It was COTH, the horse was four, and the article made it clear they didn’t even start him o/f until he was four AND that he had sat on the back burner hanging out a lot of the year too. The comments were insane. Just this cute horse pleasantly jumping like 2ft and everyone was screaming about horse abuse.
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Thanks for the clarification, because I did not remember that at all (and I totally believe you).
TRULY insane. I distinctly remember wanting to throw my laptop out the window and never log on again.
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I felt the same way about this development. In this age of social media being transparent is so so important. The USEF and the participants need to go in with the idea that EVERYTHING that goes on at that clinic can and will end up online .
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Do you have a link to share? I don’t recall that at all.
Don’t kid yourselves, this isn’t about protecting the kids. It’s about shielding the clinicians and avoiding a repeat of last year’s debacle. Livestreams can be clipped, saved by viewers, and circulate indefinitely. USEF has no interest in confronting that kind of fallout again.
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This makes me sad.
In the past couple of years I signed up for usef network around the time of the Maryland 5* or maybe the Washington International, And the horsemastership clinic was one of the things I always made a point to watch during the year. And I would watch and rewatch! And even go back through previous years (though the transition to CMH made that difficult, shocking, I know.)!
I didn’t re-up this year. I was thinking I should re-up before January to watch the clinics, but now there is literally no reason for me to re-up.
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Young people may be used to having their “rounds broadcasted” but not their lessons, when they are practicing under instruction, not showing.
They aren’t “pro” yet (whatever you consider that to be, anyone, however unqualified can call themselves a “pro” in the U.S.) They are good, but they are still learning and Juniors can’t be “pro”.
Do you really think that these livestreams in the past showed “abusive training methods”?
I don’t remember seeing that.
Are you one of those young people who are used to riding in the EQ and able to handle your rounds livestreamed (public) as well as having your lessons (private) livestreamed as well? Or are you putting your expectations that they should have all of their riding livestreamed on to them?
Big difference in having your public round watched than having your lesson broadcast.
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This makes me really sad, I have always looked forward to watching this for years. 
The comments were on their facebook post (of course). If you search “Quarter Horse” on COTH’s FB page, it was the second post to come up for me, article title is “Veterinarian And Her Appendix QH Make A Winning Jump Into Hunterland”
I’d forgotten the pic shows her jumping up his neck a bit, and she— a complete amateur that has been focusing on her career for a couple decades & not actively riding, got railed for that in the comments, too.
(She’s younger than I recalled, later 40s, and since I too am nearing that age, I’m gonna retract my “no longer a spring chicken” statement 
)
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There is a big difference between one’s round at the Medal finals being livestreamed (one round of 200 or whatever) and being highlighted like this in a clinic for an extended period of time. To me they are not at all the same thing. This is so for the very reason of the “these kids are supposed to be pros” expectation cited in this thread. Living up to that expectation in a clinic setting is different from performing at a horse show, where a poor performance is 2-3 minutes long and the commentary might be, oh well, a bad day for so and so, or something nicer coming from kind and excellent young commentators. Not, oh wow, so and so is not the rider I thought they were, etc. I read comments like that right here on this forum.
That being said, I’m bummed about not being able to watch it because I’ve learned a lot. There have been some bad moments over the years, and not just last year. I remember George Morris eviscerating a rider years back, it was painful to watch. Over and over being needlessly cruel.
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Found it.
From what I can tell, after reading the comments, most of them didn’t read the article for comprehension. 
BTW, that isn’t the owner in the picture, it’s the rider who showed him for her. 
The owner was the vet at that show.
I suppose if the majority of the participants in the past felt uncomfortable with the live stream, I could accept that. But I doubt if their feelings were consulted. And for those of who can remember when it was GM Horsemastership Series, don’t forget the way he spoke to the riders. And I think they all lined up for the session again if they were eligible. So it smacks of politics. . . .
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I am not sure that I would put a high profile clinic in the same category as regular lesson when it comes to people watching / live streaming. Many clinics of this caliber off auditing opportunities to non riders and participants come expecting their lessons to be watched by others. I personally would see no issue if the organizers chose to live stream an event like this. I would also expect that participants would be told about any auditing / livestreaming before hand, that way they can make an informed decision about participating
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The difference is that many, if not most clinics, have adult participants and paying auditors and they aren’t livestreamed.
This one is restricted to Juniors. I’ll miss watching it but understand the livestream could add unnecessary pressure for the riders.
USEF’s motives are often difficult to decipher, so who knows what they’re really thinking?
