Marilyn Little's horse bleeds yet again. Red rag to a groom.

[scrbear11]

@LadyB

The question that keeps being raised and never being answered is; why does this continue to happen?

One time, you go ok, second you say, odd but ok, it happens. Not 5 or 6 times. When there is a repeat, you begin to question the rider, the groom, the GJ. This is what we are doing. Questioning why. Yet we still receive no answers.

You get the group that loves her, you get the group that is in hate. I don’t hate her, I don’t like her, I don’t like that she continues to have a bloody mouthed horse. I question our sport and the welfare of the horses.

Crap happens, but not this often with one rider consistently.
It’s known she has horses that somehow bleed on cross country very often, so now we look for it. We make the comment, “oh I wonder if her horse will bleed this time” and yet we are never disappointed and she always comes through with blood. Not cool.

As a non-event rider (Over from the Hunter/Jumper board), I’ll answer your question - Why does this continue to happen? People are petrified of pissing off Jacqueline Mars. When one hand is largely funding the sport the governing bodies are going to continue to just brush it under the rug. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

[Denali6298]

I am definitely not jealous. If what ML does to get around a 4* is the best way then I am totally cool not going past prelim. My trainer, who would have my a** if I did anything remotely close to what ML does, told me when I started with her, she can only bring through prelim. I’d rather ride with an ethical trainer and stay at the LL, then torture, yes torture my horse to go to the UL.

[MsRidiculous]

Shame on those who refuse to understand the art, the skill, the life changing dedication, the magic!

I know this wasn’t intended to be funny, but I just about lost milk and cereal right out of my nose. That quote sounds absolutely insane, regardless of who or what it’s about. I feel like it could be on the brochure for a fancy new cult. Thank you for giving me a good belly laugh in the middle of something that is not at all funny, even if you did almost cause me to choke.

https://media.giphy.com/media/12NUbkX6p4xOO4/giphy.gif magic!

[WildLittleWren]

@pieradill

I have posted this on Facebook and will post it here. The hate is terrible. Please no hate response here.

I know Marilyn Little very well. I have ridden her horses. She has ridden mine. I have kept horses of hers. She has kept horses of mine. We share a Dressage coach, Bo Jenå, and Marilyn and Kitty (Scandalous) often train with Bo at my farm. I have watched Marilyn develop Kitty from the mare’s first event in this country, through her Pan Am gold medals, to this weekend’s stellar performances, and I am appalled by the outpouring of vitriol against her, her ethics, or her horsemanship.

That Marilyn is a brilliant rider — one of the greatest of her generation — is an incontrovertible truth. She was raised with horses and did it all: falling off ponies, chasing horses in the paddock, agonizing over failures big and small, and experimenting as we all did to become truly competent, committed, and courageous. Marilyn finished college (a rigorous one) with honors, despite an ambitious show schedule on all kinds of horses, and she now applies her intelligence and critical thinking to her sport. How else could someone have taken the eventing world by storm in as short a time as she has?

Marilyn became the exemplary horseman we see today — an exemplary old school horseman — through insanely hard work, sacrifice, and heart breaking losses. She designs the program of each of her horses, whether eventer or show jumper, and knows every aspect of their soundness, every quirk of their personality. Her barn is meticulous. Detailed lists of care and feed and training are noted on the board. Marilyn is thoughtful, intelligent, deeply compassionate and unutterably connected to her animals. It is a stain on sportsmanship, and a profound misunderstanding of what it takes to be a competitive rider at this level, to subject Marilyn to this kind of public censure by those who cannot do what she does. I must add that Kitty is a complicated creature, not a machine and not an idealized illustration in some textbook. Her FEI record shows a horse unable to successfully complete cross country until Marilyn’s brilliance brought out hers. And Any of us who have had nervy and ambitious horses know what it means to have a top horse with a busy mouth. Who in my sport hasn’t had a horse bite a lip or a cheek in the midst of a flawless dressage test. It is agony. Any horseman knows that Marilyn’s commentary as to what happened Saturday before her brilliant run at Rolex is the truth. Shame on those who refuse to understand the art, the skill, the life changing dedication, the magic and, unfortunately, the luck it takes to produce a horse like Scandalous competing and consistently winning at the very top of her sport. Bravo Marilyn — or as Patrick Le Rolland my coach of many many years would have said — chapeau!

I am completely speechless. How anyone can defend her is beyond me.

[AffirmedHope]

@pieradill

I have posted this on Facebook and will post it here. The hate is terrible. Please no hate response here.

I know Marilyn Little very well. I have ridden her horses. She has ridden mine. I have kept horses of hers. She has kept horses of mine. We share a Dressage coach, Bo Jenå, and Marilyn and Kitty (Scandalous) often train with Bo at my farm. I have watched Marilyn develop Kitty from the mare’s first event in this country, through her Pan Am gold medals, to this weekend’s stellar performances, and I am appalled by the outpouring of vitriol against her, her ethics, or her horsemanship.

That Marilyn is a brilliant rider — one of the greatest of her generation — is an incontrovertible truth. She was raised with horses and did it all: falling off ponies, chasing horses in the paddock, agonizing over failures big and small, and experimenting as we all did to become truly competent, committed, and courageous. Marilyn finished college (a rigorous one) with honors, despite an ambitious show schedule on all kinds of horses, and she now applies her intelligence and critical thinking to her sport. How else could someone have taken the eventing world by storm in as short a time as she has?

Marilyn became the exemplary horseman we see today — an exemplary old school horseman — through insanely hard work, sacrifice, and heart breaking losses. She designs the program of each of her horses, whether eventer or show jumper, and knows every aspect of their soundness, every quirk of their personality. Her barn is meticulous. Detailed lists of care and feed and training are noted on the board. Marilyn is thoughtful, intelligent, deeply compassionate and unutterably connected to her animals. It is a stain on sportsmanship, and a profound misunderstanding of what it takes to be a competitive rider at this level, to subject Marilyn to this kind of public censure by those who cannot do what she does. I must add that Kitty is a complicated creature, not a machine and not an idealized illustration in some textbook. Her FEI record shows a horse unable to successfully complete cross country until Marilyn’s brilliance brought out hers. And Any of us who have had nervy and ambitious horses know what it means to have a top horse with a busy mouth. Who in my sport hasn’t had a horse bite a lip or a cheek in the midst of a flawless dressage test. It is agony. Any horseman knows that Marilyn’s commentary as to what happened Saturday before her brilliant run at Rolex is the truth. Shame on those who refuse to understand the art, the skill, the life changing dedication, the magic and, unfortunately, the luck it takes to produce a horse like Scandalous competing and consistently winning at the very top of her sport. Bravo Marilyn — or as Patrick Le Rolland my coach of many many years would have said — chapeau!

I’ll take delusional and possibly sniffing bath salts for $300, Alex.

[vxf111]

@MsRidiculous

I know this wasn’t intended to be funny, but I just about lost milk and cereal right out of my nose. That quote sounds absolutely insane, regardless of who or what it’s about. I feel like it could be on the brochure for a fancy new cult. Thank you for giving me a good belly laugh in the middle of something that is not at all funny, even if you did almost cause me to choke.

That [edit] post completely made my day and is hilarious in so many ways. I want to see a Drunk History reading of it!

CHAPEAU!!! CHAPEAU I SAY!!!

[right_horse_at_the_right_time]

@pieradill

I have posted this on Facebook and will post it here. The hate is terrible. Please no hate response here.

I know Marilyn Little very well. I have ridden her horses. She has ridden mine. I have kept horses of hers. She has kept horses of mine. We share a Dressage coach, Bo Jenå, and Marilyn and Kitty (Scandalous) often train with Bo at my farm. I have watched Marilyn develop Kitty from the mare’s first event in this country, through her Pan Am gold medals, to this weekend’s stellar performances, and I am appalled by the outpouring of vitriol against her, her ethics, or her horsemanship.

That Marilyn is a brilliant rider — one of the greatest of her generation — is an incontrovertible truth. She was raised with horses and did it all: falling off ponies, chasing horses in the paddock, agonizing over failures big and small, and experimenting as we all did to become truly competent, committed, and courageous. Marilyn finished college (a rigorous one) with honors, despite an ambitious show schedule on all kinds of horses, and she now applies her intelligence and critical thinking to her sport. How else could someone have taken the eventing world by storm in as short a time as she has?

Marilyn became the exemplary horseman we see today — an exemplary old school horseman — through insanely hard work, sacrifice, and heart breaking losses. She designs the program of each of her horses, whether eventer or show jumper, and knows every aspect of their soundness, every quirk of their personality. Her barn is meticulous. Detailed lists of care and feed and training are noted on the board. Marilyn is thoughtful, intelligent, deeply compassionate and unutterably connected to her animals. It is a stain on sportsmanship, and a profound misunderstanding of what it takes to be a competitive rider at this level, to subject Marilyn to this kind of public censure by those who cannot do what she does. I must add that Kitty is a complicated creature, not a machine and not an idealized illustration in some textbook. Her FEI record shows a horse unable to successfully complete cross country until Marilyn’s brilliance brought out hers. And Any of us who have had nervy and ambitious horses know what it means to have a top horse with a busy mouth. Who in my sport hasn’t had a horse bite a lip or a cheek in the midst of a flawless dressage test. It is agony. Any horseman knows that Marilyn’s commentary as to what happened Saturday before her brilliant run at Rolex is the truth. Shame on those who refuse to understand the art, the skill, the life changing dedication, the magic and, unfortunately, the luck it takes to produce a horse like Scandalous competing and consistently winning at the very top of her sport. Bravo Marilyn — or as Patrick Le Rolland my coach of many many years would have said — chapeau!

Since you’re so tight, maybe you could have a little chitchat with her about her abusive practices!

[TMares]

You say CHAPEAU
I say HELL NO

CHAPEAU
HELL NO

CHAPEAU
HELL NO

I’m not saying ‘My hat’s off to you, Marilyn!’ I am saying Hell no it’s not COOL that your horses are bleeding all over the place. Maybe she should ride padded horses, they’d LOVE HER.

[Larksmom]

I bet the trainer was saying, Jawold, or however that is spelled in German for good. If she/he/it can’t tell the difference in hat and good, doesn’t that say it all?

[Bethe_Mounce]

Just because someone is your idea of top drawer that does not mean they’re beyond reproach. Her horses bleed, period. They bleed at almost every event, period. Something is gravely amiss in that barn.

[Denali6298]

@TMares :lol::lol::lol::lol:

[Xctrygirl]

This was posted on FB last night and just watching it I was surprised how easy it was to see that she had a temper. When both horses acted up she looked livid. Am I projecting? I don’t think so. I have been angry at a horse before I looked much the same. But possibly it could have been high heel pain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUC5DfivnvM

Em

[Denali6298]

@right horse at the right time

Since you’re so tight, maybe you could have a little chitchat with her about her abusive practices!

Well clearly they are A’okay with her practices. We just don’t understand the magic.:rolleyes:

[beowulf]

@Larksmom

I bet the trainer was saying, Jawold, or however that is spelled in German for good. If she/he/it can’t tell the difference in hat and good, doesn’t that say it all?

jawohl :yes:

[FatCatFarm]

@Denali6298

Well clearly they are A’okay with her practices. We just don’t understand the magic.:rolleyes:

Yes, apparently the peons can’t recognize abuse…er…I mean, “Magic!” when we see it. :rolleyes:

[Bethe_Mounce]

Pieradill: one very famous show jump rider who I worshipped in Europe had his flaws despite his gold medals. I knew him. I was in awe of his abilities…but what happened behind the scenes was wrong. Took me a long time to realize he was not fair to his horses…do not be so star struck…no matter how incredible you believe Marilyn to be, the extreme tightness of the noseband is incorrect and cruel and is part of the reason why her horses bleed. You have to be the horses’ voice, not hers; she can speak for herself. To defend her is to be complicit and reflects your thoughts on what you construe as not cruel. Do not follow so blindly…she needs no defending; her horses do…when a rider resorts to what equipment she does, then one must look at the training being full of shortcuts. Xcountry is dangerous and rider must have control…the noseband in the sandbox is abuse. As an ole Eventing rider here and in Europe I do have the experience to speak candidly. Something is not right in her barn.

[kcrubin]

She’s exemplary alright…

[Larksmom]

@Xctrygirl

This was posted on FB last night and just watching it I was surprised how easy it was to see that she had a temper. When both horses acted up she looked livid. Am I projecting? I don’t think so. I have been angry at a horse before I looked much the same. But possibly it could have been high heel pain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUC5DfivnvM

Em

ok, I am probably just ignorant, but I just watched that 2 minutes, and I really didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

[LadyB]

@scrbear11

As a non-event rider (Over from the Hunter/Jumper board), I’ll answer your question - Why does this continue to happen? People are petrified of pissing off Jacqueline Mars. When one hand is largely funding the sport the governing bodies are going to continue to just brush it under the rug. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

Yeah, which says a lot about Ms. Mars. I thought she was a great owner for eventing. Because of her there are so many horses in eventing, and under a few riders. Unfortunately I see what she’s truly about…

[AffirmedHope]

@pieradill

I have posted this on Facebook and will post it here. The hate is terrible. Please no hate response here.

I know Marilyn Little very well. I have ridden her horses. She has ridden mine. I have kept horses of hers. She has kept horses of mine. We share a Dressage coach, Bo Jenå, and Marilyn and Kitty (Scandalous) often train with Bo at my farm. I have watched Marilyn develop Kitty from the mare’s first event in this country, through her Pan Am gold medals, to this weekend’s stellar performances, and I am appalled by the outpouring of vitriol against her, her ethics, or her horsemanship.

That Marilyn is a brilliant rider — one of the greatest of her generation — is an incontrovertible truth. She was raised with horses and did it all: falling off ponies, chasing horses in the paddock, agonizing over failures big and small, and experimenting as we all did to become truly competent, committed, and courageous. Marilyn finished college (a rigorous one) with honors, despite an ambitious show schedule on all kinds of horses, and she now applies her intelligence and critical thinking to her sport. How else could someone have taken the eventing world by storm in as short a time as she has?

Marilyn became the exemplary horseman we see today — an exemplary old school horseman — through insanely hard work, sacrifice, and heart breaking losses. She designs the program of each of her horses, whether eventer or show jumper, and knows every aspect of their soundness, every quirk of their personality. Her barn is meticulous. Detailed lists of care and feed and training are noted on the board. Marilyn is thoughtful, intelligent, deeply compassionate and unutterably connected to her animals. It is a stain on sportsmanship, and a profound misunderstanding of what it takes to be a competitive rider at this level, to subject Marilyn to this kind of public censure by those who cannot do what she does. I must add that Kitty is a complicated creature, not a machine and not an idealized illustration in some textbook. Her FEI record shows a horse unable to successfully complete cross country until Marilyn’s brilliance brought out hers. And Any of us who have had nervy and ambitious horses know what it means to have a top horse with a busy mouth. Who in my sport hasn’t had a horse bite a lip or a cheek in the midst of a flawless dressage test. It is agony. Any horseman knows that Marilyn’s commentary as to what happened Saturday before her brilliant run at Rolex is the truth. Shame on those who refuse to understand the art, the skill, the life changing dedication, the magic and, unfortunately, the luck it takes to produce a horse like Scandalous competing and consistently winning at the very top of her sport. Bravo Marilyn — or as Patrick Le Rolland my coach of many many years would have said — chapeau!

I’ll take delusional and possibly sniffing bath salts for $500, Alex.