Indeed. It’s a skill worth learning… whether you get mad at a horse or, say, another driver on a freeway in L.A where things can get way more deadly, way faster. And I’ll bet everyone one of us who grew up around horses learned how to dial back anger; I don’t think anyone arrives in this world as kind and beatified as the Dalai Lama.
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Yes, excellent post!
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Another “meh” from me. There are plusses and minuses to being associated with a great fortune and a particular company… be that Johnson and Johnson or Monsanto. You can’t say an adult born into this situation wasn’t taught that he/she might live in a bit more of a fishbowl than the rest of us. But, again, the position does come with some perks; those can perhaps be traded in for obscurity, I’m sure. Everyone has to do the best they can with what they have.
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Not true! The locus of the problem only becomes “horse wasn’t prepped enough” IF we allow that when the horse misbehaves an adult amateur necessarily will be a jackass in the ring. It’s not the fall or bad jump that made this event noteworthy. It’s not like anyone needs to make a horse quieter so that they can guarantee their client won’t publicly kick their horse in the gut because, hey, that behavior is “within normal limits” for clients and there’s nothing to be done about that element in the equation. C’mon.
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No, it is not an either/or situation. We can be both outraged at what goes on behind the scenes (but isn’t addressed enough that trainers who manage their horses this way get set down enough or suffer any kinds of consequences for what goes on privately behind the scenes) and also at the person who had a temper tantrum and kicked her horse in the belly (or at least attempted to, I actually don’t think that a person on the ground kicking upward at a 16h+ horse can realistically do much damage - probably smacking with a crop or jabbing with a spur hurts more than a kick to the belly because of biomechanics involved).
It would be interesting to hear an apology from her and what type of spin, if any, could be put on it. Other than saying “I’m sorry, I’m embarrassed, I let my frustration get the best of me and I took it out on my horse,” there’s probably not much more to say. Maybe her PR people are advising her to just lay low and hope it will go away, who knows.
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A dirty trick ? On the contrary, horses are the best of teachers. We could see what was coming; the rider was poorly prepared before the fence, and the horse calmly stopped afterwards as the rider lost balance. When she goes after him for HER mistake and poor riding, he wisely anticipates the kick to the belly, because it’s happened before at home.
Of course he hesitates to follow her out of the ring; wouldn’t YOU ?
It’s her horse teacher who taught her a hopefully valuable lesson…not her trainer (whom she pays).
And look at how much the horse showed us, about HER, and what goes on at home.
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Well, yes, true. We should as adults be able to control our emotions . . . and especially if one is from a prominent family where they are likely used to being in the public eye somewhat, one should know that every possible move can be scrutinized and used against oneself.
But, for people used to getting what they want (not necessarily saying JJ is this person or not), this situation could have/would have been avoided if the horse just did his job. So I understand what BeeHoney is saying. Of course one should understand that falls and other such embarrassing things happen at shows. It happens and happens to the very best of riders at the top of their sport. And of course one (who is particularly so “well bred”) should understand how to comport oneself with grace at all times.
I am in no way excusing the behavior; but, having seen and ridden with kids with a lot of money who have had everything done for them from an early age (including being carried into the barn because they didn’t want to walk!), there may be an extra layer of frustration when things don’t go your way when in every other segment of your life you get what you want. You know, affluenza and all that.
:eek::ambivalence::disgust::uhoh::rolleyes:
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Agree. Also agree it isn’t a either/or situation. Just wanted to point out that just because people are outraged at this particular situation doesn’t mean people aren’t outraged at abuse/cruelty in other situations. This has a whole different context and her high profile society status has propelled it forward, Much as if Shatner or the Big Bang actress or the Olsen twin had done it.
Now- some of the comments- oy. I, personally, think she is a lovely rider and has some skills. Horse got the best of her.
At least she isn’t tweating about it 
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The affluenza defense is not much of an excuse with so many affluent exhibitors though.
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I am not making any case for excuses. 
I brought it up as to address posters regarding why it “caught on”. Plenty of exhibitors of extremely wealthy, maybe not as many have such a presence on Society Pages, being an author etc - so it is more of an interest to the general public than if [insert ammy here] was caught on tape.
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Especially after she issued such a prompt apology and commitment to refrain from striking horses in a fit of rage in the future.
Oh… wait…
I don’t feel sorry for her one bit. Her reaction was wildly inappropriate, regardless of any physical pain inflicted. Our barometer can’t be “did it seriously injure the horse?” we have to have higher standards than that, across the board.
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Well…I went back and looked at the vid again, several times. Was this the first fence in that course? Only about 6 strides shown there…if it’s a first fence on a fresh horse in spooky conditions, that explains a lot.
Think some are reading a lot more into this horses history and riders ability then can really be seen seen here. Yes, he was lookey and backed off then over jumped landing in a heap, yes she needed more leg at the base and away, no she was not that far up in his neck until he dropped his front end. Both contributed, she didn’t react to his sucking back and ride away after landing, but that’s no Greenie, been around long enough I’d expect him to help her out here more like a seasoned Ammy mount.
I also don’t see him running backwards away from her indicating a long history of being beaten for the rider falling off and stalling out due to her yanking trying to jog out of the ring is just that. He’s not scared of her, wasn’t that scared when she first got up until she jerked the reins, If she wouldn’t have jerked the reins when she first regained her feet, he probably would have just stood there. If she had led properly instead off getting ahead and facing him trying to drag him out, he probably would have jogged right out at her side.
If you read the story describing what happen next, she went out to the schooling ring, remounted, schooled two fences and returned for an uneventful second course so did recover from the tantrum as horse recovered from his silliness. The tantrum itself needs to be dealt with, need to let the the rest of the speculation and conjecture based on 30 seconds of video and her tax bracket go.
Article has added information USEF is reviewing the incident with an eye to issuing a violation. As it should have initially and should make a practice of instead of waiting for reaction from the peanut gallery. Somebody on the ground takes a swing at the horse with anything there shouldn’t be any question of unsportsmanlike conduct or need to investigate what is clearly immortalized in video. Good for the judge for calling it, shame on the steward for blowing it off.
BTW, trying to kick one in the belly is about the dam stupidest reaction to frustration out there…130 lb rider on the ground can’t possibly hurt a 1200 lb horse backing away but could hurt themselves or fall down and get stepped on or kicked back. I’ll take the 5th on that one having been much younger but as stupid as this much older rider in dealing with frustration. No excuse.
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Here’s the thing. If a yellow card - and an apology from the rider - had been issued. This would be a very different conversation. I do believe that shining a light on the absence of both is very good for the sport although it is also very painful. (How many of us are going to be ribbed about this at work or Thanksgiving? I can think of at least a few judgey colleagues and relatives who think riding is elitist and a waste of money are going to make hay with this one.)
As far as there being much worse offenses, we all know that that is true. But those are also going to be increasingly exposed too. As in police brutality, brutality to horses is going to be more and more caught on tape. So the HJ world is going to have to change its ways or risk getting more and more black eyes. Social media and cell phone cameras are not going away. I believe another example of this woman kicking her horse a few years ago has already surfaced on another forum?
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This, in spades!!! She should be humiliated by her actions, not by the reporting of them on social media. I would never have thought to kick my horse in the belly if I fell off, regardless of the circumstances. This sheds a light on her character, and if her trainer condones this kind of behavior, then the trainer needs to be called out as well.
This is the small tip of the ugly iceberg that real horsemen are trying to do something about and what the USEF should be penalizing… people who abuse horses in the name of sport, whether it be soring, drugging, rollkeur, riding a horse til it drops, or any other ways people “train/prep” an animal for the sake of profit.
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At this point, there are probably more posts saying “Quit making excuses for her!” than there are ACTUAL posts making excuses for her. #redherring
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Lets get real here … this woman could probably care less what anyone thinks of her , her riding abilities , her temper tantrum , or anything else, what matters is that the Judge brought this to the Stewards attention and they did nothing … Yes this woman should have been fined , or sanctioned for un-sportsman like conduct , but it’s the Stewards who should be sanctioned , fined or perhaps even fired for dereliction of duty , THIS IS THEIR JOB if they can not conduct themselves impartially then they cannot do their job .
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It is crucial we distinguish piss-poor sportsmanship from animal abuse here. This was not abuse. There is no way you can label that abuse and not throw the PETA doors wide open on a whole boatload of horse training.
Just 2/3 weeks ago we were up in arms that the new USEF penalty recommendations could easily trap and bank-strap an amateur that is doing this for fun. The torches & pitchforks that call for life suspension of this lady are forcing USEF into a corner I don’t think you want it to be in.
It was like when the internet lost it’s mind that Facebook was banning horse sale ads. In short, it wasn’t, just getting them off marketplace and leaving us a clear workaround, but the fervor only rallied the RARAs that were trying to ban sale ads, and ran a real risk of forcing Facebook to close the loophole and save social face.
I mean, is this even COTH? I feel like some folks are one carrot-stick away from suggesting bit-less and barefoot for this poor befallen animal. Horses do not distinguish feet from hands from crops. There is nothing in their head that says, “Well that smack came from above The Place Where Treats Appear, but that one came from below so OH HOLY MOTHER SHE’S TRYING TO KILL ME.” We hit them with crops, we smack them with hands, we literally kick them when we’re heading to the jump and their head’s not in the game… there is no verbiage here that allows this to be abuse but not that. If you want to say her “intent” was to cause harm to the animal I’m just not going to follow you down that road.
It was piss poor sportsmanship. It was absolutely pathetic as an attempt to “teach” the horse anything. It was ugly as hell to watch, but none of it constitutes abuse and I really hope USEF doesn’t feel forced to say it does.
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I’m going to be honest- I probably would have fallen off too. So I’m not going to get into a discussion about how she should have stayed on, etc. When you go over fences, you fall off more often. It sucks, and it’s embarrassing when you do it at a show, but that’s horses for you.
The issue is thst instead of just getting up and calling it a day, she had to make a show out of her rage in front of everyone and their cameras. i don’t care if the horse is a dirty stopper or she just had a bad day. If she was so furious about falling off that she couldn’t contain herself, she should have had a groom, her trainer or literally anyone else come take the horse back to the barn so she could meltdown all by herself.
I don’t think she deserves all the “she should never rise again!” talk, but I do think she needs to be called out. She needs to publically apologize and take all her lumps from this. And yes, lots of people are talking about it. I just saw the video pop up on a New York social life website, so you can bet her friends are talking and she should be rightfully embarrassed over this.
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A couple of people have commented that we don’t know the whole story and who are we to judge? I would like to hear from them, under what circumstance would that behavior be okay given the right circumstance? It has nothing to do with whether we think we could have stayed on, or whether the horse did something dirty. Both of those are irrelevant. It all has to do with her response. Nothing else.
I find it hard to believe that ANYONE here, or ANYWHERE, can say that this was appropriate.
Who am I to judge? I am a veterinarian who has devoted his life to the betterment of the care of animals. Yeah, I get to judge. If we have to look at this behavior at shows, we get to judge.
A couple of posts up says this is not abuse? Really? What exactly would you call it? I think it is the definition of abuse. This is not something normal people do. I believe that this behavior is traumatizing to the animal, making it abuse. Did you see the horse backing away from her? Do you really think this was the first time she did this? It’s definitely abuse. I don’t want to see PETA in on it, nor do I think she should be banned for life, but a good suspension may help.
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I also think this “scene” was an embarrassment for the sport.
It was mentioned up-thread that this rider is an author of a book called “The social climber’s bible”. Who she is and how she conducts herself in the show ring is important, because the general public already does tend to look at showing as something of an elitist “ego-fest”.
Yet I know so very many regular people of modest means, who show, work hard earning money to show, and dream of doing well showing.
Horses are beautiful animals, and they are not only for the elite. I think much of the reaction/outrage some are having to this incident, is because so many work so hard to be able to show. They take this sport very seriously, and expect that the show officials, and the USEF, will have an agenda of making showing “respectable” for “everyone”.
I think showing should be about good horsemanship, and I think the USEF should have a primary mission of promoting good horsemanship above any other agenda.
As other’s had said. This is mostly about show officials not enforcing the agenda of good horsemanship and sportsman-like behavior.
But I personally also have an issue with the importance that many of the participants of this sport place on “image”. To me it’s the obsession with “image” that taints the sport and causes many people to act in unsportsmanlike ways, as well as all those other things people do, like abusive training practices, and drugging horses.
In a way I think this particular rider, being affluent, and an author of a book about social climbing, sort of epitomizes the degree for how this pursuit of “image” can undermine the essence of good horsemanship as the optimum goal for this sport.
Showing should not be allowed to become about worshiping an “image of perfection”. It should be about good horsemanship, and he level of individual integrity required to accept not being perfect, as one pursues the genuine knowledge necessary to become a master horseman.
A master horseman must by necessity be able to effectively train and ride horses while possessing a level of self control over their emotions.
No horse will bow to a human because of some degree of esteem that person holds in the world of humans.
Horses give there all to people who set their egos aside, provide them with compassionate leadership, and proove they care about them.
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