Unsportsmanlike conduct at Hampton Classic

[skip99]

When I first heard of this video and read some comments, I was sure I was going to see an egregious display of abuse. What I actually saw was someone acting out of frustration in an unacceptable manner, but nothing that would have me trying to get this rider suspended.

My perception of the video:

Cantering to jump, horse not forward
Horse swaps off before jump and scoots a little, not forward
Over the jump, not forward, but peeks hard and jumps super round
Lands with his nose in between his knees and ceases forward motion

I think this would have been hard to stick with if it wasn’t a common occurrence with this horse and you weren’t expecting it.

Key point: the rider does not have a crop. I don’t think she thought it all the way out but when she landed on the ground she only knew the horse had to go forward and tried to use her leg as an extension of her body. I’d say 100% if she had a crop she would have reached out and smacked his hip. I think her attempt to push the horse forward with her leg from the ground was poorly executed and ineffective due to her frustration. I have been in situations where I have used my leg to drive the horse forward from the ground, mainly with the occasional horse who is balky and won’t go forward without you at their shoulder, assuming I don’t have a whip for some reason. You don’t have to actually kick them for this to be effective. I hope she feels embarrassed by this situation and can learn more effective ways to discipline a horse from the ground.

I don’t agree that the horse has been abused and “knew it was coming”. I’d say most horses tend to be rather surprised when a person it catapulted over their head and scrambles to their feet and will back away from the ejected rider. Only a select few stand there and say “what happened to you?”.

I agree 100% with trotting that horse our of the ring. He was nappy before the fall and after. He had to go forward even if it wasn’t pretty. Again, rider had no crop to encourage the horse forward from the ground.

I hope the rider is able to learn from her mistakes.

[mvp]

@OverandOnward

What does it mean, ‘the horse was dirty’?

Who are the trainers that are passing around that kind of thinking that so many posters have used that phrase?

The horse was being a horse. Horses do not have the kind of brain cells that provide them with moral or ethical judgments. They just react based on combination of current conditions and past experience.

And that is what makes riding, riding. It is managing the horse that makes a rider into a rider.

I do not understand all the posts implying that some sort of blame goes to the horse for the rider being dumped. The horse is just a reactive animal. And it wasn’t the horse’s idea to be doing any of this.

I think that’s somewhat right and a tad too simplistic.

Horses are smart enough to recognize patterns and to discover what they can do with their body that earns them what they want. So a horse who learns people will get off him and make his life easier (even temporarily) if he, say, rears or props before a fence and goes so as to increase the odds that his rider will come off afterwards (and he’ll earn a few minutes “off” while he’s caught and the work resumes) can be called “dirty” because he is using his athleticism to get our of work, not do engage with the job at hand.

The “dirty” attribute refers merely to a pattern by my way of thinking. It means a horse who goes with impulsion and can “put it in reverse” remarkably fast. To the human “reader,” this looks like a horse giving no indication of his intention to stop. To the horse, of course, he’s just doing what works to earn what he wants.

So when people call horses “dishonest” or “dirty” or “lacking a work ethic,” they don’t mean that in quite the terms you would if you were making the attribution about a person. But the (rather simplistic) feint built into the pattern of behavior; one meant to intimidate (and horses know plenty about how to do that with body language)’ or to evade a request, all of those things are within a horse’s mental capacity.

[Moesha]

Edited this is her- lovely trip- sorry did not have volume on to hear- hmm so in this case not sure what to think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCpVoHA6NIM

[mvp]

@Bellathemustang

Technically she is a billion times better than me, but you can’t teach someone how to care about a horse.

Yes, you can teach someone to care about a horse. Or rather, you can require that of them if they are going to ride. That can be anyone from a parent or mentor, to the trainer who has the client, to the Stewards of the show (for God’s sake, look up the meaning of the word and their job), the governing body of the sport to it’s over-arching culture.

No, you can’t control the deepest emotions of a person. But you can legislate a code of behavior. And, really, sometimes “the inside” changes because of repeated action on the outside. If you are not allowed to take out your frustration on a horse, over time, the desire and need to do that diminishes. Ask just about anyone who got their a$$ chewed as a kid for being unfair to an animal.

[McGurk]

That is the owner, it’s an A/O class. AO over 35. Jazz Johnson Merton = Willamina Merton. Jazz is a nickname for Willamina, she’s using her married name.

ETA: Lovely horse, pretty nice trip.

I believe she has owned the horse for years and won some hunter derbies on him.

[Pocket_Pony]

@mvp

Fine. But here’s the thing:

1. Within that “general you” are some specific people who don’t deserve this.

2. You are doing exactly what you accuse others of doing in the pile-up. You are doing a “drive-by accusation” under the cover of anonymity. And you explain why yourself: You don’t want to be held accountable for what you say on this topic on the internet. But it’s a large enough problem when others do that, that you rig up an alter to say so?

And you explain that you “don’t have the energy” to deal with the blow-back from your comment. You confess that you wish you were stronger (read: had the integrity to stand behind your words), but, you hope, the “mea culpa” will make your readers more sympathetic to the plight of the person who wants to say something that they aren’t adult enough to stand behind. Well, look. I write only what I’m willing to have attributed to me; if I can to it, anyone can do it.

So how about this: If you can’t sign your name to what you post here, if you are going to write something that you don’t want associated with you later, Don’t Post It!

The sport does not get better if people don’t act like adults and make word and deed match.

I didn’t watch the video because I don’t want to see someone kick their horse in the stomach in a fit of anger, but I did read the COTH mention about it. I agree that people do way worse at home and behind closed doors. Note, I am not condoning any of that, nor do I approve of her public display of anger and temper tantrum, nor the steward’s apparent lack of follow through on the judge calling it out. I think that poor displays of sportsmanship, and especially anger directed at the horse, should be called out and disciplined at the show.

I remember back when I was eventing I saw a girl on XC who had trouble with her horse stopping/running out but she got around to do SJ the next day. Then in the SJ round, the horse did a similar stop and run out and she went after him in the ring, SMACKSMACKSMACKSMACKSMACK with her crop. The judged rang the bell and dismissed her for unsportsmanlike behavior. I think everyone who witnessed it was glad to hear the judge ring her out - she deserved to be removed from competition.

I’m guessing that since the rider in this case was already on the ground, she was out of the class so the judge couldn’t do anything? Disappointing that it sounds like the steward basically ignored it. Indeed, I do think there are rules for “them” and rules for “us” and were it a no-name rider the likelihood of discipline would have been higher.

Regarding the post I’m quoting, I don’t think this alter is referring necessarily to people on COTH, though I could be wrong. I understood her posts to mean that she was annoyed at people she knows either in person or on FB who are publicly condemning the rider while privately having temper tantrums of their own. I can understand why she wouldn’t want to get into the drama using her real name. I took it as sort of an exasperated vent about hypocrisy that isn’t directed at anyone here. The h/j showing world is a small place and if this alter is an active competitor in her area, the resulting drama and fallout may not be worth putting her name on it, while at the same time pointing out that hypocrisy does exist.

I mean, just like when I was back in my h/j days and would see a trainer sticking a horse, yet people boo hiss about trainers sticking horses…and I see it right in front of me and it is your trainer and you turn a blind eye because you ride with a local BNT who has nice horses and wins a lot and that blue ribbon means more than not having your horse stuck or LTD at the shows or whatever. And just like people post in double speak about a trainer in their area who does whatever and everyone knows it but no one will name names because it creates All The Drama in person. There is lots of hypocrisy in the sport. But I didn’t read that the alter was singling out anyone here. FWIW.

[Pocket_Pony]

@Moesha

Here is a youtube video of I think the same horse in July - with his previous owner- younger A/O Hunters 3’6" at I love NY. So she must have just gotten him- within the past month before the Hampton Classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCpVoHA6NIM

Isn’t that his current owner, Jazz Johnson? That’s what the announcer says at the beginning of the round…

[rockonxox]

@Pocket Pony

Isn’t that his current owner, Jazz Johnson? That’s what the announcer says at the beginning of the round…

Yes, just using married surname with given first name (instead of a nick name/maiden surname).

[Moesha]

Sorry didn’t recognize the rider and did not have volume- wow in this case this really adds a layer of perspective to the behavior- in a worse way-

[Carolinadreamin]

I think most of us would agree that when out in a public setting, you are (or strive to be) on your best behavior. Jazz Johnson aka Willamena Merton aka Jazz Merton, etc. got tossed off her horse at a very well known public show and then proceeded to “punish” her horse by kicking him in the stomach. That’s a pretty poor public display in any setting.

I would hazard a guess that for this particular person, any financial punishment would not be any type of hardship or deterrent. Since the steward of the show chose to not report this piss poor and against the rules behavior, perhaps a bit of public shaming is the only way to punish Jazz Johnson Merton.

Finally, for any person to try and explain away this abhorrent behavior displayed by a ADULT by saying that perhaps the horse was a dirty stopper or whatever, if you saw a woman punched by a man out in public would you say that perhaps the woman had it coming??? No one would ever say that, so why even attempt to try and look for a behavioral issue with this poor horse???

A kick in the stomach is NEVER a way to correct a horse much less punish it. Period. I don’t care if a kid did it, a rich person did it, a poor person did it, a celebrity did it, etc. It’s wrong, innately so.

[vxf111]

@Carolinadreamin'

Finally, for any person to try and explain away this abhorrent behavior displayed by a ADULT by saying that perhaps the horse was a dirty stopper or whatever, if you saw a woman punched by a man out in public would you say that perhaps the woman had it coming??? No one would ever say that, so why even attempt to try and look for a behavioral issue with this poor horse???

Well, literally NO ONE is saying kicking at the horse is an acceptable reaction to even a dirty stop. Literally no one.

[Pocket_Pony]

I don’t think that anyone is saying “dirty stopper = kick in the gut” as an okay way to address the situation. I don’t think anyone here is defending the behavior at all.

I think some are pointing out what they see with their eye in that one specific moment. To speculate that the horse has a habit of that kind of behavior I am guessing comes from a person’s past experience with a horse that stops, or by going slow-mo with the video to really pick apart every step from the horse.

But to say that was a “dirty move” is not the same as labeling the horse as a “dirty stopper.” And if a horse is a “dirty stopper” then I think that would come from either consistently bad or unsupportive riding (rider throwing horse off balance enough that he just says “no” or landing hard on his back or hanging on his mouth or any other thing that makes the horse’s job difficult or unpleasant) or pain for the horse (which would be my number one guess), to the horse just not liking his job (living in a box stall at show after show can’t be a fun or happy life, no matter how much trainers say their horses get the best of care).

Dirty move =/= dirty stopper.

[Pennywell_Bay]

[B]1. I don’t think it matters a whit it was an ammy and not a pro, trust fund or hard working ammy. This is unacceptable, unsportsmanlike conduct. Full Stop.

2. Do we know which of the 3 stewards to which this was reported? (easy enough to find by just looking at the prize list)
   http://s3.amazonaws.com/cms-hamptonc…R_WEB_Rev2.pdf

3. Dirty horse behavior- irrelevant

4. Repetitive trick- irrelevant

5. To those saying it is easy enough to ride through- maybe /maybe not. I have one that has learned this trick (too deep, too far away) and it is not as easy as you think so I won’t criticize the rider’s ability, but her attitude sucks.:mad:

6. Pile on- in a bad context I can’t agree. This is a public event, being filmed or broadcast live maybe- there is no reasonable expectation of privacy and I AM GLAD people are expressing their outrage.

7. OMG- someone got suspended for X Y Z and is now making a comment about someone kicking a horse on FB :rolleyes:? Hypocrite. Keep your opinion to yourself, Shame on them for having an opinon [sarcasm font enabled].

You don’t have to be blameless to have an opinion.

If people WEREN’T disgusted by this behavior- we’d have more of a problem. You know who I respect- the eventer who got yellow carded for jumping her horse over ropes or something to get back on course= had the CONSTITUTION to go on FB and say “I SCREWED UP”. People ROASTED her. She just kept saying “I SCREWED UP. I WAS WRONG. IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN.”

And to those who say “well- a lot worse happens at XYZ by PDQ”. You are totally missing the point. This behavior, by this person, captured in real time on film - NO CONSEQUENCE as of yet.

A lot worse does happen. USEF- Start calling people out and disciplining. The book was thrown at Farmer et al to make a point. Abide by the rules or suffer the consequences. [/B]

[Carolinadreamin]

@vxf111

Well, literally NO ONE is saying kicking at the horse is an acceptable reaction to even a dirty stop. Literally no one.

You are quite right and I apologize for my inference. It was a poor way of my trying to say that people are muddying up the waters by even debating whether or not the horse was a dirty stopper (or he may have training issues, etc.).

[Bellathemustang]

@mvp

Yes, you can teach someone to care about a horse. Or rather, you can require that of them if they are going to ride. That can be anyone from a parent or mentor, to the trainer who has the client, to the Stewards of the show (for God’s sake, look up the meaning of the word and their job), the governing body of the sport to it’s over-arching culture.

No, you can’t control the deepest emotions of a person. But you can legislate a code of behavior. And, really, sometimes “the inside” changes because of repeated action on the outside. If you are not allowed to take out your frustration on a horse, over time, the desire and need to do that diminishes. Ask just about anyone who got their a$$ chewed as a kid for being unfair to an animal.

I was talking about the emotional aspect, some people just have an innate love and respect for horses, and some don’t. But you bring up a great point that I agree with. Just like some kids will never dream of harming an animal, and others are little shits that love terrorizing anything they can get their hands on. (Can I call hypothetical kids little shits on here?) Some riders will never use or even think to use inappropriate physical punishment, and others need rules to keep them from doing so. The consequences for breaking the rules were not enforced in this case (in my opinion) and that is a shame.

You can retrain a reaction in a person, same as with an animal, and some people need that. Simple, basic training for their simple, basic minds. I consider someone who kicks a horse in reaction to a fall to be of simple mind (and/or mean heart). It is a mean, stupid thing to do. You are not communicating anything but aggression to the horse. You are failing as a rider and person when you employ corporal punishment out of anger.

[bdj]

@StephEq

If something like this had happened at a Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, in front of thousands of people and live cameras, the entirety of the internet/world would have lost their absolute minds. Everyone would say, “Hey, that seemed a bit like an overreaction. Poor dog. Clearly its being mishandled, she shouldn’t be allowed to show dogs or own dogs if she treats them this way”. And the world would agree and she would be shamed on all media outlets, and banned from participating in that dog show again.

If something like this happened at Westminster Kennel Club, the handler would (in all likelihood) have been disciplined by the AKC for a violation of their Code of Sportsmanship: http://images.akc.org/pdf/AKC_code_of_sportsmanship.pdf
With regards to this situation, the critical part is this bit at the end - “Sportsmen refuse to embarrass the sport, the American Kennel Club, or themselves while taking part in the sport.” The AKC does discipline folks who act in ways that are “unbecoming to the sport” with fines and suspensions, and publishes them in the AKC Gazette.

There’s even a handbook dedicated to “Dealing with Misconduct” and it has this description (which I think is a pretty good benchmark): “One test in connection with any kind of scene or altercation occurring during an event is whether a family attending an event for the first time would be likely to decide, after witnessing such an incident, that the sport is not for them.”

In my opinion, the rider in question pretty much fails the “family friendly” test this time.

Does USEF have something like this? (The last time I looked at the rule book, it said AHSA, not USEF!)

[Winding_Down]

@PaintedHunter

And she’s no kid either - in the 36 and over class.

haha, it’s a matter of perspective. Anyone under the age of 50 is immature from my high perch!

[Winding_Down]

@Bellathemustang

I can definitely see the point you are making. Honestly my mind went straight to “wow what a spoiled rich B*” based on her temper tantrum, before I even read the article and saw the name. That just added fuel to my fire of anger towards her. That was just so inappropriate. It is easier for me to blame her money than think that maybe some people are just nasty and think it is ok to lash out at animals.

My apologies for the digression.

I also had this reaction and it occurred to me just before I got to the above post. This has nothing to do with her wealth, but look at how many of our posts (mine included) make reference to her wealth?

I do think that the outcome of such an incident is that people may be MORE careful of displaying tempers in the show ring.

I have lost my temper before with a horse. Try to tell me that you haven’t. I have punished a horse before when it may have been my fault. Not with the fury that this woman displayed, but still, it happened.

I did kick a horse in the belly one time too. Not hard (it is almost impossible to kick a moving target that high off the ground with any force, if you are me), but when he whirled around and tried to cow kick me during saddling, I kicked him in the belly.

Clutching Rosary Beads!

[Bellathemustang]

@Winding Down

I did kick a horse in the belly one time too. Not hard (it is almost impossible to kick a moving target that high off the ground with any force, if you are me), but when he whirled around and tried to cow kick me during saddling, I kicked him in the belly.

Clutching Rosary Beads!

This is actually interesting to me, because in that case I think it might be more appropriate. You are responding as a more dominant horse would “You try to kick me I’ll kick you back”, that to me feels like maybe a horse can connect those dots. Also, that is a safety issue, if your safety is in danger you should use whatever is at your disposal to stay safe then and for future interactions. Could you have reacted differently? Sure. But it was a much different context, your horse probably made the connection “I kick her she kicks me back”. It was a direct cause-effect.

“I fell off and now I am going to kick you” doesn’t make sense. It is not an appropriate reaction. The horse (probably) can’t connect that the rider falling and the kick are related. There are so many things going on in that situation, it isn’t a direct cause/effect. Horse jumps, horse stops, rider falls, horse stands there, rider runs at it kicking.

If anything the horse might think that a human running towards him means he will get kicked. Good way to make a horse afraid of people.

[DMK]

I admit, I’m at a loss to understand why that rider was not issued a yellow card…

1. Absolutely, that horse busted a move that made it hard to sit for the average rider. The 3 P’s (Prop/Pop/Porpoise) consecutively with a fence in the mix are no fun, especially if you are trying to ride the horse like he is a good horse (which is what you do when you are in the Try To Win This Class mode, you don’t score points for making your horse look like a hard ride). Whether he has a history or pulled it out for this one occasion and the reasons why (got up on the wrong side of the stall or has a legitimate ouch) is more a matter for his team than I, but yeah, it was still hard to stay in the tack.

(Translation for the frothyminded: I am not equating the rider’s actions as a viable response to the horse’s actions)

2. I don’t think you can draw any inferences about what she has or has not done to the horse at home or wherever. 99% of the horses would be planning their MOVE AWAY strategy if you ran at their side that way, especially if they were already a bit wired because you came off them. Horses weren’t “dinner” for a few million years without being hard coded to a threat even if it is the first time they saw this particular brand of threat.

(Translation for the frothyminded: I am not saying it’s OK to do what she did, I am just saying you can’t leap to the conclusion the horse was specifically responding because he had been in this position before)

3. Even if she made contact with the horse, the physical damage that move is capable of is just about approaching zero. I’m pretty sure when I have used my hand to whallop a horse who tried to cow kick me on the cross ties, I exerted more force than trying to dance around, catch up to a horse moving away and lift my leg high enough to even make contact.

(Translation for the frothyminded: I am not saying it’s OK to do what she did, I am just saying she picked an unsportsmanlike way to lose her temper that didn’t actually result in physical damage to the horse)

4. And yes, she lost her temper. We’ve all been there. Chances are she was deeply ashamed of it as soon she did it.

However, one of the hard parts about adulting is that our actions, regardless of the cause or how deep our shame, still have CONSEQUENCES. Or more accurately, should have consequences. For sure, hers has been a viral video. The social consequences of which will probably exceed anything USEF could have done. In all honesty, maybe in excess of what should have been done. But with or without COTH, that is the nature of the world we live in.

That said, the judge saw it and reported it, it is unfathomable why the rider was not issued a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct. This seems to be exactly the situation for which the yellow card system was implemented.

(Translation for the frothyminded: One hopes this actually doesn’t need a TFM)