I am merely a casual fan of eventing and even I know that if Marilyn Little is on course there will be blood–and that nothing will be done about it (again). That is a big black eye for the sport.
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same here Laurie B. bad me, I only know a handful of stars, MJung Ingred Klemke, for good reasons.
The bitch in me wonders if the team pre-bled the horse and had it inspected so as to excuse, by ruse , the blood to come.
A little nick on the front of the lip goes a long way to dismiss the blood from breaking scar tissues or new damage
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With regard to the flash used in dressage. I imagine quite a bit of leverage is required to get one that tight. Whoever did that - I don’t know how they are able to look that horse in the eye afterward. That poor mare. What heart she shows and gives to someone so unworthy. Who does that to an animal and then proclaims to even like said animal? If that is what it takes for you to ride, then you need to either re-learn or take up another sport that doesn’t require torturing another life. Makes me so angry and sad. And not one person in a leadership position does or says anything about it. Not. one. They are all part of the problem.
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Got a question. Is ML the sole owner of record on this mare? Or is it an LLC or partnership with other investors? Over in Hunterland, it’s very difficult to figure that simple question out and there can be very influential, mostly silent, mostly unamed but powerful players involved in ownership making enforcers hesitant to enforce and follow through.
First thought here was maybe she banged her nose and it’s a ple on. Then, oh, wait, third time the charm here or something. Topped of by the red towel, REALLY? Who does that??? An in your face statement there, IMO. Maybe she’ll take a page out of the Hunter book and rename the mare something to celebrate nothing sticking…sorry for the mare but Bloody Mary keeps popping into mind,
Disappointing, yes. Surprising, not really, except for that red towel and that’s not in a good way.
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A-I think it’s actually the 5th or 6th time at this point, I’ve lost track. Multiple horses too. Multiple countries.
B-Why do you think it’s name is RF Scandalous. That wasn’t it’s original name. It’s because of all of us “haters” who are so jealous of her fabulousness.
C-I think Mrs. Mars is a co-owner. Enough said. No one ever said ML was stupid.
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I have these thoughts too. I was going to say it is sad to see eventing go the way of hunters. I don’t want to diss hunter/jumpers but it is very political and money is quite influential.
And the level of arrogance, SMDH.
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I’m also a casual spectator of eventing but have learned to expect blood with ML’s horses. My question is why would sustained public outrage not have any effect? We’ve seen protest over bad behavior lead to accountability from political leaders, business executives, etc. Why not eventing? I have zero expertise in how the sport is regulated…this is a genuine question.
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Well, this is no surprise. Unfortunately.
Just something you expect with this rider at this point 
I’m more disappointed in Ms. Mars at this point. How do you continue to allow a rider to do this with one of your horses? Also disgusted in the GJ. When your name continues to come up as the decision maker, and you always say it’s just pink and not bad. I’ve seen enough photos from yesterday to know it wasn’t just, pink. It was red, and bubbling. I’m hoping jump judges reported it, but unfortunately pulling up a rider is not their call unless told.
Why do people continue to support this person? Just because KOC says ML is amazing? Shows you what KOC is all about. But that’s for another day on another thread.
This is getting ridiculous. I’ve seen riders pulled up for more stupid things and carded, yet this repeat offender gets away with it time and time again.
They want our sport to grow, be better? This is not how you accomplish that.
I wonder how many bleeding mouths MJ has had, or Mary King, or Boyd Martin. [Stuff] happens sometimes, some horses have a moment and blood can happen, but how often does that truly happen? Out of all the UL events I’ve groomed at, I’ve had one horse come home with blood, on his stomach, from a fence. That’s it, nothing else.
Makes me sick. Stop allowing this rider to be in eventing!
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Doubtful as what seems to happen is the organizations continue to bury their heads in the sand and circle the wagons. I get it I do as sometimes the concerns of people are off the wall and uneducated but you can’t fight ignorance by pretending what the people are talking about doesn’t exist at all.
Examples…TWHBEA (took how many years???), PRCA (now they are just not allowing any photography and completely calling anyone who questions animal welfare as a animal rights kook,) American Rabbit Breeders Assoc ( what rabbiits live in cages???- they are just ignoring any issues with housing concerns by municipalities nothing to see here folks. And even held their convention last year in a city who has overstepped boundaries on animal care.) Say what you will about other livestock at least there is ongoing research at universities as to animal welfare.
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Clearly horse welfare needs to come first, but just to play devils advocate, what about keeping it simple?
If my horse had blood in her mouth, I would probably check tack first and assume it was an accident. If it happened a second time, I would next think it was due to a problem with her teeth and have her vet take a look. If he came up with nothing, then I would escalate and look for a second opinion vet (who specialised in equine dentistry) to take a look.
Beyond that, if she STILL had blood, I would probably take her to an equine hospital for further examination until we figured it out.
Considering her family’s participation in equine sport for a long time, plus her elite BNT coaching, PLUS her horse’s owners… what if they used “a guy” for teeth for the same 20+ years and refused to switch? Or well-known vet or clinic that does teeth and assures her “everything is fine”? Or maybe even the bit is the wrong size/style for the horse’s facial anatomy but coach assures her “it’s fine” or horse’s owner says the mare has always gone in it?
I definitely agree rider has too many incidents to be considered coincidence… but maybe she has a lot of other elite-level influences that are all voicing “SHE’S FINE” and ML is inclined to agree? Maybe she’s drinking the Kool Aid?
I know we’ve all seen some pretty crazy sh!t go down at one time or another bc rider implicitly trusted their coach/vet/etc.
Homegirl may be a bit socially awkward and have entered into eventing in a non-traditional way (irritating people along the way with her comments) but it kinda seems like she’s a bit clueless and very groomed by her team. Even when she speaks it’s like off a script. Listening to outsiders comments who have met her or interacted with her, it seems like she does work hard and she does care about her horses.
Sadly, if the eventing powers that be have all colluded she’s a hot shot for a team one day, then they will all continue to look the other way. It doesn’t matter if it’s her doing intentionally or not, or her team, or the ground jury willing to forgive these incidents; it’s poor horsemanship.
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Ww, it’s not “she’s fine” - SEVERAL of her horses have had blood during xc. Plus the horse she rode to collapse at Rolex. Plus the blatant disregard for rules (she once retired at Fair Hill and THEN jumped another jump…it’s on video and I have spoken to the experienced JJ who called it in). Plus the dr feel good vet that eventually got banned. There is a LOT to explain away, and where there is this much in public it is very hard to believe it’s not worse in private.
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Is It worth the risk of her at a big event for her team to be eliminated because of blood when its a GJ that isn’t sweeping it under the rug?
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Someone who cared about her horses would care about repeated incidents of frothing, dripping blood. It’s that simple.
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Has anyone noticed in close-ups of RF Scandalous, the strange mottling/cuts on her nose/muzzle? Is it related?
She didn’t have it a few years ago, wondering if it’s a skin condition, allergies, or something else. It’s all around her lips and muzzle.
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Maybe Kitty is a closeted Appaloosa with esteem issues. Maybe she does have some kind of stable vice that makes her muzzle/mouth more vulnerable to things like this - have known horses that like to rub their teeth against metal grill bars, etc which I feel sure could take a toll on the surrounding areas.
However. There is no place for this type blood incident in clean (clean-ish?) sport. It’s absolutely ridiculous to talk about needing a rule that only white towels can be used at the xc finish.
In this particular case, I think there is kool-aid involved. I don’t know who is the mastermind that’s mixing it, but I think multiple people are dispensing it.
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This is a good point. I don’t wish for this to happen (team suffering for another’s actions and blood) but maybe it will have to so people will get upset and wake the eff up.
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There is really no excuse for this.
showjumpers invented belly bands for cs to avoid spur rubs that might lead to elimination.
We are a joke of a sport to have a rider who not only has the tightest noseband I have ever seen but also a horse who was apparently bleeding BEFORE XC started, went XC anyways, stopped bleeding before start, and came home bleeding, and not only is nothing done about it, but eventers are defending her.
smh
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The O’Conners were closely affiliated with the Parellis at one point. I don’t trust their judgement at all.
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Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but I am curious about the bridle RF Scandalous is wearing. Is it just a regular noseband with the top made out of rope instead of leather? I’m assuming it has some specific purpose. I googled for pictures, but I think the ones in the linked COTH article are about as good (if not better) than any others I could find.
I don’t compete, but I do wonder why the rule shouldn’t just be blood = disqualification?
How many people would be impacted by such a rule in a given year? It does seem that in showjumping, most people acknowledge that blood due to spurs/spur rubs is not intentionally inflicted by a rider (at least that I’ve seen), but if it happens, it is bad luck that results in elimination.
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I don’t know this for a fact, but I am guessing the reason this may be left up to the ground jury in Eventing would be b/c of the possibility of blood coming from superficial scatches due to things like brush on xc jumps.
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