That looks like a very cute horse.
I could have sworn I saw her riding dressage, too! Maybe I remembered wrong. Regardless, definitely a horse link to Ellen! Six degrees of horsey separation with all celebrities!
At one point Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon had a house in Wellington so if someone challenged a horse show person to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon they were going down in FLAMES. But I digress. The article we are talking about was very illuminating for me.
Did they ride? Or did they have kids who rode?
Sorry, I didn’t know she had a sitcom.
How did this degenerate (yup, I did that) into Famous People? The article was a beautiful essay, and we should be applauding that.
My fault.
I can’t think of many out big name riders besides George Morris, and he gave visibility to all the wrong things.
Carl Hester, Spencer Wilton, Andre Dignelli, Joe Fargis, Conrad Homfeld, Robert Dover, Chris Talley, Nick Harness, Scott Stewart, Edward Gal…those are just the first ones who come to mind, and I could also add many others who are out in the industry but less out in their social media, if that makes any sense.
Fewer out gay women, I guess it could be argued, which is why the article was so important!
Portia’s ride was lovely, and very cute horse.
I guess we could connect it to the other thread and say Michael Leon as well
Funny, it had a different effect on me. For some reason my teenage self identified the most with her original “t-shirt and jeans but straight” kind of persona. I think because unlike other sitcom women, you never saw her dress in skirts or wear make up (or want to) and she was straight.
Then she came out as gay and I was like…great…when I get teased by my brother or at school, I can no longer say “look, this individual is straight also!” I was disappointed.
Anne Kursinski, Günter Seidel…
Of course, now I think of them.
Blythe Tait as well.
The FEI had a really good piece a couple years ago for Pride month that I’ve copied below.
https://www.fei.org/stories/lifestyle/my-equestrian-life/pride-equestrian
Yes, I wasn’t sure how “out” Anne was! But obviously one of the greats!
Another celebrity, but in the Saddlebred world, Carson Kressley of Queer Eye is a very serious horseman.
@junesj68 I meant “non-disgraced” horsemen, although, of course, few riders at the top have zero critics.
Catherine Duffor (sp?), Maya Black, Ema Klugman (author), and can think of one other Olympian who is on the DL but open secret in the horse world, off the top of my head.
A side thought, but I think it would probably easier for gay male trainers than lesbian trainers in the horse world in MOST disciplines. In my experience, middle-aged wealthy female clients are or at least have been disproportionately drawn to male trainers in general; the male trainer also being gay ("my gay bestfriend) wouldn’t be a deterrent for most of these clients, in this context - even those clients who might be politically misaligned with the gay community. Those clients might be less drawn to a lesbian trainer, though, and less inclined to specifically support that rider.
I’m very glad to see this article and Ema is a gift to the sport.
Sorry, what does this mean ? .
MAGA lol
Also I don’t mean to be inflammatory, this is not specifically directed and is a general observation.
I appreciate the Chronicle publishing articles such as these but are we allowed to discuss them or not? Because it’s impossible to have a discussion about queer life and inclusion in the equestrian world or anywhere else without talking about politics. The opening line in this article proves my point:
“In a moment of heightened political scrutiny and legislative pressure on LGBTQ+ rights, what does queer inclusion look like in the equestrian world?“
What do you mean? What exactly do you want to discuss?
My point was merely to highlight the difficulty of discussing the topic fully without bringing politics into the discourse, which is against forum rules. So the magazine has published an article with an important topic, relevant to many of its readers, that really can’t be explored in its entirety without violating the discussion parameters set by the publishers.