My horrible experiences with Texas horse trainer/instructor Ellen Doughty-Hume

[IrishWillow]

[QUOTE=Scribbler;9019268]
But I wanted to comment on the discussion about EDH “unfriending” and blocking folks on Facebook, and then getting her clients to do the same. It’s actually an effective way to do damage control or brand management on Facebook.

Once you are “blocked” by someone, all their FB activity becomes invisible to you. You can’t even see that they have a FB profile. But you also can’t see anything they post on any one else’s sites, either. So let’s say you and EDH both belong to a FB group called “Texas Eventing” or “Dallas Horse Classifieds.” If EDH puts up a promotion for her barn, you won’t see it. If all her clients chime in and praise her, you won’t see it. If EDH comments on something on the page of a mutual friend, you won’t see it. If any of her clients who have blocked you praise her, you won’t see their comments. And if they say bad things about you or your program, you won’t see it either.

This is a very effective way of shutting down criticism about a business on Facebook, since the business will only be visible to people who haven’t yet criticized it, which after all is her target market.

If there has never been the least breath of criticism of her up to now, it’s also highly likely that she’s employed the “block” function effectively in the past as well.

So it’s not (just) a psychotic test of loyalty for her clients, to ask them to block anyone who is criticizing her. It’s also a savvy “brand management” strategy, and allows her to continue to operate in an effectively criticism-free environment on FB.[/QUOTE]

Yes, this is exactly what I meant. The ultimate damage control. She does have a public page, but the reviews are disabled (have been for quite awhile, for obvious reasons)

The only “reviews” are testimonials on her site.

[ladyj79]

I worked for someone who has several times over the years put out the “everyone is lying about me, block all the peoples!!” Fb post.

It does make me wonder what kind of person it is that that doesn’t set off alarm bells.

[PaintedHunter]

Sure it’s effective damage control. But it’s not reasonable to ask clients to unfriend and block people.

[vxf111]

The evho chamber theory of marketing, I guess

[WNT]

[QUOTE=vxf111;9019677]
The evho chamber theory of marketing, I guess[/QUOTE]

Boy, I could make this political, but I won’t.

[solstince]

So, I’ve been following this thread from beginning, and never thought I’d have anythign to contribute as I am from Washington/Seattle.

However, I’ve just seen who her new assistant trainer is and felt a bit sick when I realize that I know her- and took two lessons from her a couple years back when I was visiting my parents and needed to grab a couple rides and didn’t have time to drive 1.5+ hours to my own old trainers. She was only a half hour away so I went to her instead. She seemed so sweet and lovely, a really nice teaching style and from what brief impression I had, the antithesis of EDH. She seemed very down to earth, humble, gentle and positve with her horses, compassionate, etc.

I just checked her personal FB and its marked ‘Moved to Rockwall, TX’ two days ago.

So now I’m left really bothered that she’s gone off to be sucked into the vortex of EDH/probbaly brainwashed or Stolkhom Syndrome’d for a while before she comes out the other end when everything inevitably hits the fan. She seemed to have a nice setup and lovely clients in WA and I shudder to think how this might set her back. Has anyone sent her the link to this thread? Does anyone know her well enough to have a serious talk with her?

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=solstince;9019989]
Has anyone sent her the link to this thread? Does anyone know her well enough to have a serious talk with her?[/QUOTE]
A couple of pages back, when the topic of her came up, someone said they sent her a link.

[IrishWillow]

Solstince: Actually I think quite a few people sent her the link. She actively chose to make the move despite being well informed. Strike 1.

[Carolinadreamin]

[QUOTE=ladyj79;9019555]
I worked for someone who has several times over the years put out the “everyone is lying about me, block all the peoples!!” Fb post.

It does make me wonder what kind of person it is that that doesn’t set off alarm bells.[/QUOTE]

Yes to this, along with her telling her current clients that they are not allowed to talk to a list of people. Crazy ex trainer also posted some wildly nasty and inappropriate things on ex clients’ Facebook pages, only to later claimed that she was hacked. Learned that one the hard way and still suffer from PTSD from my time with her.

[vxf111]

[QUOTE=IrishWillow;9020069]
Solstince: Actually I think quite a few people sent her the link. She actively chose to make the move despite being well informed. Strike 1.[/QUOTE]

It may have been too late for her to change her plans

[Carolinadreamin]

Unable to edit my post (above). Wanted to clarify that my post was not referencing the trainer who is the topic of this thread. Rather it was meant as another example of some trainers whom exhibit rather alarming traits and who you wish you could just warn people to run away from.

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=IrishWillow;9020069]
Solstince: Actually I think quite a few people sent her the link. She actively chose to make the move despite being well informed. Strike 1.[/QUOTE]

I do not know her, but I would more likely guess it was more, like someone said above, that it was too late to back out and being young she was probably more than willing to believe this big time trainer over some strangers on the internet. It sounds like EDH has an answer for all of this and I can see it being easy to believe her, even if your common sense is suggesting you do not.

Hopefully this young trainer will learn something from EDH (even if it is what not to do).

[solstince]

[QUOTE=IrishWillow;9020069]
Solstince: Actually I think quite a few people sent her the link. She actively chose to make the move despite being well informed. Strike 1.[/QUOTE]

Well, as someone else said, she likely has already made her own opinion and won’t be swayed by “people on the internet”. I looked farther back on her FB and there was a gushing post about how wonderful EDH’s farm was and how much everyone there cares about each other and horses, etc.

I guess its not surprising, the type of person that EDH sounds like based on this thread is a master at pulling people in, painting a great picture, and earning respect in the first place. My own father (who didn’t raise me, thankfully) has raging NPD and could sell sand to someone in the desert. Hopefully the new assistant trainer doesn’t get too chewed up with this situation and when she does move on, its over something relatively “minor” and not an injured horse or student.

[Scribbler]

Honestly, if I was on the verge of a big move for a new career, I wouldn’t change my plans based on some stranger sending me links to criticism of my new boss. I might keep it in the back of my mind, as I settled in. I might see after a year that the criticisms were correct. But, speaking as someone who has done a number of cross-country and international moves for both graduate school and jobs, when you are packing and moving, you probably wouldn’t even be reading e-mail or messages from strangers, and you certainly wouldn’t change your plans for such messages. There is so much churn and backbiting and false information on the internet, and we spend so much time filtering it out.

I will be interested to see if she turns out to be happy there!

[SWatson]

[QUOTE=HayHay;9015764]
Oh FFS! :lol: Another new spin-off thread should explore why there are so many personality disorders among horse professionals.[/QUOTE]

Well, a long long time ago, in a far off galaxy…

I was known here as “pacificsolo”. There are many reasons I am no longer posting under that name, but the primary is a stalker that became very frightening, and was quite clever with searching me out. So, I had my username changed. Then, I had another lunatic (different one, this time for an entirely different reason, but still, not fun), and changed my username again. Then, I got older, and could not for the life of me remember my password, and it became much simpler after several days of fiddling with it to create a new (and please GOD!) final username - my initials and last name. The point I’m getting at is two-fold:

1. You can try and hide from crazy, but they are clever and they WILL find you, and
2. Pacificsolo>The Policy of Truth>Eye In The Sky>SWatson

and now for something completely different…but sorta also on topic:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?34957-The-mental-health-of-horse-people-(or-lack-of)
:lol:

[Scribbler]

I’ve posted before that I think we can’t underestimate the effect of concussion and its long term damage, in the horse world. Probably every horse professional has had multiple concussions, starting at a young age. I’ve seen a few friends go through head injuries, equestrian and not, the kind of head injury where you don’t notice any difference if you are just chatting to them, but where their general life skills take a dive.

Short term memory loss, impulsiveness, anger management problems, time management problems, irritability, depression: the symptoms depend on the person’s original basic personality.

Add to the fact that people who are drawn to animals may find animals easier to deal with than people, and you have a double problem.

[ladyj79]

Hmm I don’t know. Because a lot of these people also have, shall we say, impulse control when it comes to “training” and “disciplining” horses. And tempers can really flair.

But they do THINK they have a deep empathic connection with animals.

Like verbal leashes.

[ladyj79]

Which is to say i think people who bully people are just as apt to bully animals, and vice versa.

At least that’s my experience, and I can’t chalk it all up to tbi.

[SWatson]

I took some time later this evening to re-read that old thread (wow, seriously old!), and I cannot believe how much impact Dr. Horsefeathers had upon my growth as a person as well as a therapist. I wish she were still hanging around so I could let her know.

I am so disturbed by so much in this thread. I am not an eventer, but do follow the bigger events, and the name caught my eye due to an amazing video I saw going around of EDH making a “save” on a jump that could have ended rather awful.

It’s always hard when you hear about amazing riders reportedly doing things that are out-of-tune with excellent horsemanship. It is equally hard hearing the distress the horse-owner was/is in due to her experiences. COTH is such an incredible support as well as an amazingly small community (though large in number). I am certain that the entirety of the truth will come to light soon enough. It’s amazing how many people here re able to find out things.

I feel very sad for the OP. Losing a horse under any circumstance is hard, but it sounds as though this was rather traumatic.

[Texaggie13]

I have nothing of consequence to add so I’ll just drop off this irrelevant clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntd3tg3xKWk&app=desktop