There is no way Piper photoshopped those photos. Are we so deranged that we can’t just trust that she is using her platform to show an issue? This is insane.
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I’m not taking any side but if you zoom in, it’s a really weird mark. Not like any spur mark I’ve seen. But maybe it is?
She keeps saying though that it’s not the mark she’s complaining about but the excessive spurring.
It’s a really odd looking mark though.
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Mm. Yeah I’m withholding judgment. The mark is very odd— like a sarcoid or an old scar. With no other photos or a follow up story from Devon management or show stewards all we have is a photo of a bay horse with a “wound”.
Where was that photo posted? On FB or the magazine’s page?
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The Plaid Horse Instagram
Now that I’ve seen the photos Plaid Horse posted on instagram, it is an old scar. Not a fresh wound, maybe a healing sarcoid or something that was removed. That’s pink scar tissue/skin that I see. Piper needs to follow this up with some actual investigative journalism— like asking questions of the owner, trainer, rider, steward, etc. not just posting inflammatory photos with nothing to back them up. Shameful “reporting”. But that’s what gets clicks.
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I’ve been getting roasted on Instagram for saying the same, so anyone who would like to chime in in support would be appreciated. There are many photos from the horse show photographer that show that this mark, as peculiar as it is, is not open or raw.
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This does not read like someone who is saying that.
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There is nothing on the other side of the horse, correct?
This is the freaking Devon horse show. Horses of this sort, champion at Devon in the 3’9 greens, could be 7 figures. Horse welfare aside (and there is no reason to assume that it has been set aside), this would be idiotic for one’s investment and an embarrassment for a barn/rider in front of all the top people. It is not even common in my experience to see spur rubs on hunters at normal A/AA shows. If a horse has a spur rub for whatever reason, one covers it up with a darker ointment until it heals through use of a spur pad and not riding in spurs.
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It doesn’t look open or raw. This horse must have been at others shows with photographers. It should be easy to find out if this has been there for a while. It doesn’t really look like a spur rub to me but more like some kind of scar that doesn’t grow hair? I didn’t see it in person but if it had been open or raw I find it hard to believe no one would have said something to an official at the show.
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Oh I agree. But in a couple places she’s said she it wasn’t about the mark.
There’s probably a lot of riders who others would consider as “excessively spurring”… Why is she just focusing on this one particular horse/rider?
Someone tagged an equestrian YouTuber in the post that’s very I’m right and if you don’t agree with me you’re all morons type… there’s something weird about all this.
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I looked on sportfot and didn’t see it at WEF 12. He looked like he had a very minor rub on the hair a couple years back that was very far away from this injury. I feel like a spur rub of that size would have to be more than 2 months in the making. Not saying I think the optics of showing a horse with some kind of scar/sarcoid/? where the leg is in the vicinity are good.
I have a horse who right now has a really nasty looking mark on him and if I took him in public I would probably be explaining myself before anyone asked.
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I really zoomed in on my industrial sized laptop, and to me it appears that there is some mottled de-pigmentation and then a depression in the center. To me, it looks like where there was some kind of surgery, perhaps a sarcoid or a lipoma removed, and it’s slowly granulating in. Unfortunately, it’s in a bad place, so use of the spur could possibly rub that area. That might be why the surrounding bay hair appears darker. It could be slathered with an emollient.
Beyond that, I’m curious as to how/why such a lovely horse could even have a deep, gross spur mark on only its left side. Is it secretly a nasty runner-outer to the left? Does it swap leads and bolt off to the left? Spin and rear to the left? That’s why it just seems less plausible to me that it is a spur mark, and a spur mark only.
Ultimately, if I were at Devon and was concerned, I’d ask the steward to investigate.
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I have read several comments about speaking to officials at the show. I do not know about big HJ shows, but I have been a volunteer at numerous eventing competitions up to the Pan Am games, and it is almost impossible for a mere volunteer, let alone a spectator, to gain access to the show officials to report anything. Turning the discussion back on a spectator for not reporting this alleged injury is just not right.
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Very good point. This is not some rogue backyard pony in a low-brow barn. This is a horse that consistently won at Devon all week long and no amount of brutal spurring makes that happen. 🤷
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I was impressed by the handling of the Devin Ryan horse abuse case at the Hampton Classic in 2015. He was barred from competing and told to leave the show grounds. He was suspended and fined by USEF (and later put on U.S. teams, which I find unforgivable.)
I have a hard time believing that this horse was not looked at by the stewards or the show veterinarian. They’re not blind.
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I volunteer at events a lot, everything from small national level to the Maryland 5*, and it’s super easy these days. If you are a volunteer but don’t have a radio assigned to you, or you are a spectator, find the nearest volunteer who does and just say your name and location and that you have a horse welfare question for the Ground Jury or TD and could they please ask them to radio you. If you feel it is a situation that needs immediate attention, say that, too. If you are at an FEI event, you will have someone’s attention within seconds. If you are at a smaller event it might take a few minutes and you might have to ask more than once in a non emergency situation but I have done almost every volunteer job and never had an issue. I have also been a competitor at the lowest levels asking for rule clarification or questioning scoring, and have always gotten a response.
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Anyone can wander into the office at Devon and people regularly do. If you stand anywhere remotely near the gate from the schooling area to the Dixon and Gold rings you will find officials. Devon is small. It’s not hard to find officials.
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And at Devon there were at least three stewards and countless schooling supervisors as well. So if a steward blew Piper off, as she claims, I’m guessing it was justified.
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The post on the plaid horse Insta has been deleted.
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Post is down. 
Perhaps Piper realized that the horse is literally owned by the family behind the largest newspaper in the country and posting paparazzi shots with baseless accusations wasn’t the smartest move.
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