I came across a guy named Stephan Sandbrick (sp?) whipping a horse doing piaffe or passage. Anyone know what that’s about?
I can’t even watch all of them. Frankly the one where he was whipping a horse in the head was enough. Anyone that does that for any reason (save maybe trying to prevent the horse from rearing over backwards?) is a monster.
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Sometimes I feel as if they want our money and our volunteer hours and not our opinions. I can tell what abuse is even though I don’t ride a the top levels of the sport.
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“Horrible accidents happen.”
Yeah, but abusing multiple animals wasn’t an accident.
I’m also doubtful that Andreas learned his lesson. Why present a horse that was imported 2 days prior? Into a described tense atmosphere…where the horse was “terrified”.
Seriously- he had no other acclimated horses to present to 850+ auditors?
Or are these Aholes capitalizing off the fear they put these horses through…all to make them “dance”
These horses deserve better! We as riders, owners, members, etc should demand better treatment & welfare for these creatures that have no voice. It’s disgusting & despicable what they endure for “sport”
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@KnightsMom: He is apparently a German trainer and the one at the horse’s head. He is said to be a friend of CP but it is not verified that CP is the whipping person. This was apparently in the US. The German person who posted said the video made its way to Germany from the USA.
Here is the partial google translate: *In the USA, far away from the equestrian authorities (FEI, FN), a Mecca of the worst kind seems to be establishing itself. Here (the video below reached the local horse scene from the USA yesterday) even with a Federal Republic, I mean, Lower Saxony handout and commentary “Amazing”.
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Sucks to be them. With any luck there will be a new sheriff in town.
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Thank you.
Looks like the German equestrian federation is reviewing the situation as well.
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Call me a wuss, but I won’t watch the William video. I did see the CP ones, which makes me pissed off and sad.
Last year my barn welcomed two Friesians that came from his barn. Lovely, sweet horses and both talented. The owner is very wealthy and brought several thousand dollars worth of tack, equipment, etc. She wasn’t treated well and taken advantage of at his barn and another big name trainer’s barn. Now she’s sold them both (my trainer bought one) and has gotten out of horses entirely.
Breaks my heart to think that these gentle sweet horses may have been treated the same as those in the video.
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Yes because that other guy is a German.
They most certainly were treated badly. And what a shame to lose someone with available resources due to the lack of ethics or professionalism.
It’s people like Parra et al that will be the ruination of top sport, not the keyboard warriors - Ha, keyboard warriors are everyone’s favorite scapegoat.
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I also want to add that repeated instances of severely bloodied mouths, giant spur marks on the horses and literally Welts covering the whole side of the butt……that’s not an accident. You don’t “accidentally” do that.
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I experienced a USDF trained handler (recommended to me by an S judge) whipping my three year old in the face for in hand (breeding) classes. When I expressed to some trainers that I know that I wanted to pull the horse from her for doing it, they all defended her, saying that in hand handling was dangerous. My horse did not do as well in hand as he should have done because of the handler’s approach, I believe (he received national awards, but should have won the division–he never trotted because he was so upset). I have experienced SO MUCH ABUSE from young horse trainers (four now!) who I have hired to help out with my young horses that I will not trust another one of them. Who is teaching them this stuff? I am now not expecting to show any of my horses until they are emotionally and physically mature. I will be the only one riding and handling them (even though I would like to work with someone with more experience) because I want to avoid abuse. I have one horse that is finally physically recovered from an abusive start (he was flipped) after two years of rehab. I don’t know how long it will take to mentally rehab him. Again, who is teaching these young trainers to be so abusive? This is not just the Helgstrands and the Parras–don’t kid yourselves.
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The guy holding the lunge is Sven Sandbrink from Dressurstall Sandbrink https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100063541602209&name=xhp_nt__fb__action__open_user , and the blonde woman standing off to the side is Kerstin Klieber.
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And here we go back to the Katie Prudent situation and her saying “If he did that to me I’d flip him over backwards”.
THIS is why people are upset over her comment! It’s because these ambitious trainers watch the abuse and then they stick that in their toolbox and there we are again.
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Who is whipping? Parra?
The young horse trainers (a husband/wife) who flipped my horse (tied him down–I know this because I found draw reins AND a running martingale both attached to his bridle) were mentored for several years by a very famous young horse trainer before they started their own business. The vets and farriers who worked with me on the rehab of my horse will say that the trainers who did this are terrible, but will try to separate them from their mentor, who they say is fabulous. Where do they think those two learned it? I sent my horse to these two because their mentor has such a great reputation (and was too far away for me to send the horse to him). I think the FEI/USEF/USDF should also be investigating any of Parra’s assistant trainers and working students–same for Helgstrand…
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Akeem. Also a blue tongued horse, abused by AH in the saddle in 2014.
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Hi I’m referring to an incident 5-7 years ago, a horse flipped on a lunge line, and there were photos, no footage – my point with that incident is that we were not there, and allegations from a client are not enough. This am, I saw (for the first time) some footage on Facebook-more recent, more clear what is happening, more damning (chestnut in surcingle). Of course no one would condone that sort of training.
My one observation is that CP is not likely to be alone in these practices. It doesn’t excuse it in any way.
