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

[dressurpferd01]

Updates?

[Littleluck55]

@dressurpferd01

Updates?

She is still, apparently, a horrible horse person.

[EDHREFUGEE101]

Quick update.
Ellen’s “Rolex/Olympic bound” 5 year old mount that was going PRELIM, has JUST been diagnosed with very severe EPM. Ellen has been the only one to ever ride this horse. Within a week at his new facility(his owner has moved him out of Ellen’s care) with proper care and training his extreme symptoms became apparent after ONE single ride. Please let me know how a 4* rider with “so much experience and knowledge” can not notice let alone feel a severe case of EPM on a horse that she had in training 6 days a week. This explains why every clinician and trainer she’s worked with has said that the horse “needs to learn how to use his hind end”. Surprise surprise it wasn’t that the horse didn’t know how to use his hind end, he in fact physically could not.
IN ADDITION, this same horse now has what is known as a “junky vein”. He did not have this before he left to Colorado with Ellen. The veternarian suspects that he was injected with bute IV irresponsibly, perhaps with a dirty needle or too quickly. This is a horse that is not on any medication. And while his owner was out of town they never received any information regarding Ellen having to inject the horse with ANYTHING for ANY reason.

[babecakes]

wow. Pretty speechless with this one.

[Jealoushe]

@EDHREFUGEE101

Quick update.
Ellen’s “Rolex/Olympic bound” 5 year old mount that was going PRELIM, has JUST been diagnosed with very severe EPM. Ellen has been the only one to ever ride this horse. Within a week at his new facility(his owner has moved him out of Ellen’s care) with proper care and training his extreme symptoms became apparent after ONE single ride. Please let me know how a 4* rider with “so much experience and knowledge” can not notice let alone feel a severe case of EPM on a horse that she had in training 6 days a week. This explains why every clinician and trainer she’s worked with has said that the horse “needs to learn how to use his hind end”. Surprise surprise it wasn’t that the horse didn’t know how to use his hind end, he in fact physically could not.
IN ADDITION, this same horse now has what is known as a “junky vein”. He did not have this before he left to Colorado with Ellen. The veternarian suspects that he was injected with bute IV irresponsibly, perhaps with a dirty needle or too quickly. This is a horse that is not on any medication. And while his owner was out of town they never received any information regarding Ellen having to inject the horse with ANYTHING for ANY reason.

Jesus…that poor horse.

[anon6923113]

Thank goodness the owner removed the horse from this situation to something different/hopefully better before anything worse happened. Best wishes on your journey to healing.

[Mara]

@EDHREFUGEE101

Quick update.
Ellen’s “Rolex/Olympic bound” 5 year old mount that was going PRELIM, has JUST been diagnosed with very severe EPM. Ellen has been the only one to ever ride this horse. Within a week at his new facility(his owner has moved him out of Ellen’s care) with proper care and training his extreme symptoms became apparent after ONE single ride. Please let me know how a 4* rider with “so much experience and knowledge” can not notice let alone feel a severe case of EPM on a horse that she had in training 6 days a week. This explains why every clinician and trainer she’s worked with has said that the horse “needs to learn how to use his hind end”. Surprise surprise it wasn’t that the horse didn’t know how to use his hind end, he in fact physically could not.
IN ADDITION, this same horse now has what is known as a “junky vein”. He did not have this before he left to Colorado with Ellen. The veternarian suspects that he was injected with bute IV irresponsibly, perhaps with a dirty needle or too quickly. This is a horse that is not on any medication. And while his owner was out of town they never received any information regarding Ellen having to inject the horse with ANYTHING for ANY reason.

Not too hard to look at her FB and figure out which horse this is. Poor guy; I really hope he is able to recover. Thank god his owner got him out in time.

It’s sad that things have to get to such extremes that horses suffer and die in order for word to spread that EDH is no kind of horseman at all.

[SendenHorse]

I hope the owner sues her for everything she can. Bad. I’m not usually one to “go there” but this is inexcusable! how many more have to suffer?

[Dr_Doolittle]

Am I the only one who is completely mystified by the fact that nothing can apparently be done to stop this [edit] woman from doing business?? This is insane.

:mad:

SURELY there is some recourse, here.

[enjoytheride]

@EDHREFUGEE101

Quick update.
Ellen’s “Rolex/Olympic bound” 5 year old mount that was going PRELIM, has JUST been diagnosed with very severe EPM. Ellen has been the only one to ever ride this horse. Within a week at his new facility(his owner has moved him out of Ellen’s care) with proper care and training his extreme symptoms became apparent after ONE single ride. Please let me know how a 4* rider with “so much experience and knowledge” can not notice let alone feel a severe case of EPM on a horse that she had in training 6 days a week. This explains why every clinician and trainer she’s worked with has said that the horse “needs to learn how to use his hind end”. Surprise surprise it wasn’t that the horse didn’t know how to use his hind end, he in fact physically could not.
IN ADDITION, this same horse now has what is known as a “junky vein”. He did not have this before he left to Colorado with Ellen. The veternarian suspects that he was injected with bute IV irresponsibly, perhaps with a dirty needle or too quickly. This is a horse that is not on any medication. And while his owner was out of town they never received any information regarding Ellen having to inject the horse with ANYTHING for ANY reason.

While I do not support Ellen in any way I frankly find it horrifying that a vet would blab about a client in such a manner, even if it is deserved, they could lose their license and it is incredibly unprofessional. To then make suggestions about dirty needle usage is jaw dropping for a veterinarian. This kind of gossip and hearsay from a vet is not appropriate in any manner, even with a client who has a history of making bad decisions. I certainly hope this info came from the owner who chose to release what the vet suggested, and not from the vet themselves.

Also, I know someone who was planning on eventing their young horse Training this summer when it started having some issues in the dressage. They tried chiro, hocks, massage, and eventually someone suggested a test for EPM. Bingo. Since the horse had always been a bit difficult in the dressage and had jumped clean and willingly up until a week before the EPM diagnosis they had no idea. This is someone who is an excellent horse person.

[vxf111]

Has stuff gone poof on this thread again? Sometimes it shows up as having new posts and then when I click on the notification it says I don’t have the ability to access the thread?!

[frugalannie]

Same thing happens to me. I have to go to the Eventing forum, find this thread, go to the last page and figure out what the last post I read was. Weird.

[Xctrygirl]

Same here. Wacky. I couldn’t get to the updated post. Assume it was deleted.

Em

[Manahmanah]

@EDHREFUGEE101

Quick update.
Ellen’s “Rolex/Olympic bound” 5 year old mount that was going PRELIM, has JUST been diagnosed with very severe EPM. Ellen has been the only one to ever ride this horse. Within a week at his new facility(his owner has moved him out of Ellen’s care) with proper care and training his extreme symptoms became apparent after ONE single ride. Please let me know how a 4* rider with “so much experience and knowledge” can not notice let alone feel a severe case of EPM on a horse that she had in training 6 days a week. This explains why every clinician and trainer she’s worked with has said that the horse “needs to learn how to use his hind end”. Surprise surprise it wasn’t that the horse didn’t know how to use his hind end, he in fact physically could not.
IN ADDITION, this same horse now has what is known as a “junky vein”. He did not have this before he left to Colorado with Ellen. The veternarian suspects that he was injected with bute IV irresponsibly, perhaps with a dirty needle or too quickly. This is a horse that is not on any medication. And while his owner was out of town they never received any information regarding Ellen having to inject the horse with ANYTHING for ANY reason.

Wow.

[Sticky_Situation]

For all those saying they can’t believe that the USEA still lets her compete, etc …

I think part of the problem is that a lot of what is being said (beyond Stormy’s initial information) while I believe it to be generally true, contains exaggerations or opinion rather than relying on just the objective facts. Stormy did a good job of sticking to facts which I think is why her complaints seemed so credible, rather than the ranting of a disgruntled ex-client… but some of the other stories posted under alters, while I don’t believe them to be made up, seem to be more of the “Hollywood” version of things.

The 5 year old TB with EPM, for example … if you look him up, the horse had a pretty decent record … which would not be possible if he were showing “extreme” and “severe” EPM symptoms in his hind end at the time. Based on other information here, I unfortunately don’t find it hard to believe that she may have injected the horse without the owners permission, or may have failed to notice or ignored the fact that the horse had mild neuro symptoms when the new trainer noticed right away … but horses with severe neuro symptoms don’t get respectable dressage scores and jump clean around Training courses, they can barely walk in a straight line. Either the horse recently deteriorated pretty rapidly, or there’s some exaggeration going on.

Please note, I’m not defending her actions in any way or saying that these alter posters are intentionally lying … just saying that the case against her would be stronger with USEA, Pony Club, etc if it stuck to pure facts rather than exaggerating the drama level. It sounds like there is plenty of information to build a case without it.

[IrishWillow]

@Dr. Doolittle

Am I the only one who is completely mystified by the fact that nothing can apparently be done to stop this [edit] woman from doing business?? This is insane.

:mad:

SURELY there is some recourse, here.

Attempts to rectify the situation through USEA, USEF, animal control, etc have proven fruitless. Several of the venue owners here in Area V have had to fight like crazy to even be able to “ban” EDH from their properties, with mixed success.

My “pet peeve” is ICP. The ICP certification is 100% run by USEA, and they absolutely have the ability to remove it at their leisure. They blatantly chose not to.

I do not know what these organizations think has happened here - we all stood around, drew a name out of a hat, and decided to make up YEARS worth of stories about someone that are completely untrue? Why bother? What on God’s green earth would be the point? No one in their right mind would bother with this unless they were genuninely concerned for the welfare of the horses and clients in EDH’s care.

This is not a “bored housewives” situation. There are many stories, much evidence, and many witnesses. It is hard to find anyone in Area V that doesn’t have an EDH story. Unfortunately, due to the complete lack of consequence, the result is that EDH has learned that she is untouchable - hence, instances like lowering the jumps in competition to her liking. Did anything happen? No. She is extremely aware of what people say and how people feel about her, and pointedly makes a mockery of it (see her Instagram). She finds all of the fruitless attempts to share the truth about her amusing, and is further fortified by each new story that goes public and unpunished.

[Jealoushe]

@Alogicalthinker

I have no dog in this fight; but this whole statement seems a bit off.
You can deduce what horse is being referenced if you look up EDHs record, she only had 2 in Colorado a month ago, one of which is her own Sir Oberon, so the horse mentioned here must be Punchyourlitesout.
This horse just completed a Training 3 Day Event in Colorado, which means he would have had to pass 2 jog ups in front of a ground jury. He also completed the event, clear cross country with 2 rails in show jumping. A horse with “Severe EPM” does not complete training level events. Most horses with severe EPM can’t even jump. Looking at this horses record, he has done numerous shows this past year at the novice and training level, and also completed a Prelim Combined Test in August. His dressage scores are in the low 30s and upper 20s. Are you telling me that not a single judge saw anything either? And EDH has posted multiple pictures and videos of him from as recently as a month ago; I don’t see any hind limb atrophy, etc.
If the horse does now have EPM, that is terribly sad, but it is a stretch to blame that on EDH and say that she should have known. EPM is a very complex disease with various symptoms. I know EDH rode in the YEH Symposium with Chris Burton in Feb; I saw the horse with my own eyes and thought he was lovely, and thought EDH gave him a lovely ride. She also has posted about a clinic with KOC and numerous lessons with other trainers. No one else saw this supposed lameness either???
I still have yet to see any actual evidence against this woman. People ask why she is still in business; have you ever thought maybe it is because these claims are all baseless. We all know how crazy the horse world can be. Until I see actual evidence or witness something with my own eyes, I take everything on here with a grain of salt.

Guess you missed the dead horse in the paddock photos…

These allegations have been proven by many means. Read the thread and unbury your head from the sand hole.

I do not know which horse it was so I can not comment on that side of things, but there is always the option of steroids etc if the horse was actually weak.

[SendenHorse]

@Alogicalthinker

I have no dog in this fight; but this whole statement seems a bit off.
You can deduce what horse is being referenced if you look up EDHs record, she only had 2 in Colorado a month ago, one of which is her own Sir Oberon, so the horse mentioned here must be Punchyourlitesout.
This horse just completed a Training 3 Day Event in Colorado, which means he would have had to pass 2 jog ups in front of a ground jury. He also completed the event, clear cross country with 2 rails in show jumping. A horse with “Severe EPM” does not complete training level events. Most horses with severe EPM can’t even jump. Looking at this horses record, he has done numerous shows this past year at the novice and training level, and also completed a Prelim Combined Test in August. His dressage scores are in the low 30s and upper 20s. Are you telling me that not a single judge saw anything either? And EDH has posted multiple pictures and videos of him from as recently as a month ago; I don’t see any hind limb atrophy, etc.
If the horse does now have EPM, that is terribly sad, but it is a stretch to blame that on EDH and say that she should have known. EPM is a very complex disease with various symptoms. I know EDH rode in the YEH Symposium with Chris Burton in Feb; I saw the horse with my own eyes and thought he was lovely, and thought EDH gave him a lovely ride. She also has posted about a clinic with KOC and numerous lessons with other trainers. No one else saw this supposed lameness either???
I still have yet to see any actual evidence against this woman. People ask why she is still in business; have you ever thought maybe it is because these claims are all baseless. We all know how crazy the horse world can be. Until I see actual evidence or witness something with my own eyes, I take everything on here with a grain of salt.

She gave the horse IV meds incorrectly.
EPM can strike fast.

But you are right, we don’t know. We can’t. This IS NOT A LEGAL CASE, it’s a horse board. There are limits to what we can do. The best thing is that others will become aware of this and do what they can to avoid her. Staying silent is the worst thing.
I don’t think this is a show issue until it becomes a legal case, then yes they should remove her from all shows, period. This is more of a horse welfare issue. It’s not a productive use of time to blame USEF, etc for not acting, they aren’t a legal entity.
I think this owner should sue the pants off her, make a paper trail, and document. That is the most effective use of time and creates a strong undeinable argument.

[enjoytheride]

I have a friend who was moving her horse up to Training when he started having issues in the dressage. He had always hated dressage more or less and continued to jump clean around both stadium and XC so while she first figured it was a training issue, she eventually checked out hocks, ulcers, chiro, massage, and saddle fit. Eventually someone suggested EPM and POOF. She’s an excellent horse person I saw him go dozen times and he never looked off or weak, and had she any idea she would have treated much much sooner. While I don’t doubt that the horse in this thread had EPM, in my experience it can be easy to mistake a mild case for training or other issues. I don’t think it erases anything else that happened but I do think it is important.

How do we know she gave IV meds incorrectly? Vet client info is privileged and I have no idea how you can prove the whole dirty needle thing. Rumors help take away the weight of facts.

[Whitewindhorse]

[edit] She needs to be out of the horse business. I speak from experience.