I believe that just like for human child allegations there needs to be charges for abuse and charges for neglect.
For kids, neglect is further broken up. For instance there is a charge of educational neglect which happens when parents fail to make sure their kids are attending school.
So any planning on the horse side must consider and establish bare minimums of acceptable care practices.
We will never get everything. But we can do way better than what’s happening now.
Shouldn’t the third party be USEF, who should sanction the hell out of people who threaten bodily harm to USEF officials?
What is this? The mobster run horse show, with USEF so ineffectual that they can’t control gangster behavior toward their own officials?
Yes.
You are right. They are mandatory reporters in most states, but shockingly about 13 states don’t have any laws on it.
But my point was that it is a heavy load to place on the veterinarians.
Isabell’s statement was an explanation of why she isn’t distancing herself from Andreas Helgstrand. She is basically saying that if you didn’t personally see it done by he, himself, you should not comment or believe it happened. Also, everyone makes mistakes as they are training and we need to give some latitude. Hmmm. Does someone want to post some pictures again? Kind of hard to argue that the photos were training “mistakes”.
It’s similar to what one hears from a corrupt banker or government official when they get caught–"I’ve made a terrible mistake… "
Actually it’s the infamous “mistakes were made” excuse, conveniently omitting who made them!
or the “we” made mistakes …never “I”
One of my riding instructors in my youth made similar comments about Dover - my instructor recalled watching him passage a horse around a warm-up for like an hour or something just totally excessive because he was pissed at the horse’s performance. 
The incident happened in 2018, the person who took the pictures had a lawyer threaten to sue if the pictures were not removed from social media so pictures removed. 2020 EC did nothing. 2024 FEI is investigating so EC has to temporarily suspend the 2 riders. If it were not for CP and Helgstrand very public social media blow up both Canadian riders would not be facing any investigation. Hopefully, all the governing bodies will realize quietly covering up complaints of abuse and misconduct is gone.
I admire the person who blew the whistle. I am still plagued by something I saw when I was in college, working for the summer for a high end farm. I had idolized the head trainer who was very well known, and after years in Pony Club and caring for my own horse, I was considering switching my major to Equine Science and I was thrilled to have a chance to work at that farm. But the aftermath of cruelty I witnessed at the hands of that famous trainer and competitor was so traumatic, I actually got out of horses altogether for many years. There was a horse in for training with the BNT. The horse was a really sweet-natured, frisk your pockets when you were cleaning stalls kind of love bug and he was talented, but young. I came back from lunch one day to hear everyone whispering, “Oh my God, you have to see what he did to him.” Evidently, the BNT completely lost it during a ‘training’ session and beat the poor horse mercilessly when he lost his temper. When I looked in on the horse, he was head-down in the corner of his stall covered with huge welts from his poll to his tail, completely broken in body and spirit. He was so traumatized, he tied up and the vet had to be called. All of us were told not to speak of it again, and not to tell anyone. This was way before cell phones, and the bnt was a major player in the sport. I felt very helpless at the time because even the vet was told to keep quiet, and I just quit. Every time I see this trainer getting accolades, I feel sick. I got a real lesson in the difference between loving horses and taking your time to bring them along, and the pressure that is placed on a bnt for results when people are paying a lot of money. Often, compassion for the animal is completely lost. It was a hard lesson to learn.
that makes my heart hurt just reading it. So sorry you witnessed it.
So out the SOB.
Name them. Seriously.
Please out this trainer. If we don’t do this, people will keep sending horses to them in all innocence. See the Ellen Doughty Hume thread for examples of people who were so glad to find the thread before they hired her.
I’ve always had respect for Christine Traurig. Dover - not so much. I met him in Germany and he was incredibly rude. Very poor sportmanship at shows as well.
So sorry to hear this. So very sorry. Poor horse!! Whistleblowing is another trauma in addition to what one has witnessed, and often we cannot have both traumas unfold at once, it’s just too much. Right after college I was hired as a working student by a major dressage barn (back then in New England, now Florida) with two wonderful, kind trainers. I can say they never raised their hands against any of the 21 horses in our care, and I was always there, all days all hours. But at the same barn was a female trainer who had other methods. She would piaffe them in-hand forever, the stress would be immense. Framed by bit and side-reins and whip. The ‘best’ of her horses was her own competition horse, with whom she had a love/hate relationship. I remember the other people in the barn saying that ‘that horse loves her so much! She sends him to the cowboys when he gets too bad, but he just adores her!’ I asked what the cowboys do? ‘Oh, they hobble him and throw him to the ground to teach him submission. Then they can start teaching him from scratch. Then she gets him back.’ I had never heard such things.
But what I remember was that all of us kept focused on our tasks, that even though there were rumors of beatings, and scenes of much much stress in training with that trainer, one kept on working. That feeling now seems very strange, from an older vantage point, but it was very real back then.
BTW if anyone ever wanted to drop a tip just PM me. I never disclose sources.
fasten your seat belts people! Here we go!
And for the abusers, I hope it’s a bumpy, bumpy ride.
Ah this is reminiscent of the FEI meeting with Gerd Herschman where he failed to achieve a consensus on rollkur definitions. I remember it well. I was… kept up to date. They eventually did a p8ssy settlement to define rollkur as something achieved by force. They defined the method of achievement, not the position.
They are really, really, really fond of riding in that position.
To me, rollkur needs to be defined by the position and whether it was achieved by bit force or seasawing or tickling his ass and calling him Butterfly, makes no matter at all. All bad - with the degrees of bad determined then by force or not.
Just as is the finding of the International Society of Equitation Science in their Position Statement on the affects of different postures and frames in regards to physical and emotional/mental well being.
I know things will eventually resolve as change is inevitable (like Thanos LOL) but I’d just like to be alive to see it.
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