You’re welcome.
I’m with you on this, Manni01.
There are damn few trainers in the USA that really know what they’re doing, and sadly, it’s getting that way in Europe, too.
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I am not sure about it 
. So far to me it seems that everybody plans to sit it out. Don’t forget that most of the big names in dressage are business partner of him.
I read Catherine Dufours statement and to me it sounded that from now on she will be more careful about what she does…. I guess she will ban cell phones from her surrounding .
Nothing wil come out of it and I assume the journalists who did the undercover investigation will loose their jobs and will have a hard time (my personal opinion)
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I just read the article about this in H&H. Aside from everything that’s been mentioned herein, it struck me that the Helglstrand operation is quoted as saying it trains 350 horses per day with “60 riders and grooms”. Not sure if 60 is the total number of staff (riders and grooms) or it’s 60 riders plus a number of grooms. If 60 riders, that’s 5.8 horses per rider per day. If one assumes that there are 30 riders (the number 60 referred to grooms plus riders and they’re at the unlikely ratio of 1 to 1) that would be 11.66 horses per rider per day (and at least a 12 hour day with no breaks). Mind boggling in any case. There is no way IMHO that each horse can be developed with an appropriate attention to its particular needs under those conditions.
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That is a normal number… a professional has usually 10 to 15 horses in training. and you can organize it in a way that it works.
In the barn where I was as a teen the trainer started at 7 and finished at noon. Then there was a long break and in the afternoon he did lessons…
I believe he rode about 12 horses every day…. These horses were tacked up und brought to the indoor by people like me. We were supposed to only walk them for at least 20 min on the buckle. If he liked you you were allowed to do some light trotting. Then he got on the horse and rode it according to the plan he had for each horse…. Once he was done another girl got on the horse and walked it again until it cooled down. And the rules were strict!! You always had to comment on his changes (whether they were through) and you had to stay out of his way. He always had the right of way…. But believe me girls were dying to ride in his barn….
Once a week he put everybody on a horse and went cross country with all the horses…. A lot of climbing and jumping was involved…
In fact I am still in awe how organized he was. And he was really successful with this system. As I said several German Champions were produced at that time…
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Many years ago, I and a trainer friend visited a big well-established breeding operation in Germany. The place stood a plethora of stallions whose names were household names in those days (well, dressage households, anyway). Several of the stallions were actively competing, some at very big international competitions. We had been invited to watch a training session by the in-house trainer and her trainer who was visiting from a neighboring country. When we arrived, they were both riding, each on a quite well-known FEI stallion.
My friend and I were dismayed to see the EXTREMELY short reins and the horses’ chins being held firmly on their chests. The trainers rode this way for the entire 45-50 minute session. At one point, the visiting trainer made his horse piaffe while he smoked a cigarette - the horse had to piaffe the entire time. The trainer had all four reins and a whip in one hand and used the other hand to hold his cigarette. Every once in a while if the horse faltered or got out of rhythm, the rider would crack the horse with the whip. This guy also made the horse do one-tempis across the diagonal, over and over again. If the horse started rushing or missed a change, the guy would halt it (roughly) and back it up all the way back to the corner of the arena, it’s nose on its chest the entire time.
I had rather admired that in-house trainer for a while, but seeing that training session in person made me lose all respect for her. I later mentioned what I had seen to another party who frequented many training barns in Europe and was told rather matter-of-factly, “That is how it is done everywhere. Training sometimes isn’t pretty.”
It was an eye-opening experience to say the least.
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That gives me a flashback to somebody I knew many years ago who had a hard and fast rule that every horse had to walk for 20 minutes, either in hand or under tack, before it ever picked up the trot, and then walk for 20 minutes to cool out after it worked. Period. No exceptions.
It could be a pain in the neck, but I have to say they kept a lot of horses sound for a very long time with their methods.
I often think that person would be so happy about the way Wellington has developed with so many people with barns off the show grounds. The 20 minute walk in both directions is built in to get to and from the horse show. Lol.
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This sounds like a place where people (and horses) would be happy to work. A great way to get the walk work done while maximizing the pro’s time.
Now my horse is coming 22, and I do a walk routine EVERY ride. Starts on the buckle, then bending, stretching, lateral stuff. After our work we go for a walking hack and he is allowed to pick the direction.
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That’s what we do. Every time.
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It’s not that simple.
Helgestrand Dressage is just one of the brands - like COTH- under the Global Equestrian Group. Other brands include Kingsland and Wellington International, among others.
Global Equestrian is under the financial umbrella of Waterland Private Equity, which is based in the Netherlands, and owned by Robert Thielin, a Dutch businessman. Waterland became a majority owner of Helgestrand Dressage several years ago, and acquired other brands along the way.
Waterland supports Global Equestrian with funding. From the Waterland website: “Whilst the [brand] management team is firmly in control of running the business, Waterland provides hands-on support with acquisitions, financing, and other projects, such as commercial excellence.”
Waterland has a vast portfolio of companies. Given time, the documented horse abuse against Helgestrand Dressage - which isn’t the first time - will bubble up and become a public relations liability for Global, and then Waterland. The Operation X documentary is out of the courtroom and now in the public domain. People can see for themselves. When the outcry is loud enough, GEG and/or Waterland will have to take some kind of action.
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And the U.S. rider who bought Akeem continues to do business with AH.
I have a departed friend who was a steward at Arabian shows and she warned a trainer once and then threatened to yank him off his horse by force if she saw him doing it a third time. She was serious about her job.
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All these documentary threads made me think back to 2006 WEG at Aachen. I had left the stands for a few minutes and came back to see the grey mare (Matine) everyone was oohing and aahing about. I had not even seen video until that point. I stood up top by myself and watched and thought about what an unhappy, anguished horse I was observing. The tail wringing was epic. End of the ride came and the stands erupted. I stood there all, “WTF? Did no-one see what I saw?”
Anyone else have a similar reaction way back then?
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I know. Many people do. Especially in Wellington, Helgstrand events draw big crowds of $$$. It seems we will have to be mad at 70% of the ruling class.
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Absolutely many felt the same way.
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Yes.
I have felt that “eventing dressage” riders showed examples a more fluid and forward horse, vs a mechanized slave. But I haven’t watched eventing dressage in person in +10 years, so I don’t know if these methods are creeping in there.
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This guy from the midwest ( < < COUGH) seemed to get away with everything. My now retired vet showed Arabians (hunter) for years… and at Scottsdale about 15 years ago now (so almost 10 years after the original incident I witnessed), that same trainer came in the gate for the senior stallion halter class with a horse with an obvious welt from a whip across his right shoulder. Everything ground to a halt while heads got together… and in the end the class went on and he either won or was reserve grand… I would have to look it up. Trainer from the midwest blamed a groom for not bringing the horse to the hitching ring safely (eyes all around and stewards like your amazing friend in the hitching rings and warm up rings so nothing going on there) and said that the horse scraped himself on his stall door or a gate - and that was what produced that mark. Yeah no. My vet was livid.
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Wandering over as someone from HJ land. This stuff is nothing is new. I know a lot of folks idolize Reiner Klimke. I was at Madison Square Garden on 1986 or so and had a grooms pass so I stayed at the arena the whole time. I watched Klimke beat, ship, and yank Alrich sp? for HOURS so he could do his demo ride to standing ovations. Unfortunately no cell phone cameras back then, but that “performance” is burned into my brain.
As far as shunning, people are still buying horses from PV and AK…so not much hope there
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