Samshield has dropped support of her for now until they get more “clarification”. We shall see if they drop her for good.
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I watched…nothing popped out to me except the heels of handler…I would think one would use a sturdy shoe with no heel to jog horses of that fitness regardless of fashion. She could have tripped or buckled an ankle and then where would she be. I dunno…maybe I just don’t like ER rooms. Common sense kinda rules my life…
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Re: bolded - I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that most people don’t ROUTINELY have problems that lead to their horses’ mouths dripping blood during competition (and hopefully not during the usual weekday regimen either). And that most of those who do encounter such do the right thing by the horse and retire from the competition.
As to the rest of it - sounds like something Linda Parelli would write!!
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Ummm… The woman is a criminal. She bought her way (or hired her way) out of that mess. She KILLED a person.
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I’m a nobody, but I thought the brouhaha was precisely because that biting/bleeding is not something that happens commonly, especially repeatedly in competition.
I mean, I haven’t exactly seen a dearth of incidents of bleeding mouths in dressage.
Am I missing something, people? Does this really happen to everyone? Has no one in the sport been spared this vexing problem? (and if it happens both to ML and this poster, while riding with the same trainers, perhaps there’s the issue?)
Going back to my little hidey hole in the smurf village…
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Like I said in another post - I have worked for USCET/FEI trainers of (if not better than) ML’s caliber, been their grooms at events… and never have I had them hand me a horse with a bloody mouth.
And… while I was waiting for my rider in the cool-off section at the finish line, I never saw competitors with bloody mouths either.
I don’t think it’s common at all in the sport. I think it is exceptionally rare. I was pretty immersed in what went on BTS at UL barns too, having been a working student in two very big east-coast barns… and cannot recall a single incident of any of the horses, client or otherwise, having bloody mouths.
One horse in the program did develop some cracks in the corner of her mouth from what I would say was a pretty average bitting set up for XC (wonder-bit, single joint mouth-piece), and you want to know what the pro did? Switched her to a hackamore for XC, permanently… and that horse was a freight-train. Took a lot of retraining, but she did it.
So it has crossed my mind, many times, why if this horses has repeated issues with bitting and blood, why hasn’t ML tried a hackamore? No horse is born knowing how to ride in one, but it’s something that a rider of her skill (who also has top trainers at her disposal) should be able to install.
The mare might be biting herself, but I think it is probably because of the set-up & the fact her mouth is bound pretty shut. She can’t get away from the action of the bit, and probably is fussing with her mouth as a result. Seen that plenty of times when you have horses who are uncomfortable with what’s on their head, whether it’s a snaffle or the hard-ware store. I would think that repeated incidents like this should be cause for concern.
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I don’t think you are projecting at all! Both horses looked super stressed when she was handling them. Also how she basically tossed Demeter to the groom like he garbage was disgusting.
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:eek: News to me!
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I hate it when people come here to support someone like ML and then refuse to answer questions. The one post and then nothing. If we really don’t get it why would they not try to explain?
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There’s no temper shown? With the grey at the turn she held her LH up in a ‘wait, wait, straighten’ sort of visual cue and s/he took it and settled. I don’t see anything untoward in that video.
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I think what I find most remarkable is how mean and personal people feel entitled to be in the name of "compassion’ without knowing any or all of the facts and generally dealing in gossip and innuendo. It is really shameful.
On FB
“Dear MDC Customers, Due to the recent placings at the Land Rover Kentucky Three Day Event, MDC has been brought into the discussion. The facts are that our Sponsored Rider is our National Champion Event Rider / 2018. As of 5/1/18, there have been no official charges against her, only an attempt to discredit the FEI, USET, the show officials and MDC for donating several pair of stirrups. MDC represents over 45 years of professionalism in the horse industry and has always supported animal welfare in all of our activities. Over the past years, MDC has defended animal protection as an FEI and USEF Judge, Course Designer and Chief Steward. MDC is an Equine Legal Expert Witness where his testimony supports animal rights and punishes wrong doers. If and when any charges are brought to MDC’s attention of any of our Sponsored RIders not supporting animal welfare or in any way endangering the horses under their care, MDC will disavow any support of said individual. Thank you, Martin D. Cohen / Horseman / Invento”
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without knowing any or all of the facts and generally dealing in gossip and innuendo. It is really shameful.
again? really? Wwe have eye witness reports. You offer nothing to support your view.
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I have show at multiple shows and FEI shows, not in the FEI classes but the national level shows that were along side them. I have seen horse cranked to hell in-saddle and being longed in side reins. And even with all that no horse had a bloody mouth. I have seen horses with their mouths going a million miles an hour, no bloody mouths. I have horses myself who are incredibly mouthy due to being so hot and I have NEVER had a bloody mouth or a horse bite their lips/cheeks/etc.
I have worked for western pleasure trainers, jumper barns, eventing barns, and dressage barns. I’ve seen some not so pleasant practices. I’ve seen horses in harsh bits for all those barns, and I will repeat myself again, NONE of those horses had a bloody mouth.
YET, we have a person who is making a trend of bloody mouths and BAD horsemanship. It’s embarrassing she rides for team USA.
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I am not sticking up for anyone here, but posts like this make the real point get lost when people make something out of nothing.
Do I think doing a jog in spiked heels is a smart idea? No. But then, I can barely walk in heels like that. I think a person should wear safe and practical shoes when jogging their horse.
I see two very fit horses in a stimulating environment acting like I would guess most horses at their fitness level in that environment would act. I think ML handled it like most would.
Handing the first horse off to the groom so she can run and get to the second horse (and not cause a delay) looked like nothing more than what it was. Not anything to be made into more drama.
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So why does this repeatedly happen on multiple horses?
People here are far more concerned about the horses, and the sport, than they are with ML as a person.
When one rider repeatedly has this issue in such a public way, what are people to assume? What would you think, if she was not someone you knew well?
Personally I think she has a lot of talent. And I think the eventing community generally wants to embrace everyone. I’ve seen no animosity towards other riders simply for being insanely successful, so this doesn’t seem to be about jealousy as far as I can see.
From where I sit, I’m seeing a rider who repeatedly has issues with bloody mouths, who habitually chooses some very strong bitting setups with pretty severe means of keeping mouths closed (flash nosebands with chains, metal combination nosebands with jaw chains instead of straps, rope nosebands, etc). I mean, that doesn’t take riding at FEI levels to understand, it’s just simply phsyics. Getups like that are going to get some attention, but probably wouldn’t be too noteworthy if they were not on horses that had repeated bleeding problems.
I get that this is your friend and so everyone seems “mean” - it’s the nature of internet “pile ons” - but people are (rightly) concerned about what it means for their sport that this can repeatedly happen with no apparent consequences.
And the defense of “who HASN’T this happened to?” just isn’t going to fly with most people, since it doesn’t appear to happen to… anybody else.
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:eek:
No words.
Really? That’s where you are going with this? It was an ACCIDENT. She took full responsibility, apologized, and personally took care of the family’s needs, including flying down to spend time with them after the hearing. How many other people would do that instead of lawyering up and trying to avoid any responsibility?
I know it’s fashionable to pick on wealthy people (and especially those who may be tied to ML in some way) but Jacquie is known to be kind, generous and gracious; and she devotes her much of her time and vast fortune to charities, conservation, the arts, and horses. She’s not the villain some of you would like to make her out to be.
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There are numerous pictures of her horses with bloody mouths. Yes it happens, but certainly not with this frequency. To say nothing of how tight her nose bands are… So while I have compassion for her horses I have zero for her. Yes I am entitled to judge her on the number of bloody mouths she has. NO ONE ELSE has this problem. Yeah she’s the one that was able to get Kitty around a 4*. I’m willing to bet others couldn’t because they were unwilling to do it at the cost of blood and overly tight nosebands. So yes I will say she is a crap trainer/rider because in my opinion, anyone who does that is not worth their salt.
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