LeMieux in trouble with the ASA

Meowy Catkin

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There absolutely is sexism towards mares. It was a few years ago now but I had a very interesting conversation with my Vet about it. They were very clear that they had experienced owners of mares waiting longer before treating physical issues because the behaviour that the horse was using to express that something was wrong was blamed on 'marishness.' As that couldn't be said for male horses, they tended to get proper veterinary input sooner.

I have many experiences of people blaming any spooking or any undesirable behaviour on the horse's sex. As I said earlier, combine that with the mare in question being chestnut and it gets worse. The sad thing is that it's usually a women IME saying the derogatory comments. Now I know that my CM didn't understand what they were saying, but I did and it really started to get to me as it was relentless at one point on the yard I was on at that time. My mare also knew when people didn't like her, she could read their body language.
 

coblets

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There absolutely is sexism towards mares. It was a few years ago now but I had a very interesting conversation with my Vet about it. They were very clear that they had experienced owners of mares waiting longer before treating physical issues because the behaviour that the horse was using to express that something was wrong was blamed on 'marishness.' As that couldn't be said for male horses, they tended to get proper veterinary input sooner.
just like how women often get diagnosed with issues later because doctors assume they're being hysterical and it's just period pain...
 

SOS

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There absolutely is sexism towards mares. It was a few years ago now but I had a very interesting conversation with my Vet about it. They were very clear that they had experienced owners of mares waiting longer before treating physical issues because the behaviour that the horse was using to express that something was wrong was blamed on 'marishness.' As that couldn't be said for male horses, they tended to get proper veterinary input sooner.

I have many experiences of people blaming any spooking or any undesirable behaviour on the horse's sex. .

I haven’t personally experienced this but can see how it may happen. But “being mare ish” is not an untrue thing to say - a mare is an entire animal where as a gelding is not and does not have sexual hormones. Therefore some behaviours from a mare may be more abnormal in a gelding - cow kicking for example. Any changes in behaviour should be investigated but sometimes it is down to them not being neutered and displaying different behaviours due to this.

As for the name of the feed if a mare was “a woman with lots of casual sexual partners” they would be pregnant so their behaviour would be very different. So makes very little sense to me.
 

PurBee

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The marketing of the product in fact does nod in the direction of the word used offensively towards women by having the font of the product resemble a neon sign in Soho, complete with neon colouring and a symbol of a …erm..flamingo? Not sure what its meant to be but looks like a large bird, confusingly, on a horse product. ?
(probably a flamingo means slut in human sex industry, just like pampas grass and pineapples mean youre a swinger…of neither im familiar with until this enlightening forum!)

IF a young temperamental filly horse was commonly called a slut by the industry, that’s a reasonable product name. Many here attest it’s not a recognised term for such horses. Yet it’s a recognised derogatory term for human women, and the company evidently were aware of THAT, and used the inferences of that meaning to market their product with neon sex industry graphics….what on earth were they thinking?! HUGE marketing fail considering the amount of women in the industry.

0D8073AA-221F-4FAD-AB5B-E8C883C62C1F.jpeg
 

Caol Ila

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I'm glad Purbee posted a photo, because I didn't know what the whole mishegoss was about, but wow. Really? I guess someone in that coompany's marketing department thought it was funny. The whole font/graphics thing is like the West 50s, Manhattan, 1980s, with brothels, peep shows, and a whole culture shaming women (but not men) with more casual or undefinable sexual connections, i.e. not marriage. Is there a male equivalent of "slut?" No, didn't think so.

And it's transferring those misogynistic values onto female horses, who have a strong drive to reproduce (which is totally natural for an entire animal!), and who might benefit from supplements that can cool down the hormones, because it's usually impractical/impossible for most leisure/competition horse owners to let them follow those natural urges. Some mares feel it more than others. My old mare used to lose her mind during her early-season heats, so anything you could give her to help was as much for her benefit as mine. She would get so stressed, and while putting her in foal would have probably cooled her jets, it was not an option. As I type this, Hermosa hasn't had any episodes of losing her mind during an early season heat this year (we will not talk about last year's foal heat). Maybe she will be one of those mares who copes easily with her seasons. I live in hope......

I like the depth and passion of my mare. I like the steadiness of my gelding. I really liked knowing that there was no way in hell that my gelding could be in foal when I bought him. They are different. In any case, it's a stupid name for those supplements. It's absolutely sexist against both mares and women, that assumption that "difficult" behaviours surrounding hormones, reproduction, and femininity are "slutty" and therefore unwanted, unsociable, unheard.
 
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billylula

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"I have to be very careful when writing to my female French friends, because I often miss out the letter "a" of the word "salut"."

Why??
 

Ambers Echo

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I guess the male equivalent of slut is stud - which is used admiringly. Says it all really. I think the term is revolting and misogynistic in any context. And I dislike derogatory terms for horse behaviour anyway - the main reason I stopped following shiteventersunited. It leads to lazy/incurious/horse blaming thinking and horses deserve better.
 

billylula

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I guess the male equivalent of slut is stud - which is used admiringly. Says it all really. I think the term is revolting and misogynistic in any context. And I dislike derogatory terms for horse behaviour anyway - the main reason I stopped following shiteventersunited. It leads to lazy/incurious/horse blaming thinking and horses deserve better.
I totally agree. I also stopped following shiteventers because of this. Just got sick of horses being called twats, bastards etc - don't mind the odd one! But it was constant
 

Meowy Catkin

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I haven’t personally experienced this but can see how it may happen. But “being mare ish” is not an untrue thing to say - a mare is an entire animal where as a gelding is not and does not have sexual hormones. Therefore some behaviours from a mare may be more abnormal in a gelding - cow kicking for example. Any changes in behaviour should be investigated but sometimes it is down to them not being neutered and displaying different behaviours due to this.

As for the name of the feed if a mare was “a woman with lots of casual sexual partners” they would be pregnant so their behaviour would be very different. So makes very little sense to me.
I'll expand a bit as it was quite eye opening for me. If the behaviours related to seasons, then yes it would make sense to consider hormones as the cause. However what the vet was discussing was serious issues over a long time with no link to the mare being in season or not. Horses that were later diagnosed with kissing spine or bilateral hind limb lameness for example.
 

Kaylum

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I guess the male equivalent of slut is stud - which is used admiringly. Says it all really. I think the term is revolting and misogynistic in any context. And I dislike derogatory terms for horse behaviour anyway - the main reason I stopped following shiteventersunited. It leads to lazy/incurious/horse blaming thinking and horses deserve better.
Totally agree and the bad riding and management of those poor horses. Lots of the videos are also set up on purpose.
 

Goldenstar

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It’s a form of misogyny to use words like for mares .
In world is it a good idea to call mares struggling to work for us when a natural part of their cycle makes it hard for them a slut .
I have no idea why a company would chose to call a product that I certainly would buy it.
I did see that product online and thought yuk .
 

AShetlandBitMeOnce

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And I dislike derogatory terms for horse behaviour anyway - the main reason I stopped following shiteventersunited. It leads to lazy/incurious/horse blaming thinking and horses deserve better.

Oh god, this page was the worst for that! I am the least precious person re: vocabulary you could find, and even I unfollowed for the same reason.. the whole 'patchy tw*t' thing or saying the horse is a bast@rd because you have presented it at a 100cm oxer either on a horrid stride, it's lame or you have no impulsion. That page made me despair, daily.
 

MotherOfChickens

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The marketing of the product in fact does nod in the direction of the word used offensively towards women by having the font of the product resemble a neon sign in Soho, complete with neon colouring and a symbol of a …erm..flamingo? Not sure what its meant to be but looks like a large bird, confusingly, on a horse product. ?
(probably a flamingo means slut in human sex industry, just like pampas grass and pineapples mean youre a swinger…of neither im familiar with until this enlightening forum!)

IF a young temperamental filly horse was commonly called a slut by the industry, that’s a reasonable product name. Many here attest it’s not a recognised term for such horses. Yet it’s a recognised derogatory term for human women, and the company evidently were aware of THAT, and used the inferences of that meaning to market their product with neon sex industry graphics….what on earth were they thinking?! HUGE marketing fail considering the amount of women in the industry.

View attachment 91708

unfortunately alot of women wouldnt see the problem-given how popular slogans are on hoodies etc, calling their horses all sorts and themselves as 'moody mares :rolleyes:'. FB friends got upset when I asked that they didnt invite me to aforementioned FB page, even people that I thought knew better thougt it hilarious. Maybe I take myself too seriously, but have never found being proud of being rubbish at something something to aspire to (its why I hated high school!).
 
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sbloom

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Oh god, this page was the worst for that! I am the least precious person re: vocabulary you could find, and even I unfollowed for the same reason.. the whole 'patchy tw*t' thing or saying the horse is a bast@rd because you have presented it at a 100cm oxer either on a horrid stride, it's lame or you have no impulsion. That page made me despair, daily.

I'm even starting to struggle following anyone that slags their horse or pony off for being naughty in any way, we have too much information out there now that horses just aren't tw*ts, people must be ignoring it.
 

huskydamage

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I have two mares and whilst I do feed one oestress in the summer if I've got some competitions coming up to make my life easier, I wouldn't buy this product. its such a negative word its the absolute last thing I'd associate my mare with, she is a sweetheart, just because in the height of her season she understandably gets a bit excitable/distracted in the warmup doesn't make her the whore of babylon! ?
 

Shilasdair

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I'm even starting to struggle following anyone that slags their horse or pony off for being naughty in any way, we have too much information out there now that horses just aren't tw*ts, people must be ignoring it.

Then again, my mare pulled a plastic fence post out of the ground and threw it at my partner, javelin style. :D Partner and I were highly amused by this but it's hard to see that as intended to be helpful in any way.
(If I'm found murdered in the field, with fence posts sticking out of me, I expect you all to inform the police).
 

milliepops

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i think you can see a wily old horse that knows where the boundaries are and pushes them on purpose... i have one of those, she will look me in the eye as she busts into the haylage... no craps given :p

but I do agree, blaming the horse for having bad behaviour usually just means that the person isn't able to accept that it may be their lack of skill or competence that is the root of the problem. i am not sure if that is people ignoring information, maybe more that it just does not compute, is incompatible with their view of themselves and their relationship with horses in general.

not sure if it's maybe human nature to think like that (so you have to practice challenging it ) - i mean, who hasn't looked accusingly at a door handle for willfully wrapping itself around your pocket when you're in a rush. the door handle has even less capacity for intent than the horse but I still feel utterly wronged when that happens!!
 

sbloom

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not sure if it's maybe human nature to think like that (so you have to practice challenging it ) - i mean, who hasn't looked accusingly at a door handle for willfully wrapping itself around your pocket when you're in a rush. the door handle has even less capacity for intent than the horse but I still feel utterly wronged when that happens!!

Luckily you tearing your door handle a new a**hole on social media won't lead to the mistreatment of other door handles :D (I hate this emoticon, it doesn't look like actual giggle type laughing!)
 

Shilasdair

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i think you can see a wily old horse that knows where the boundaries are and pushes them on purpose... i have one of those, she will look me in the eye as she busts into the haylage... no craps given :p

but I do agree, blaming the horse for having bad behaviour usually just means that the person isn't able to accept that it may be their lack of skill or competence that is the root of the problem. i am not sure if that is people ignoring information, maybe more that it just does not compute, is incompatible with their view of themselves and their relationship with horses in general.

not sure if it's maybe human nature to think like that (so you have to practice challenging it ) - i mean, who hasn't looked accusingly at a door handle for willfully wrapping itself around your pocket when you're in a rush. the door handle has even less capacity for intent than the horse but I still feel utterly wronged when that happens!!

:)
Trying to be positive here (before I am stabbed by my 'wily old horse') I think it's great that horses are relaxed, confident and playful enough to be 'naughty' without fear of repercussion. They have such short lives, I think we owe it to them to make them happy to the best of our ability, without calling them 'slut' etc.
I may insure my partner though. :D
 

Palindrome

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"I have to be very careful when writing to my female French friends, because I often miss out the letter "a" of the word "salut"."

Why??

Probably because of the different keyboards, the French "azerty" keyboard puts the a where the q is in the English "qwerty" keyboard and when writing quickly you can sometimes exchange them or miss the letter all together. It has certainly happened to me.
 
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I always called GrayMo a moron because his name fitted into he song - Gordon (GrayMo) is a moron! And that was purely because of the faces he pulled and the antics he got up to with unsuspecting humans or ponies in his field! There was never, ever any badness or malice in him just 100% pure micky taking! He was great in a game of tag! He would get you with his tail or a clod of mud he had kicked up to tag you ? what I wouldn't give to have him back causing mischief!

A delivery guy came walking across rhe field the other day as no one answered the door. We were at the far side redoing the fence and he walked across without a care in the world. If Gray had still been in the field the guy wouldn't have got a moment's peace and would have had the scanner in his hand full examined before he would have spun away, kicking up dirt and cantering across the field with his tail up. The place is far, far too quiet without him.
 
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