Video - Abuse in the showing world

meleeka

meleeka

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 September 2001
Messages
12,496
Location
Hants, England
Visit site
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the video doing the rounds on FB/Tiktok regarding a the abuse of a horse by a well known showing producer who has previous form for cruelty.

I'm assuming we are allowed to discuss it, as the CJD post is still up, or perhaps not, I don't know anymore!

Anyhow, I'm pleased the showing societies seem to have reacted swiftly
and suspended him and I hope an prosecution happens soon.
 
he’s local to me so i saw it very early on, very pleased to see other professionals standing up & speaking out about it - the likes of these people are too arrogant to listen to the opinion of us lowly amateurs (tongue in cheek), but just maybe they’ll stop and reflect from other people at the top of the game calling it out.

when i was looking to send one of mine away i had loads of recommendations, but half of them i’d seen/heard a “horror story” about, so i ended up doing it myself. does seem to be especially prevalent in the showing world - luckily aforementioned person was never considered as mine is 13.2🤣
 
I’ve not yet seen mention of this, so am not yet aware of which is the latest professional rider to be caught out 🙁.

If a proper link, eg to an official response from a showing society, comes up please share it, that should be allowed.

Can’t see anything on it yet on the Horse and Hound news page - quelle surprise.
 
I have no time for showing. The organisations are slow to do anything, the expectations for welfare are low and they do very little because it's not an FEI governed sport. It's also not helped that they have about 4/5 different bodies rather than just one. Every time I watch professional showing I am sickened. Ponies being warmed up by adults, insanely tight martingales, fat horses, fat riders, rigged judging. Someone recently asked to borrow some regumate off me because they had a riggy colt which kept ruining its showing and they had 'tried' everything else. This is a top level producer. Nothing really happened to Lynn Russell for pretty much the same thing except it was in a stable. It happens day in day out with horses and ponies strapped down on the Walker or in the stable and it's just standard now.

Sure one or two people will be ethical and do the horses well, but I have seen far too many horses at big shows I feel sorry for.
 
HBB said:
He is named in the comments of the link I shared.
Please do not name him on this post as it’s an ongoing investigation.
Click to expand...

If you then put the name into google followed by "showing", you will find a HHO article about the last time he was banned. What's particularly shocking is his justification of it, on his personal facebook page. 😡
 
LEC said:
I have no time for showing. The organisations are slow to do anything, the expectations for welfare are low and they do very little because it's not an FEI governed sport. It's also not helped that they have about 4/5 different bodies rather than just one. Every time I watch professional showing I am sickened. Ponies being warmed up by adults, insanely tight martingales, fat horses, fat riders, rigged judging. Someone recently asked to borrow some regumate off me because they had a riggy colt which kept ruining its showing and they had 'tried' everything else. This is a top level producer. Nothing really happened to Lynn Russell for pretty much the same thing except it was in a stable. It happens day in day out with horses and ponies strapped down on the Walker or in the stable and it's just standard now.

Sure one or two people will be ethical and do the horses well, but I have seen far too many horses at big shows I feel sorry for.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of people with ethical methods, but their efforts are no better rewarded than those who are little more than animal abusers.

It’s been a while since I was involved with the ponies, but back then it was a known quantity who the producers with “questionable methods” were. Yet they still went out and won. The judges and societies absolutely are aware of what’s going on, they only have to look to the warm up ring, but use the excuse that they only judge what’s put in front of them in the class.

Showing is a results business; there is no incentive (excluding not being a terrible human) to produce horses correctly when the faster, abusive ways win, and the governing bodies absolutely are to blame for this. Individual shows (GYS especially has been a trailblazer) are putting their own welfare rules in place, but with absolutely no support or endorsement from any of the societies it’s pretty redundant.

As a member, I’m pleased that BSHA have acted so quickly. But I do question that if it was a bigger name whether they would have done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top