Ellen's temper strikes again

Havn't seen the footage either so can't comment on ellen whittaker but by dealing with a napper by force such as jabbing with the spurs and hauling in the mouth imo just confirms to the horse it was right to nap cause your scared too!
 
Hmmm......not reallly sure why people are taking so much offence to the OP. YES we are probably a bit jealous of her success (even if we don't all admit it!). YES none of us ride anywhere near her level. YES we have probably all lost our temper with our horse before.

BUT....................if her behaviour was as described, I don't see how anyone on her can defend it!
 
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1)we think she has it easy

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Not really,remember her fathers business is selling on,so she has had to prove herself to keep hold of any good rides comming through the yard.

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2)she is pretty and young

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Not out of my 20's yet so not envious of her ago
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and she is one of many,many pretty women in the world
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3)we are envious

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Envy is a waste of time and energy that could be put to good use enjoying your life
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4)she is a bad representative of the sport

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At times she is.
Her "outbursts" look bad to horse people,just think what non horsey people make of them!

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5)our children may be swayed by her "little out bursts"

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Not a worry yet,but partly yes.
I would rather my son looked up to a classy rider who had not got so many wins then a win at all costs type.

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6)the Whittaker name

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TBH I think that is more of a burdan.
She is a Whitaker,so expected to win.Every time.
Thats a LOT of pressure the likes of Beh Maher just dont have to deal with.
Yep,the name has given her chances most would kill for on the way up,but at a cost.
She has not really had any time to make mistakes in private when no one but her connections were looking,and has had to grow up very quickly.
 
Unfortunately there are are, for want of a better word, a lot of arse lickers on here. They will defend their 'heroes' to the end and will not listen to anybody who dares to contradict them.

Anyone who hauls, whips and spurs their horse because it napped is not a nice person and maybe should look to why the horse napped instead. Oddly enough some people think it's ok to abuse horses that are there to make money for their owners... lord knows why that's acceptable to them but it is
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Oh and don't brand me a fluffy bunny hugger - that I am not!
 
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Unfortunately there are are, for want of a better word, a lot of arse lickers on here. They will defend their 'heroes' to the end and will not listen to anybody who dares to contradict them.

Anyone who hauls, whips and spurs their horse because it napped is not a nice person and maybe should look to why the horse napped instead. Oddly enough some people think it's ok to abuse horses that are there to make money for their owners... lord knows why that's acceptable to them but it is
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hear hear.

she may win a lot, she may ride better than any of us on here, but that is NO excuse for taking her temper out on her horse... especially as this wasn't the first time.
i hope she grows up soon...

Oh and don't brand me a fluffy bunny hugger - that I am not!

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I shall ignore than it is about Ellen for a little.

Firstly - if someone makes a poor show of riding in public they should be pulled up. I don't care if it's the pony club gymkana or HOYS. You have a tantrum on a horse and you SHOULD be asked to leave.

All a horse ever needs is a smack. That is all.

I don't care if they're my horses or not, someone making a spectical of themselves needs pulling up.

Now, back to Ellen. I'd never noticed if she was pretty or not. Only that she's part of one of the biggest horsey brand names out there. Reguardless of whether she overreacted, all eyes are on her, and she should be more considerate as to how it will seem in the eyes of others.
 
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Why do we pick on Ellen so much? not saying she does not deserve criticisum but is it that:-
1)we think she has it easy
2)she is pretty and young
3)we are envious
4)she is a bad representative of the sport
5)our children may be swayed by her "little out bursts"
6)the Whittaker name

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I'll go with No. 4. I think she's an appalling ambassader for her sport.
 
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Why do we pick on Ellen so much? not saying she does not deserve criticisum but is it that:-
1)we think she has it easy
2)she is pretty and young
3)we are envious
4)she is a bad representative of the sport
5)our children may be swayed by her "little out bursts"
6)the Whittaker name

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Personally...
1) I expect she HAS had lots more opportunities than other people, but that doesn't bother me. It's just life. I could just as easily (and pointlessly!) be jealous of Angelina Jolie for meeting Brad before I had the chance
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2) Honestly, I don't think she's particularly pretty. Can't argue with her being young
3) Not envious in the least. I might've been when I was younger, but not now.
4) Not particularly. Other riders treat their horses in manners of which I disapprove/frown on. I do think she behaves like a brat sometimes though.
5) Luckily I don't have kids
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BUT if EW(or anyone else) could undo years of teaching from parents then we would be serious sh!t
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6) What about it? I'm actually niece to a very famous SJer in Argentina. I'm incredibly relieved I don't have to live up to his name!!
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the only reason i have a very slight dislike for ellen is that she ran into me at hickstead and sent me flying and didn't stop or even look back to see if i was ok.

haven't seen the round so can't comment, she rides alot better than some of the wannabes i've seen (not saying i'm any better than the wannabes but i don't profess to be either)

what i would say is i think we don't know what works for that horse, if it was treated like that when it was broken a slight squeeze with the spurs aren't going to do anything if it is napping!!

i personally have to boot the [****] out of my mare if she naps (without spurs i hasten to add) otherwise she goes 'yer you and who's army!' we have tried the nicely nicely approach and it just doesn't work for my horse she just rips the p**s out of you. just a bit of food for thought not every horse is as easy to ride as they seem!!!
 
i havent seen this particular footage so cant comment on that but did see her and hickstead and can imagine this to be true
it is a bad image for the sport and she does come across as very spoiled and i think it needs to be addresses
and im aloud to say that as she is older than me
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what i would say is i think we don't know what works for that horse, if it was treated like that when it was broken a slight squeeze with the spurs aren't going to do anything if it is napping!!

i personally have to boot the [****] out of my mare if she naps (without spurs i hasten to add) otherwise she goes 'yer you and who's army!' we have tried the nicely nicely approach and it just doesn't work for my horse she just rips the p**s out of you. just a bit of food for thought not every horse is as easy to ride as they seem!!!

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Totally agree with this! My bay Sammi can be an absolute git to ride - especially in the ring! We have good days and bad days, and usually we get placed. A local girl slated my placings saying it was because I was on a push button ride - point him at a jump and he does it all for me... hmmmmm... so I let her pop Sammi over a small cross pole at the yard! He proceeded to go all hells bells doing several laps of the field before he 'popped' the 5 bar gate with her
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I called him and he came back to me. She soon changed her mind and realised he wasn't so easy to ride afterall!!!
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I haven't seen the footage so can't comment, nor do I condole excessive smacks/kicks... but..... sometimes the watchful eye misses what the horse is actually doing and the rider trying to control/correct.

Watching Ellen Whitaker & Ladina B winning The Puissance HOYS 2009, it was for everyone to see that the mare was being a massive handful. She is extremely petite and I thought she managed that strong mare pretty well! xx
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Haven't seen the footage and don't condone cruelty in any way - but at least she isn't hiding this and is doing it in full public view to a certain extent. I do wonder sometimes what some riders get up to behind the scenes and out of prying eyes.

Not that this makes it better, but I have seen far worse things happen in lorry parks etc
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Personally I'd take my horses away if I was her owner, someone who has to beat the sh@t out of them to get a result is not the rider for me i'm afraid.

Yes I think she comes across as a petulant spoilt brat and I blame the horsey media entirely for portraying her as the ' salvation' of showjumping, in that she's young and successful.

She would do well to remember its the horses she is beating who got her there.

And for what its worth I don't think she's pretty, its only the long blonde hair that makes her look glamorous without that she looks like a hamster. But does that matter, no not one bit.
 
I haven't seen this latest footage but I lost all respect for her after hixstead...... first of all the way she was spuring that mare on top of the bank I thought she had a death wish then after she was disqualified he repeatedly spured and yanked this already upset mare even when she'd walked her down the escape route. This is probs a good minute after the initial refusal and about 30 seconds after the bell.

I do admit there probs isn't anyone else who could get latina B over a puissance wall though. There's talent in there, obviously in abundance, but these strops will catch up with her soon enough. The tide is already turning against her.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjff7WE4Y...=PL&index=3

OK I've just found this.

Two hard smacks on the arse is totally acceptable if your horse is being a tit. Sorry but this is the reason why so many people have horses they are scared of.

My own rule now is that if i'm on a horse I'm too scared to smack if it's naughty/dangerous then I shouldn't be on it! Hence the reason why I have a 14.2 now!!
 
That clip I think the punishment was a judgement call. Watching it I'd say the refusal was down to rider error, coming down to tight. BUT riding it I think you can justify two short sharp smacks totally. Speed/jump off rounds never look too tidy and the whole round looks fairly typical.

However as SallySmith says this was 2007. These temper tantrums only seem to have come to the fore (or perhaps only now being reported) in the last year or two.
 
Is that a question? It's the quickest one I found - couldn't be bothered to trawl through youtube....there seems to be hundreds of vids of her!!

Does anyone have any others?

I felt awful when I first got my mare as I really had to be hard on her to get her to go in front and out on her own to hack (she was being stubborn not scared) but now she hacks out on her own happily, she could have turned into an annoying napper, and I've had one of those before :-)
 
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That clip I think the punishment was a judgement call. Watching it I'd say the refusal was down to rider error, coming down to tight. BUT riding it I think you can justify two short sharp smacks totally. Speed/jump off rounds never look too tidy and the whole round looks fairly typical.

However as SallySmith says this was 2007. These temper tantrums only seem to have come to the fore (or perhaps only now being reported) in the last year or two.

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Ahhhhh ok
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Be interesting to see a clip
 
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Two hard smacks on the arse is totally acceptable if your horse is being a tit.

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I would agree completely but in that vid the horse had no chance of jumping the fence. Crap line, on forehand, twisted and running through left shoulder.
I'm definitely a fan of EW but do agree that sometimes her temper gets the better of her.
 
i was looking for her hickstead derby round this year on you tube but couldnt find it. that would show what people are saying about her strops
 
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I don't understand the "you can't have an opinion you've not jumped an international 1.50 course" argument at all.

In any other sport if a person shows bad sportsmanship or something we don't like - we criticise it. We criticise the world cup players who dive, we criticised the rugby lad who used fake blood to cheat, and we hold up and applaud cricketers who walk before the umpire raises a finger.

It doesn't take success to be able to recognise bad sportsmanship and vulgar behaviour, which is what makes the display of it even more disgusting.

This woman comes from a very good family, and from what I can see she is the only one who acts like this, and the only one who we are "envious" of. Of course we all wish we could be where she is - I wish I could be where a lot of people are, but there is a reason why she is the one who people are disgusted at, and not every single successful rider out there.
 
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Two hard smacks on the arse is totally acceptable if your horse is being a tit.

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I would agree completely but in that vid the horse had no chance of jumping the fence. Crap line, on forehand, twisted and running through left shoulder.
I'm definitely a fan of EW but do agree that sometimes her temper gets the better of her.

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Ditto.

I wouldn't say the horse was being a tit in that video. It had nowhere to go, and that wasn't a naughty stop, so I don't think it was particularly justified to wallop it right then.
 
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Hmmmmm i smell I bit of a rat.....
This is on YouTube....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slMhsHyts...PL&index=24

Horse refuses the bank, she pops him over the jump on the top and walks him out in a dignified manner. How she's supposed to behave, she can do it. But I can't find anything when she had the strop..... even watched a few compliations.

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2008 and looks like Naf Naf? He is quite spooky and have seen him stop in a fair few rounds(sometimes because he had nowhere to go after rider error,sometimes because the fence was clearly going to eat him
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Maybe(pure speculation
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) but maybe that is why Ladina B got such bad treatment-Ellen saw another shot at the Derby go out the window at the same fence and lost her rag.
Goes back to my point earlier about knowing when to call it a day and get off
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Sadly,EW seems to have these outbursts far more,and far more publicly then anyone else-but I honestly belive ANY rider acting the way she does on bad days would get the same dressing down from the horse public.
JW has far more to be jealous off,but there is nothing but praise for him because he is a wondrfull horseman as well as a bloody good rider!
 
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JW has far more to be jealous off,but there is nothing but praise for him because he is a wondrfull horseman as well as a bloody good rider!

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God yeah. He is such a legend, his lower back is like iron. I have seen him look scarilly angry/p*ssed off in his face but never seen it translated to his legs or hand.
 
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