Chris Wynne reported the incident to the stewards.
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To me, the horse was dirty. BUT, I don’t know the circumstances. He might have been fresh, or annoyed at the rider for an earlier part of the ride. I don’t know and don’t wish to take the time to look up a full video if there is one. The horse looked spooky on takeoff, landed, rider slightly up his neck, and he rounded his back and tossed his head down. That, to me, is a dirty act by a horse, but not altogether unjustifiable on his part pending the circumstances which I know not of.
The rider fell off. To all of you saying that she should have stuck it, I’d like to remind you that not everyone is perfect as you apparently are. Sure, she could have sat up and possibly saved it, but we all have those coulda shoulda woulda moments and sometimes we eat dirt. She flipped off, big whoop. I know a lot of people, including myself, that probably would have fallen off at something like that.
The issue is not with what the horse did or with her riding as shown in the video, it’s her response which I’m glad to see many people actually focused on. What she should have done is hopped up, walked towards her horse, given him a pat to show good sportsmanship, and exited the arena to discuss future goals and things to work on with her trainer based on that ride. Perhaps the trainer should have hopped on for schooling to put an end to that nonsense spook and hop, trying to get him more relaxed and well behaved for the next class. Instead, she chose to make an ass of herself at her horse’s expense, and should have been punished for it. At home, it still wouldn’t have been okay but there she would have had a trainer or person to reprimand her and disallow it from happening again. In public at a show like this, she should have been slammed for it and I think social media will do enough of that for her. Just goes to show that money can’t buy class.
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Regardless of her riding ability, regardless of her wealth, regardless of her position in society, regardless of the horse’s tendency to or not to be dirty… let’s say that this is the average joe rider ammy adult. Kicking your horse in the belly is not an appropriate reaction. No matter WHO exhibits this behavior in the show ring, it should be dealt with consistently.
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It’s fine to discuss this public incident, but please do so without the personal insults and inappropriate language, per our posting policies. We’ve removed/edited some posts.
Thanks,
Mod 1
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I agree with this - I do feel badly for any horse that is in a bad situation- with an abusive ungrateful rider- but we are not getting the whole story and we do not know the whole story- I also find it laughable -that those who have attacked this rider on social media- don’t seem to have the same scrutiny with their “friends” list- I for one am not judging people for their rights and wrongs in the horse industry -I have friends who have made mistakes and been set down- just being honest- I think they are great people who made mistakes- that’s my right to think so- I don’t agree with what they have done- but I also don’t get on social media holier than thou about things like this- while dancing around a glass house and liking posts and kissing A@# of people who have done far worse- hypocrisy and mob bs.
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I know neither the horse nor rider : That being said, she acted as if she was about 13 years old throwing a tantrum trying to drag her pony back to the barn. As others have said before, they think that this is something the horse does regularly, I as a rider should be expecting it and maybe sitting up and riding a bit more leg into hand to the fence.
There is no reason to have kicked the horse, I just think what would GHMD… I think he would have calmly gotten up, patted the horse, nodded to the judge and walked the horse out of the ring. Get on in the schooling ring, head to a warm up fence with a cooler draped on it sat back spur - stick - jump… end of that. regroup head into your next class with a better plan to be ready for your horse to look.
Totally unacceptable behavior and she should have repercussions for her actions from USEF.
I am happy that the judge reported it that at least one boot in the right direction…
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Yet the steward for the show reported that no abuse happened that day? Am I correct in my understanding? Who was the steward?
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I’m with you. The hypocrisy surrounding the mad pile on is pretty interesting. Many people sharing and commenting that are full of crap.
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A serious question arises, however:
If the governing body of the sport doesn’t chastise appropriately, doesn’t act like “the adult in the room,” don’t you think that opens the door for the rabble to do that in their own? The “pile on” reads to me like a whole bunch of people consoling themselves with being in the moral majority because those with power to do anything aren’t.
I’m not sure that pent-up frustration is proportionate to this one incident. But the USEF’s track record for rather lax or casual treatments of other kinds of pretty-bad infractions; the increasing economic gap between permanently-rich like the rider in this case and you-might-end-up-poor-no-matter-how-hard-you-work people; plus the option for seeing and commenting on everything created by the internet all contribute.
My point: If someone other than a wolf is babysitting the hen house, the chickens won’t scream.
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Apparently the rider is, or used to be, MFH of the Essex Hunt…
The people that are calling the horse “dirty”, really? That is a very, very nice horse. I’ve ridden dirty stoppers before, he sure doesn’t look like one to me. And the dirty stoppers I knew? They had a reason, and it wasn’t because they were evil. Good grief.
Lovely horse, ugly ride.
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In a relate-able way; I have a horse that “appears” very similar to this. He is the sweetest, kindest horse around “however” if he gets in weak, is fresh or feels unbalanced - he roots. It doesn’t happen often but it does happen. I know this about him. He is a beautiful mover and wins in the Hunters and is worth those moments that we are working on by getting him stronger, helping me understand the proper ride. All horses have some sort of evasion or objectionable behavior… Some root, buck, spook, bolt, spin, rear… IMHO each horse usually uses the same objection each time.
I have to agree with VFX’s thoughts on this and feel there is some accuracy to it. Reason I think this is good to discuss is WHY did this horse porpoise? Was he was fresh and she gave him the wrong ride? Then she got mad. She needs to see this so it can be worked on.
This issue is more about anger and self control of the rider than the ability to ride a horse properly every stride. (because we all know it is a never ending adventure as an ammy)
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I rode a dirty stopper for a few years! Mine would have a lovely canter right up until the front feet were leaving the ground, then wham, spin and you were off… not once did I react like this! Yes I did cry at times but I simply gathered my reins and walked out of the ring, humiliated? Yes sometimes but damn I was sitting up and ready the next time! Eventually I and my trainer called it quits as the horse just wasn’t amateur friendly but did not ever lose m temper like this rider did! Nope, this one doesn’t look dirty but maybe not an “easy” ride… many very good horses get “humpy” if you miss, or land heavy on them… but either learn to ride through it or move on gracefully!
I dont know who she is, but this is a reminder to all that someone is always watching!
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Do we think for a minute the social media outrage would have been any less if the show/stewards/USEF had responded with the appropriate measures? I don’t. This is click-bait at its finest and, while I absolutely condemn her behavior, I’m not in love with the idea that COTH hung this lady out to dry to boost traffic numbers. I am pretty sure the internet could have spread the word about this particular princess themselves, and COTH could have jumped in with some actual answers. I read the “If you see something, say something” follow up and - love ya, COTH - but not really buying it. It’s not a “valid case of questionable treatment of a horse”, it is decidedly foul treatment of a horse, no question there. The real “question” is why nothing was done about it and minimal insight was acquired in that department before posting a video of a video, which is probably some sort of copyright infringement somewhere. COTH is a major publisher, why not track down “official” video through the proper channels? There is re-telling, and there is reporting, and I’m feeling the line get a little blurry these days.
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FWIW the fact that I think the behavior looked dirty (and I still think it does) does not mean that I think the horse is “evil” or “bad” and it doesn’t preclude the fact that it may have stemmed from freshness, or soreness, etc. I’m just saying that I don’t think that was the display of bad RIDING that so many people are accusing, the horse looked like it knows how to throw a trick pretty well (whether it only did that due to freshness or cold weather I have no idea), the rider looks like she knows how to ride that trick, and that was a pretty hard trick to stay on through.
Which does not excuse her behavior afterwards. If you want to say that was inappropriate, unsportsmanlike, unhelpful, etc. I would agree with you. I’m not ready to crucify her like she was pulling the limbs of kittens for fun-- but yes I think there is absolutely no place for how she reacted once she fell.
I think it is a valid thing to question why a yellow card wasn’t issued. I think it is valid to discuss what a judge/steward should do under those circumstances.
I don’t see that there’s much useful in a million people saying her reaction was uncalled for because I don’t think anyone here disagrees. I don’t see anyone advocating kicking the horse’s belly as a training strategy or claiming they would do the same under the circumstances.
I’m just not prepared to malign everything about this woman from who she’s related to to how she rides based on that video. I do think her reaction out of anger is something that should not be tolerated. I am glad the judge reported it and I would be curious to know if it met the criteria for a yellow card and why one wasn’t issued. I just don’t think a million people saying “she just needs to learn to sit up” and “I would have stuck that” is helpful or realistic. Even if he’s normally a saintly animal, that was a pretty rough trick her threw her (for whatever reason). I see why she’d be frustrated. That in no way justifies her reaction.
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I don’t think anyone disagrees her behavior was inappropriate. It absolutely was unacceptable. I think we’re all in agreement there.
It’s possible to have a discussion about the horse completely separate from the rider, solely about the horse’s actions leading up to and after the fence. Really, a horse can be a nice horse and still have a dirty trick up his sleeve. And discussing whether or not the horse is dirty doesn’t mean people think he didn’t have a reason, pain or otherwise, to do what he did.
I suspect people who are saying they would have stayed on probably haven’t ridden exactly what this horse did before. He propped before the fence, popped leads, sprung big over the fence and then pulled her completely out of the tack by rooting while also stopping momentum.
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It is completely irrelevant to me whether the horse was naughty, or dirty, or whatever you want to call it, or whether someone thinks the rider should have stayed on. I look at it and see poor sportsmanship and an attempt to abuse her horse. I can think of no circumstance in which it would occur to me to kick a horse in the belly from the ground, and the horse’s reaction tells you that is exactly the relationship they have, the horse absolutely knew it was coming and was trying to get out of the strike zone. It is disappointing that the stewards appeared to do nothing. If you are so angry at your horse, or you dislike your horse so much, that you are willing to publicly kick it in the belly, then you need to seriously consider finding a horse that is a better fit for you and think about why you are doing this. This is not someone who is stuck with the horse she has - if it makes you so angry, and you have the resources she does, find a better match and send this horse on to someone else who hopefully will treat it better than you do.
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Why? Why do you suspect that?
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And my point is that many of those people piling on and consoling themselves are not in the moral majority. Far from it.
Besides the general nature of social media pile-ons, I think one of the reasons that the video has generated so much outrage is that it looks like something from a bad episode of the Saddle Club. I mean, can you imagine if someone on COTH made a post like this: “I’m writing a screenplay about life on the A-circuit and I have this great idea for a scene in which the mean, rich girl falls off of her beautiful expensive horse during the Big Special Horse Show, tries to kick it in the stomach, and then drags it off.” I think most posters would say that the idea was absurd and melodramatic and yet that’s exactly what happened. On camera. In real life.
Plus, on the video the rider’s body language after the fall appears to treat the horse in such a mechanical way, as if the horse was a piece of equipment like a bike or a tennis racket that failed her, not just with the silly little kick but also the way in which she leads him, as if she doesn’t even know how to lead a horse properly.
Honestly, regarding the quality of her riding over the jump or the horse, I don’t think the video is good enough to make a judgement either way. The view of the jump (but not what happened afterward) is somewhat obstructed. It’s one jump. The pair has had success in the past and according to the online comments he was being spooky that day. Who knows? Maybe she was having an unusually bad day. Maybe the horse was having an unusually bad day.
Regardless, as others have said, it’s not one of those ambiguous issues like when a pro gives a strong but meaningful correction to a green horse during a round for training purposes (because we’ve all seen those Internet pile-ons as well). This was just acting out of anger, pure and simple, and the horse clearly has no idea what the hell is going on.
At first, I was surprised to learn the rider’s age. But then again, if she was a teenager, maybe she would have had a better internalized sense that any bad behavior on her part could go viral.
Edited to add–if you Google “Joe Cool horse,” there are numerous videos of the horse with different riders on YouTube. I don’t really want to post links and drag other people into the mess but if people are curious to see how the horse goes with others for their own curiosity, they are pretty easy to find.
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