Horse and Hound - Speechless

Not to mention 8 weeks really isn't that long a time. The only big big event that she's missing is Burghley. Ohhh a real hardship that she wont have to fork out the cost of flying over and back again etc etc.

Just a thought. She'd be even more annoyed if she had had to miss Kentucky which is the only US 4* or Badminton (within that 2 week period)
 
Yes I see what you mean, but I think that the image that Mark Philips, WFP et al are trying to project is that this was less wilful abuse and more a tragic accident, ie. she didn't mean to cause the horse pain and distress. Yes abuse, but unintentional, hence the relatively light punishment. They probably think this is less damaging than labelling AT as a cruel calculating horse murderer who should be banned for life...
Perhaps I'm wrong - I didn't buy H&H this month!
 
The problem with that viewpoint is that she WAS cruel and calculating

She was in the overnight lead position after dressage and was on-time on the XC (hence whipping LeS on after the previous 5 fences before his breakdown).

She finished the course in time and would have gone into the lead overnight for a very rich prize

She knew that the horse was lame - she was just hoping that it could be 'got thru' the sunday morning vetting so that she would stand a chance of walking off with the prize money

If she'd pulled up or taken a pull and stopped to check from the saddle then the time penalties she'd have incurred would have probably dropped her down the order or taken away the gap between her and 2nd placed person.

So tbh a lot of the aggro is to do with the fact that despite the 'experts' the general consensus is that she WAS cruel and calculating.
 
I am not saying AT is a cruel calculating horse murderer who should be banned for life but the fact is she displayed a blatant disregard for the welfare of her horse who later died and yet recieved only a token punishment.
I think someone else pointed out that the FEI supposedly have a policy of strict rider liability which appears to have been ignored in this case.
It hardly gives out the right message to the general public does it? You can kick on a horse that is so lame it is virtually on 3 legs (while ignoring the calls to pull up) but that's OK as long as you really care for the horse and didn't realise how lame it was.
 
Well yes I understand that is the opinion of many people (my own included to a degree) - my point is that those in the public eye obviously do not want to portray her as such, evidently feeling that this will not do the sport any good. Whether we agree or not it would appear that they prefer to take the line that she made a mistake rather than deliberately, intentionally, abused her horse; and I'm inclined to agree that this line is probably better for the sport's public image, since the alternative is to suggest that some top riders will do anything to win and do not care about their horses' welfare, which is clearly not true. I don't think a public witchhunt will do anyone in the horse world any good, personally.
Yikes - really set myself up for a hammering now haven't I?!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
it would appear that they prefer to take the line that she made a mistake rather than deliberately, intentionally, abused her horse; and I'm inclined to agree that this line is probably better for the sport's public image

[/ QUOTE ] I would agree with this but for the fact that so many of the public have seen the footage and do not agree that it was just a mistake etc
AT was found guilty of horse abuse by the FEI and IMO it would have been a lot better for the image of the sport if they were then seen to actually punish this in a meaningful way rather then as a token gesture.
 
Actually I think it is better if it is openly put out there that she did a bad thing, and it wasn't just a "technicality" that she got punished for.

Nobody has to pretend that the horse world are all saints - people who abuse their horses should be publically strung up. Yes, it doesn't look good for the horse world, but what is worse?

The public seeing that offenders are severly punished for these offences, or the public seeing horse abuse going on, and little to no punishment being given.

All that is going to do in my opinion, is make people think that a lot of people at the top are quite happy to abuse their horses knowing they will get away with it, and will lie to get out of trouble.

In every sport there are people who abuse the system - there is no good pretending that all horsey people are wonderful and caring and would do anything for their horses. The only way to improve the public view of the sport is to make an example of anyone found guilty of abuse and show we are not tolerant of it.
 
The problem is that the video has been public and therefore the FEI et al SHOULD have been seen to have acted 'seriously'.

The generic feeling that this has been a whitewash on both sides of the Atlantic means that feedback of that sort cannot help but get back to the humane societies.

Sometimes in many arenas it is necessary to 'make an example' of someone in order to prevent further bad activities. If that means that previous offenders have gotten off and one person ends up 'carrying the can' for a lot of other offences then that is just bad luck/tough

If it prevents further transgressions by that offender or others then that can only be good.

AT offended and what has been blatently lacking is the appropriate punishment to fit the crime even within the FEIs own rules.


In this case more than any other sport we have a participant that has no choice - i.e. the horse - and the sport should have been seen to be tougher in this case in comparison with 'doping' offences where riders have had 3, 8 and 12 month suspensions imposed, yet the horses have suffered no physical harm whatsoever.

I will watch with interest ATs style of riding in the future to see if she 'backs off' a little or if she just carries on regardless.
 
It is a very difficult situation, an issue like this is always going to be very emotive and raise very strong opinions. The views expressed in the columns/articles cited may not even necessarily be the privately held opinions of their authors but these people are in the public eye, the decision has been made and being top bods in the sport I'm sure they feel they need to show a united front. We can criticise all we like but I'm not surprised by what's been written.
 
Can I just clarify I'm not defending the FEI's decision, which I also think is too lenient. I'm just trying to say that now the decision has been made I can understand why people like MP and WFP have said what they said - anything else is just going to sound like a personal attack on AT - good some of you may say but what good is it going to do now; I think it's unrealistic to expect them to stick their individual necks out on this.
 
Unrealistic, but cowardly if they won't say what they really feel.

All comments like this from LG, CMP etc make me think is that by defending AT they are basically defending cruelty and ignorance. By insisting she did nothing wrong, they are moreorless saying that its okay to do what she did, okay to push your horse beyond its limits, okay to ride on with a lame horse rather than pull up and check, okay to put ambition before welfare.

And what kind of a message is that to our up and coming young riders? What kind of image does it give of the horse world?

I really think that by defending this decision and defending Amy Tryon, they are giving out a much worse impression of us all.
 
Since when did the incident of the first bad step happen 100m from the finish? Come on H&H at least report the facts correctly
 
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well according to the FEIs decisions

you can kill a horse (so long as you care about it) and get banned and a 1000 franc fine

you can whip it 'cos it reared in a warm up area and get fined 3000 francs and warned as to behaviour

you can accidentally or purposely have banned substances found in your horse and you as the rider will get fined and banned for 3 to 12 months


so really it's OK to kill your horse ......just don't dope it first

[/ QUOTE ]

But for goodness sake, remember NEVER to circle your horse through the start twice when showjumping, otherwise you throw four years of hard work down the drain and get stripped of individual and team olympic gold medals....
 
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