Wasn’t David Boggs the one who showed Amber Satin? I remember reading about him showing her at an international show: She got some kind of a wound and they didn’t use anesthetic when they sutured her. Now, that I think back, I think it was an ear wound. I felt bad and mad about it because she is probably my favorite Arabian mare.
Peter Witte is also someone I would never do business with after seeing him out back one morning during a regionals show.
Edited to add the ear wound.
This is quite shocking. I can’t understand people getting pleasure from beating a helpless animal.
Yes, that was Boggs. I have no use for either of them. Years ago the farm I managed stood a well known stallion and at nationals I noticed a futurity colt was being shown, sired by said stallion. I made a point to look him up, being shown by Boggs, and went to their stalls. As soon as I mentioned the stallion and asked about the colt, he actually sneered at me, looked over my shoulder and walked away, leaving me standing there. When I saw the colt in the class a day later, I understood. The colt was butt ugly…but they had no problem billing the owner to show him in the class…used the colt as “trailer filler” to make money. The colt wouldn’t have even been a good gelding and should never have been shown at that level.
DId he, himself, show the colt and maybe get some halo points?
He showed the colt himself…and the colt’s neck was set on so low and upside down that Boggs was kneeling on the ground to try and make it arch the right direction. It was appalling. And obviously no ribbon of any sort.
Ah yes… my favorite trainer from the midwest. 
I think this link might have been posted, but it sounds like the FEI will likely end up agreeing with the Danish Federation’s decision on how to deal with this…We can only hope…
I’d be shocked.
I have a couple of memories of Arabians being shown from long (decades) ago here in Michigan. Don’t remember if they were at the same show or different but…
One was just before the (mature) stallion halter class. There was this trainer Right Outside The Ring In Plain Sight “tuning” up a grey Arabian stallion. The trainer was whipping the stallion to hype him up, I guess. (I know that I was pissed seeing it, as I was considering buying an Arabian at that time.)
Well, they entered the ring and when the trainers were to ‘stand up/pose’ their stallions, THAT grey stallion WENT AFTER the trainer. And did NOT stop. The trainer had to keep moving, as that horse was going to EAT him! That horse and trainer were dismissed from the class as the stallion aggressively continued to go after the trainer.
The second, and much better memory, was after an Arabian Stallion Park Horse class. It was won by a big (16 hand) chestnut stallion who was a “big name horse” at a “big name” farm here in Michigan. I was close enough to see and hear the show vet (a woman) come up to the rider and tell him how much she liked the “big name” stallion. The rider said to her, “Would you like to ride him?” The vet said ‘yes’, and I got to see her do so, on a horse who was well-trained and happy in his ‘job.’
I think I know the stallion and handler you mentioned, as the horse developed quite a reputation due to the abuse, and it continued after he was gelded. The handler was one of the early abusers who started the whip nonsense. Years before that, the horses were shown quietly, as they should be.
Yes. Tonya Harding grew up in poverty, raised by her mom, and she and her family saw her skating as a way to escape it.
I don’t think that’s ego; I think that’s desperation capitalism.
I want to say this is impossible…but you saw it. That is SO horrific. I hope (please God) that Ingrid would never. She is someone I have always believed to be kind and the highest ethical principles.
Here are some TikTok excerpts. I haven’t viewed them.
https://www.tiktok.com/find/helgstrand-dressage-operation-x-trailer
I did see it. And to this day I wish I hadn’t but what is that saying? All our heroes have feet of clay. It was just awful, but he evening performance was perfect. That horse was doing his job from fear and exhaustion
That’s interesting. Years ago I met a vet tech who worked for the US team’s vet at the LA Olympics when Ahlerich was there. She said that he was terrified of Reiner, and someone had to hold him while being mounted. I didn’t believe her back then…but now?
These training operations are so large that anything goes to get the horses trained and sold. I was watching This Esme’s vlog where she visited Charlotte Fry’s training barn. The main stud there is Negro, and there’s many many horses by him there. It was mentioned that they breed on average 110 horses a year!!! That’s ridiculous. One of the comments stated that one of their young horses was at her barn and she had such horrible conformation that she was euthanized. Breeding soooo many each year for what…a handful of good ones?
It’s the professionals in the “horse industry” who are almost always the ones doing the most damage to the horses. Industry is defined as “economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in [factories].” And that’s basically what these people do. They produce horses for sport and show. They breed them, train them, compete with them, and buy and sell them. The horses are the “goods” in the horse industry. The breeders, brokers, trainers, and professional riders are the ones dealing in these goods. It’s their business. It’s how they make a living. And when the success of an animal in a sport or show determines your paycheck, that animal stands to be compromised in some way, shape, or form.
These people aren’t abusing horses because they want the glory of winning. They’re abusing horses because a winning horse is worth more money. They are abusing horses because a winning trainer will attract more clients which means more money. And because it’s an “industry” and time is money, they need to get the “goods” that they “manufacture” ready to market as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the “goods” in this case are living, feeling beings.
From the lower end, amateurs looking for an instructor and/or a trainer … being able to put winnings on a website means more future revenue. The more winnings listed on the website, the more revenue. It doesn’t even matter what videos of the winning ride looks like, if future customers don’t expect to watch it. And of course they don’t see the training at home, or the warm-up.
One could say the same about most large scale breeding programs.
Yep. I was similarly unimpressed when I saw petersen’s ride on Mariett at the 2018 Vegas World Cup final. He was pony-club kicking her in the final passage tour down center line.
He went right after charlotte in that final and my non-horsey husband noticed the big difference in riding between the two of them. He even asked “why is he kicking the horse so much? - the horse looks mad.”
