it is likely that the Parskys, Ms. Mars, etc., don’t know what gets done behind their backs, and really thinks KoC also doesn’t know what is done to Dishy especially given he was taken off the property to be polled at another farm. She is certain since the minute she came home she’s been badmouthed to all the owners.
What possible motive do I have to say things that aren’t true? She’s got nothing to gain and neither do I at this point.
Why can’t they keep staff on for more than a few months? Is it because everyone they hire is crazy or bad at the job, or could it be that they are BAD people who do bad things to animals that don’t deserve it, and tolerate only those that will shut up and keep up? A “win at any cost” mentality?
Why does someone who has the money and backing of such wealth and can buy the best horses in the world, need to do such things to win?
Next, why would I even speak up about them knowing they will likely say horrible things about my child in order to discredit her statements? I’m sure they will use Katie to do it, via social media or even here on COTH. I don’t care. I have plenty of evidence to back myself up, and DD kept everything including videos, emails, text messages, etc.
So whatever you think, I’m here to say it’s worse than you think and I’ve only dropped a bit in the bucket about the horses. When I’ve got some more time, I will talk about the way they treat employees. We’ve had no contact with them since DD came home from their employ so can only speculate about certain things that have happened since then, such as the yellow card Marilyn got because a groom threw a bag over the boundaries into the FEI area. We are both thinking maybe Hannah that did that, because she left shortly after, following Demi to Hannah Sue Bennet’s barn. Marilyn would NOT be one to take a yellow card earned for her by a groom’s mistake with any grace or forgiveness. That’s certain. I’m in no way implying this other groom is a poor employee! Just the opposite. Those girls worked really hard.
And whatever you might want to say, in support or opposition, please remember that DD is 19, has been through so much more than most people will ever have to go through, and it’s taken a great deal of courage for her to speak out against people who’s connections are literally billionaires, and top people in the sport. It’s no small thing to call to task owners with that kind of power, and she recognizes what that does to her chances in the world. You are welcome to say whatever you want about her assertions of their behavior and my relating thereof, but PLEASE keep it to critiquing the information and avoid personal attacks on her, ok?
Lastly, for this post, I have no intention of making it poof so copy and paste away. There’s nothing to fear anymore for us, and maybe some who think people are just jealous of her success or don’t like her personality will take a minute and think about what keeping this person at the top of the sport means for animals who can’t speak for themselves. DD is no longer willing to let fear of reprisal keep her from speaking out about what goes on in the barn, and in another post what happened to her in the months she was there.
37 Likes
Jennifer Connely. HOW DARE YOU :lol::lol:
2 Likes
Mia Sara is legend 
1 Like
You are right, Mea Culpa! Got my fantasy movies mixed up lol. I will correct it.
1 Like
Oh also I believe every word because I worked for someone very similar for approximately eight minutes. This is why I increasingly take more black and white positions against things like polling and blood in the mouth. A close acquaintance was disqualified in the Olympics. He and his friends don’t sit around grousing that it was just a little blood. That’s loser talk. losers take things out on their horses. Winners live to ride another day and understand that they can’t do this without the horses.
22 Likes
You are incredibly brave, as is your daughter.
18 Likes
Um, how do you tie a horse’s head to its tail?
I’ve been around horses for a lifetime but honestly have no idea how one would go about doing this.
I’m so sorry that I couldn’t read your entire post because I was so sickened by the part I did read, and I didn’t want to hear more. The tying head-to-tail thing is heart breaking and cruel. The concept of punishing a horse for hours is disgusting, illogical and cruel. I don’t know what “polling” with tacks is, but I assume it means putting tacks in the top of a halter or bridle so that they accentuate any upward motion by the horse’s head, which is sickening.
I just pray that most high-level barns are not doing the same awful things. It’s like reading some nightmare out of a Tennessee Walker Big Lick barn.
I am so sorry that your daughter had to deal with these horrible people.
2 Likes
Tying head to the tail is an old OLD sheisty trainer tip.
6 Likes
I have seen it done by a WP trainer, braided tail with a leadrope tied to the braid, but that was run between the legs to the head, to keep the tail down on a horse that carried it too high. I’d imagine it works similarly though if tied across the side instead? That’s my best guess.
1 Like
Peteypie poling with carpet tacks means rapping a horses legs with a pole with tacks sticking out of it as they jump an obstacle. The intent is to make a horse very careful to avoid touching a rail. It once was a fairly common tactic in jumper training.
3 Likes
Tying the head between the legs is another complimentary training method. I actually got a lovely appaloosa gelding for free because he had had this done to him for such a long period of time that the fluid built up behind? His ocular nerves and damaged his vision such that he had no depth perception. LOVELY horse, but no use to a hunter barn.
