I have 70 photo and videos so maybe there’s another one?
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70? All of CP incidents? 
Those poor, poor horses. And shame, shame, shame on his enablers, whether they be staff or clients.
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One thing I’m wondering about is that if any of these horses are insured and claims are made for loss of use or treatment from Parra & Co’s abuse, would the insurance company go after Parra? Is that one way to get it into court? As we know, the law looks on horses as possessions.
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I was there. If you pm me or start a new thread I will comment. It was not quite as some on Facebook have described, although it definitely brings up the dubious nature of colt starting clinics.
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There are videos of Totilas when he was a young horse, competing in various events. His movement was lovely as it was. The leg waving of his GP days was clearly trained in.
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Making sure the blood is off his wall rather then hosing off William who is in a medical crisis. Parra Priorities.
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And you have heard this from whom? About Totilas?
I never mentioned Totilas and was at no point discussing him in this post.
I think it was fairly common knowledge back when he was alive and competing that his gaits were “artificial.”
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That the earth was flat was once common knowledge.
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FWIW, the suggestions that Totilas was trained using stretchies was mentioned on this forum way, way back on other threads. I can’t remember if it was the threads discussing his sale to Paul Schockemöhle, or about his rides with Matthias Rath, or about his death, but there were comments made that the use of stretchies in the training of dressage horses was not uncommon in Dutch FEI barns. Germany was also mentioned a few times, but the talk at the time suggested they were a tool used primarily by Dutch trainers who had been introduced to them by trainers of Dutch Harness Horses.
I hope that the Parra videos convince FEI to declare the use of stretchies “mental abuse,” just as it did regarding rollkur. And that the national governing bodies such as USEF, FN, etc., enact policies that ban their use in the training of dressage horses, and put teeth into those policies.
In the meantime, Parra should be banned indefinitely over his despicable use of the whip - as should his assistants who condoned such abuse.
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I haven’t read all this thread as it now very long. However.
The USEF issued a second statement 05 February on Dressagedaily.com. Parra is a “FEI dressage athlete and trainer” at his “private training facility in FL” and “USEF immediately coordinated with the FEI” when the FEI imposed a temporary suspension, “which is being enforced by USEF at the national level”.
“USEF is steadfast in its commitment to horse wellbeing and has committed resources to supporting the FEI in bringing this matter to resolution as expediently as possible”.
My question. If the commitment to welfare is so absolute, why didn’t the USEF take immediate steps to temporarily suspend Parra, who is living, training and competing in the USA? Why is it the job of the FEI to deal with the problem with the American NF trotting along behind?
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Because USEF never steps up first…they are followers not leaders
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I am a bit surprised at the angst over the stretchies. Certainly they are not part of classical dressage training and I understand taking offense over using gadgets. But I have seen them used many times on saddleseat horses and did not find them inherently abusive.
When you have videos of horrific beatings and a guy using what appears to be a running W, I would not focus on the stretchies as an example of abuse.
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Never seen stretchies or running W my whole life. First and last time I ever heard of such things existing was when Totilas was sold to PS. Don’t know WHY people think, this would be common in Germany, but I assure you, it’s not. Those things certainly exist, but I never saw some in person nor heard of somebody using it. The common horse person here in Germany doesn’t know or use these or has ever heard of them… So this may be part of why me and all my equestrian friends find those gadgets horrific and abusive.
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Was his video’s caption meant to be sarcastic?
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I’m not sure what you mean. The videos were first loaded to his Instagram account by someone else who had access.
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I think that those of us who have not seen stretchies before are reacting now in part to the context. Two videos of CP - 1 lunging a horse who is clearly tense and confused or whatever with that W thing, and then one of a ridden horse stretchies attached, horse tense and mouth open being pushed by CP and his whip.
whats tricky in this whole mess is that abuse is murky - side reins properly attached and gently used can be beneficial. Crank them short, chin to chest and chase the horse - not good. The list goes on.
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I wouldn’t necessarily fault USEF about this (yes regarding why they didn’t act YEARS sooner). The FEI has much wider jurisdiction and the US is included in their decision. It would have been better optics if the FEI and USEF had come out with a joint statement.
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