Actually, if you read the May-June 2017 issue of Untacked, there is a big article on Flintridge and it was nothing but horses although they did serve meals as well. No tennis, swimming pool, and certainly no golf course, the entire property is only 40 acres. Perhaps you are thinking of another country club.
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I see Horse Show Diva is naming him, and no one has removed his name yet.
I dunno, my Dad went up to Flintridge, which was also an upscale residential area, and played golf with his member friend who lived there a few times but perhaps it was at a nearby CC course. And did go to a very fancy lunch somewhere on the property as a guest of a member. Still probable the kids got dropped off while parent did something else in the area. Just like they do today.
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The article mentions how they wouldn’t even allow a tennis court, plus the name of the place is Flintridge Riding Club, it doesn’t sound like a country club at all. And they started out with only ten acres and added another 30, golf requires a lot of land, I don’t see how they could have much more than a putting green considering how much the horses must have taken up. You might be able to squeeze in a 9 hole par 3 course but according to the article “the club boasts four jumping arenas, two dressage courts, a cross-country field and stalls for 180 horses.” I don’t see how you could have room for golf. Maybe your father went to a nearby golf course. I am not from that area, so I’m just going by what the article says.
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The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is directly to the north of the Flintridge Riding Club which is a huge employer. The nearest golf course is Brookside Golf and Country Club just north of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena also really close to the Flintridge Riding Club.
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Well my Dad was working in the aerospace industry, so was his friend who lived in Flintridge and they did stuff up at JPL, which I don’t think NASA was publically involved in way back then, that’s going way back. That explains a lot, I was just a kid and didn’t pay much attention to such things. Don’t think I even owned a horse at that point. But I would bet they golfed at Brookside and that friend was also a member there.
You’re right, in fact the article I am referring to has a picture of a tandem jumping class taking place with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory clearly visible in the background, very cool.
BTW the photo is from 1968 and it was referred to as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I’m not sure what time frame findeight is referring to but as of 1968 it had a NASA connection. Its a very interesting article with some nice photographs of the club.
To the original point… When I told my trainer (a CA native, been active in the business for 40+ years) about the COTH article, all she could say was “Finally!”. So, apparently this wasn’t a secret in the horse community at the time, though I suppose it’s possible that some people, even those who were close to the action, might not have been aware.
In all my years of riding lessons on the East Coast) when I was a kid, there was only one barn where my mom stayed around to watch, and that was because of the long drive from our house - once I could get a ride with a friend, she was happy to stay home. Seems to me that perhaps there was a reason a lot of parents were around at Flitridge… But I wasn’t there, and hindsight is 20/20.
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Findeight, There. was. no. golf. course. There. was .no tennis. court. Period. I am one of those 'too old to be taken seriously people who were at Flintridge in 1978.
Flintridge Riding Club was in the town of La Canada/Flintridge (or is it the other way around?) And the club was in the shadow of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The name of the club manager was Alan Williams. Jimmy was one of the several trainers there (Cappy Howlett being another, Susie Hutchinson was another once she aged out and IIRC, there was at least one more.) Flintridge was a great place to ride and socialize. It was not a den of iniquity with people effing other people every time you turned around.
In my experience (which was mostly in the evening because I worked all day and did not get out to ride until 6pm, when there were drinks being served at Alan Williams’ office and then dinner at Jimmy’s house. IIRC, I almost never completely sober when I finally got around to riding. 
)
A NY Times reporter contacted me out of the blue and we talked yesterday. She is doing a story about Jimmy – following up on COTH’s article. By the time it appears in the paper, hopefully it will be a more balanced article than is being portrayed on this thread.
Yesterday she was flying to California to talk directly to one of the club’s presidents and several of the mothers of Flintridge riders. She has already interviewed a number of the girls who have said that they were abused. One even said she was raped. OF COURSE, THAT IS INDEFENSIBLE, HORRIBLE AND DESPICABLE. I do not think anyone is saying it isn’t. Jimmy did what he wanted to and that included underage girls.
That part of Jimmy I despise. But there were other parts of Jimmy which should be noted if one is to get a true picture of what it was like to be at Flintridge during that time.
And there were other very BNT’s during the 70’s who were far worse. One of whom abused me when I was 13.
I guess that my feelings can be summed up as: Jimmy had a side to him which was inexcusable and beyond any understanding or forgiving. But he was not the reason that Flintridge existed, nor was he the person who controlled the Club.
If you want to point fingers at the many other people who are guilty of abuse, rape, and sodomy, then those people need to be outted, too. Unfortunately, they are (mostly) still alive, and COTH will not allow the magazine to be sued for libel on this issue. We are guests in COTH’s ‘house’ and should respect its rules as any guest should respect the house rules of any host. IMHO, people who are saying rude things about COTH should be treated as any malevolent house guest would be.
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Old traditional arguments I honestly hate to keep hearing:
Sure I hated his pedophilia, but he sure was a good trainer: “That part of Jimmy I despise. But there were other parts of Jimmy which should be noted if one is to get a true picture of what it was like to be at Flintridge during that time.”
other people were worse: “And there were other very BNT’s during the 70’s who were far worse. One of whom abused me when I was 13.”
ugh. Can we not? Like literally I’m totally cool with iconoclasm and then never ever speaking about these monsters again.
paedophilia. Let’s make the line of no redemption raping children
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Adults from all walks of life (having been silent for so long) are now outing the abusers from their childhood. Why do some think the horse world should be any different.
I don’t care if the abuser is dead or alive, but particularly if they are alive and you were abused, you should speak up and name the person. To remain silent only perpetuates an environment where this type of unacceptable behavior can continue to harm children.
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Im referring to circa 1962 to 64. Was about 13 years old. Long before I ever had a horse. And I’m about 5 months older then LH.
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The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is directly to the north of the Flintridge Riding Club which is a huge employer. The nearest golf course is Brookside Golf and Country Club just north of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena also really close to the Flintridge Riding Club.
Flintridge Riding Club is just about halfway between La Canada Flintridge Country Club and Brookside Golf and Country Club. Map here: https://tinyurl.com/y9agugpp118.1706…34.1700132!3e0
Point being, there are not the same place and they are equally close to the riding club depending on what year we are discussing. Brookside was built before La Canada Flintridge CC.
None of that precludes the fact that people may have been members of one or more…
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JPL was transferred to NASA in December 1958,[SUP][[/SUP]becoming the agency’s primary planetary spacecraft center.
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FWIW this article puts the affiliation with NASA in 1958.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jplhistory/early/joinnasa.php
But my recollection is that people mostly referred to it as just JPL into the 1970’s, if not beyond, so I think ever is kind of right on that.
Fun place to tour if you ever get a chance.
Carry on…
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Never said they were the same place.
It’s not an “argument” and any indicator of redemption, but rather a sign of complex thinking abilities. It sure is lovely to put someone in simplistic boxes with understandable labels like ‘good’ and ‘bad’ but it rarely tells the whole picture. It creates cognitive dissonance to have to think that someone that could do something as evil as prey on young children, might have other parts to them that were good, like their ability to produce top quality horses and riders. Our brains reject that idea that bad can exist with good, but that really is the reality.
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I believe findeight remembered them as the same place.
(looked back and saw the confusion…I quoted you regarding the “nearest” piece, but I was really addressing/confirming that the Flintridge CC is a different entity altogether.
You are correct Rugbug, I’m super cool thinking of paedophiles as bad. I really don’t see any reason to weigh the scales in these cases. Not at all.
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I understand.
However, then and now, there was so much “Yeah, but he’s a good guy” or “has other X and Y qualities” or “Is too valuable to the company, as the breadwinner, etc.” that the “complex thinking” made it possible to not get properly up in arms about pedophilia.
Again, had this been handled right at the time, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now. If the pendulum has to swing incorrectly to the other extreme for a bit, I’m good with that… in the name of all of the people who suffered in silence. Let 'em have a minute of cultural legimacy, won’t you? We sure did pay for it.
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