I was replying to a quote of my earlier post about ownership of venue. Not what the governing bodies are doing regarding horse welfare (which is heinously little).
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Ok fair enough. The thread is getting unwieldy!
They are??
Florida has options other than Wellington: WEC in Ocala is huge, and could handle more more dressage. TerraNova near Sarasota is not as big but people who have been over there say it is lovely, and hosting a lot of H/J events. Both are privately owned.
WEC hosted Carl Hester a while back, it was packed.
For those based in Wellington it is a bit of a haul comparatively but they dont have to support his facilities.
We dont need public $.
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I’d love to see that happen. I am NOT suggesting we should all contribute to a fund toward building a new facility or something.
There have been a lot of posts about whose responsibility it is to stop the abuse. I would like to suggest that it’s ours. Don’t take clients to buy horses from AH, don’t buy them yourself. Don’t show at his venues, don’t go to his free clinics. His system is set up to make money and prioritizes money above horse welfare so don’t give him yours.
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I would say it is the judges. If horses are getting low scores, then people wouldn’t be lining up to buy horses, that are not winning in the showring.
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Seriously, THIS. Judges need to stop being blinded by big names or flashy movers. Horses that are clearly uncomfortable (swish tails, gaping mouths, pinned ears, etc) should not be receiving ungodly scores because they have flashy movement. Im sick of it. When judges start scoring horses appropriately, only then will the industry change. There’s too much money involved in it otherwise.
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That’s a nice thought but it’s not a spectator sport and the vast majority of people buying the horses DO. NOT. CARE.
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I understand the sentiment of putting your money where your mouth is but I don’t think the majority of us regulars here on CotH are buying horses from Helgstrand and wintering at his facilities in Florida. Maybe I’m wrong.
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Agreed to a certain extent. I go a step further and do not buy products where one of these abusers is sponsored or named on a product.
Abusers should be persona non grata by the ENTIRE industry as they put our hobbies, businesses etc in great danger of one day being no longer needed in the absence e of shows or even riding itself. This means that we, the judges, the NGBs, the local clubs etc should ALL blacklist the abusers.
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The overwhelming population of horse enthusiasts are women - especially older women and I assure they care very much!
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I think a lot of people care but the people who can “vote with their pocketbooks” really just want to buy what will win. If parents in my kid’s school will act in pretty dirty and abusive ways to get advantages for a 6 year old gymnast, then many people will ignore abusive horse training to win.
So I am finally at a point in my life where I might buy a fancy baby, but I would not buy from Helgstrand. Not only because of the abusive training but also because I don’t think a lot of his horses are proven to stay sound long term and it’s heartbreaking to euthanize or pasture retire a young horse.
But I don’t think there are many of me. The people I know who are serious in this universe buy 5,6,7…10 or even more babies to see what shakes out for the big leagues.
And these people overwhelmingly DO. NOT. CARE.
The psychology is, elite human athletes endure fathomless pain to perform at the top. And horses are not even human athletes.
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You also have people that are just “star f*ckers” and like to say they went to x event with y and z big names.
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Of course they don’t stay sound! They are getting beaten up all the time. Dammit.
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I would not be surprised if the private equity company that owns Helgstrand was quietly removing funds.
Interesting read;
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Sorry (truly) …what does that mean? Removing funds from Helgestrand Dressage and redirecting them to other companies not under the Global Equestrian Group umbrella?
Not only that, but many dressage breeders have prioritized extravagant movement over soundness, and they’re basically competing goals. A horse that travels with a ton of leg anction and suspension is putting much more stress on joints and soft tissues with every stride than a horse that’s a correct but fairly economical mover.
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yes, that’s what Equibrit seems to mean, though I can’t speak for someone else…
So it is not simple…the Private Equity company bought a majority ownership of Helgstrand Dressage 5-6ish years ago. Then in 2021 they bought Beerbaums jumper company. Made them into Global Equest. Group - 1 company, that company shortly thereafter bought into ownership of the International Equest. Center in Wellington and added a couple other related businesses.
The majority ownership cannot be easily reduced - it is stock. They can only sell that stock if someone else wants to buy it; unlikely due to the fact that Global Eq Grp is apparently not profitable (skipping all the recent press). Helgstrand and Beerbaum could buy out the PE company IF they had a lot of cash laying around or some other equity partner. Also unlikely.
Lastly Waterland (the PE company) is HUGE, they have investments in 100’s of companies all over. And Waterland is also technically only the manager of those 100’s of companies. PE firms like this raise money from wealthy clients, pension funds, foundations, etc. Then they pool the $ and invest it in lots of smaller companies like GEG. Andreas Helgstrand is not a make or break situation for the them.
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