Things like this sort of vague-booking are why I really don’t like listening to podcasts/interviews with high level riders. Everyone waxes poetic about how much they love their horses and how horse welfare is their top priority, but little snippets of reality leak out and cast doubt on everyone because they name no one. The Ride IQ podcast had an interview with Sally Spickard about new EN podcast and she talked about the Andrew McConnon abuse videos and how tricky it was to write about it after she cheered for him at events and had written positively about him in the past. I really appreciated her honesty and candor. But those of us who don’t travel in the high level circles have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. And if even the people who are on site and paid to report on this don’t seem to know what some of these riders are like behind the scenes, what hope does someone who lives in an eventing no-man’s land of knowing what this could be referencing?
So while I’m sure there are riders who practice the best horsemanship, when everyone who gets softball-interviewed by EN or COTH or H&H and/or gets puff pieces written about them, how are we supposed to know who’s lying? McConnon never talked about his training technique of punching/slapping horses in the face in any of his interviews. Andreas Helgstrand has never discussed which brand of shoe polish is best for covering up spur wounds with a reporter. Which leaves the listener wondering what details are being left out, and casts a shadow of doubt over the whole enterprise.
Maybe I’m cynical, but more and more, listening to/reading interviews with high level riders is leaving more and more of a proverbial sour taste in my mouth.