THIS..... This is what will kill eventing

[enjoytheride]

I think that anyone committing suicide after internet pressure is horrible and wrong. I also think what the vet did in the video was wrong.

However, what I found disturbing is the number of people who attacked those who bullied this vet into suicide by saying that he did absolutely nothing wrong in the video and they would have done the same thing. INCLUDING vets. And that the videos should have been kept secret.

How do we stop animal abuse, or advocate to have a vet’s license removed, if we aren’t ever allowed to share abuse videos for fear of the abuser committing suicide?

I think it’s possible to say the vet’s suicide was a tragedy while at the same time recognizing that what happened in the video was wrong.

I do think there’s an issue with pretty much everything with horses being labeled as abusive on the internet.

I’m just not sure how to protect horses.

[FitToBeTied]

This video clip isn’t going to kill eventing. Santa Anita, Olympic home of horse sports in '28, has had 23 horse deaths over since 2023 and they are still racing at Santa Anita. The clip of Calvin Brockman didn’t make national news or really anywhere beyond the eventing world. And if someone saw that clip I’d bet their reaction was what a ride!

What is slowly but surely killing eventing are the powers that be that continue to kowtow to the IOC and the FEI. As long as eventing continues to hold on to those two organizations, it will die a slow death. Videos like this won’t impact it one iota.

[Heinz_57]

@enjoytheride

I’ve seen just as many posts from people getting super angry at anyone who finds anything wrong with what happened, saying that if you don’t “ride at that level” you can’t talk.

And that’s been the defense strategy for eons - we’re smurfs, remember? We don’t get to have opinions about what UL riders do because we don’t know. We need to stay in our lanes and mind our business. /sarcasm

I’ve also seen quite a few “you clearly didn’t see eventing in the 70s/80s/90s and it shows” comments.

I understand that the horse was apparently fine and that’s good news, but there was no way for anyone to be 100% certain that that horse WAS fine in the seconds where he was down and then straight to galloping off again. Horses can run on broken bones fueled by adrenaline.

Many of the comments I’ve seen say that if the rider had just taken a few seconds, maybe looked the horse over (from the saddle, not suggesting a dismount), walked or trotted a few steps before blasting off - showed ANY concern for the horse at all, really - that it would be a non-issue. And I tend to agree.

While I’m sure the rider cares for his horse a great deal, in those moments he seemed to be prioritizing the competition.

[libgrrl]

Milestone Equestrian

[blue_heron]

Milestone Eq is such a PITA. I used to associated with her old inner circle and she was a reasonable person and fun. Lots of grit and still obviously loved her horses. Not sure what happened.

[Ghazzu]

@Heinz_57

I understand that the horse was apparently fine and that’s good news, but there was no way for anyone to be 100% certain that that horse WAS fine in the seconds where he was down and then straight to galloping off again. Horses can run on broken bones fueled by adrenaline.

Many of the comments I’ve seen say that if the rider had just taken a few seconds, maybe looked the horse over (from the saddle, not suggesting a dismount), walked or trotted a few steps before blasting off - showed ANY concern for the horse at all, really - that it would be a non-issue. And I tend to agree.

While I’m sure the rider cares for his horse a great deal, in those moments he seemed to be prioritizing the competition.

Yes.

[blue_heron]

Honestly I didn’t have that much of a problem with him continuing on. Would I have continued on? No but… If I had to change anything I think the vets should have pulled him up and checked and then let him continue on.

I DO think it was kind of a bad look to represent. If there was any question the horse was sound after the first jog I think it would have saved a lot of face just to excuse yourself.

[2bayboys]

@Ajierene

While I recognize that technically that fall was not against the rules, as I do not see shoulder or hindquarters really hitting the ground. Landing gear definitely did not deploy well and once your horse is laying down on the ground, maybe you should consider checking on him.

This.

And to those criticizing the person/page that posted the video on FB, I watched the video without reading the attached opinion and I was shocked that the rider did nothing to attempt to evaluate the horse’s soundness but just kicked on. The laughter from the commentators made it worse.

[Texarkana]

@Heinz_57

While I’m sure the rider cares for his horse a great deal, in those moments he seemed to be prioritizing the competition

The key word here is “moment.”

The moment has been replayed incessantly and it’s easy to say what could have, should have been done with time to think about and discuss the situation.

But in the moment, it’s not that easy.

Anyone who has been on a horse that has experienced something similar knows that in the moment, you’re not entirely sure what is happening. It’s all so fast. The horse is scrambling and next thing you know, it’s galloping again. And if the horse feels totally normal to you, pulling up may not even cross your mind.

Should there be a different protocol? Maybe, but it’s hard to make a protocol for everything that might happen. Everyone with authority to stop the horse did not deem it necessary to do so in the moment and for the continuation of the course. They could have if they saw reason.

Now maybe in retrospect, everyone involved might rewatch the replay and reconsider their decision in the moment. But bottom line, there were multiple points at which this horse’s weekend could have been ended by officials or the horse’s connections and no one found reason to do so. That is more telling to me than what observers who weren’t involved think based on a single video clip.

[endlessclimb]

@Texarkana

But in the moment, it’s not that easy.

Maybe he biffed that moment. But the second moment where he nearly had a repeat at another fence - maybe THAT one he should have slowed up for a second and checked on his horse…

[MHM]

@enjoytheride

People have been posting controversial videos since Facebook existed and no horse sport has been killed.

Have you heard of pentathlon?

It might not be what most of us consider a “horse sport.” But it is (or was) a sport with horses involved, which is probably pretty much the same thing to the general public.

It took one controversial video from a major competition to completely change that sport.

[Jumpingranch]

The other thing I see “those” pages going on about is the backs of the 5* horses in the jog. I don’t really see how any horse could work at that level with the “atrocious, atrophied and undermuscled backs” they claim all the upper level horses have

[luvmyhackney]

But they have pictures to prove it.

In some cases, I think they are a bit thin and I just want to feed them, but they are fit athletes that work much harder than the average horse.

[MHM]

@Heinz_57

While I’m sure the rider cares for his horse a great deal, in those moments he seemed to be prioritizing the competition.

I think it’s a fair statement to say that anyone who competes at that level has to be almost unbelievably driven and competitive to get there in the first place.

These are not people who got to the point of galloping around a five star by giving up on the idea of competing at any point, much less in the heat of the moment.

This is the same type that would climb back on the horse after a fall and finish the course with broken bones or a concussion or what have you. That went on for decades until the rules changed regarding falls.

With that in mind, it might be time to look at the rules again.

If they can hold a horse on course to check for blood and then let him continue after being checked out, they can do the same thing in a case like this.

Especially when the whole thing is going out across the world on a live stream, and everybody is concerned about the social license to operate.

[blue_heron]

The post that really gets me is the cropped photos of Boyd’s horses and this fitter who only evangelizes for Stubben saddles was supposedly “sickened.” By Boyd’s horses. Who is sponsored by Stubben.

[blue_heron]

I too thought this was odd since they had no issue with pulling up Tims horse.

As for why not pull him up at the head of the lake, I think it’s kind of like pulling someone up for Dangerous Riding. It’s incredibly hard to make that call and the moment had already passed. Plus, the officials at the head of the lake would not have seen the “fall” after that white skinny in person or know what had contributed to it.

[enjoytheride]

The horse portion of the Pentathlon has been horrific for years and was well on its way out as an Olympic sport. Pentathlon still exists.

Trying looking up cliff racing. It’s where you man from snowy river race horses up or down massive inclines. Still going strong.

Eventing did not die when we had televised horse deaths at Kentucky. It’s not going to die when someone may or may not have made a questionable horse welfare decision.

[MHM]

@blue_heron

Plus, the officials at the head of the lake would not have seen the “fall” after that white skinny in person or know what had contributed to it.

I think that’s a very tricky component of the issue. A lot of stuff can happen over a four mile course, and the results can be cumulative, even if each official only sees one part of it.

It’s not like they are going around in the show jumping ring with one set of officials seeing every single jump.

[enjoytheride]

I think there’s no way of knowing what the officials or vets said behind the scene. Perhaps they talked to him back at the barns. Perhaps they didn’t. Perhaps his riding improved afterword enough they thought he learned his lesson. Perhaps we will see the horse fall rule to change to include the horse’s head making contact with the ground.

[Texarkana]

@MHM

Especially when the whole thing is going out across the world on a live stream, and everybody is concerned about the social license to operate.

Anyone who knows me knows I am all about optics and social license.

But where do we draw the line between maintaining optics and letting the professionals do their jobs and make the judgement?

I am not just saying this about this situation, I am talking about the big picture. I mean, the crowd currently complaining was equally irrate over meaningless still photos of toplines, claiming the horses were unfit to ride when anyone with two brain cells knows that isn’t true. So do we fatten up our eventers to look like rotund ponies for the optics even when we know that isn’t what’s best for the horse?

I’m not attacking anyone here on COTH. This is something I think about a lot and I don’t have an answer.

In this particular CB instance, I feel very strongly that all the existing protocols worked and welfare was upheld. But I am also not opposed to the idea that yeah, maybe they could have stopped the horse on course for a quick check before letting him proceed. It’s a tough call. We can’t get to the point where we are stopping every horse every time it doesn’t look “pretty.” I get that this horse was more than just “not pretty”, but I’m referring to the potential for this to get out of hand.