Who is the woman behind 'Dressage Hub' ?

[Muddywellies]

As title. I'm, erm, intreagued. Is she a rider, or trainer. What are her credentials ??

 

[Ceifer]

About – Dressage Hub

dressagehub.com

 

[shortstuff99]

This is a good article about her

Don’t Feed The Trolls - The Chronicle of the Horse

www.chronofhorse.com

 

[ThreeFurs]

Just pop over to read a few threads on her by our American colleagues at 'Chronicle of the horse forum'. They'll tell you. Susan is Canadian but seems to have upset/alienated most of the entire land mass, political borders not ensuing.

 

[Ceifer]

a few of her videos appear on my social media. Some of them are the standard ‘horrible dressage’ that are all over the internet and they should be seen and criticised. But some of her opinions on people do seem to be overly harsh and unfounded. She posted a video of Charlotte Dujardin riding a young horse at a demo and rounded on her for no reason. I think she re-posted a slightly nicer video later.

 

[ThreeFurs]

a few of her videos appear on my social media. Some of them are the standard ‘horrible dressage’ that are all over the internet and they should be seen and criticised. But some of her opinions on people do seem to be overly harsh and unfounded. She posted a video of Charlotte Dujardin riding a young horse at a demo and rounded on her for no reason. I think she re-posted a slightly nicer video later.

She's a stirrer, because I think it how she makes money, through FB ads and sponsors and clicks and her blog. She's also aggressively litigious.

I wonder how the recent FEI ban on not any other event video than their own, with permission, will affect her?

 

[Ceifer]

I think I’m on the fence about her. As I said, some videos need highlighting. Others seem like she’s got a massive chip on her shoulder and it’s really personal - I don’t watch those.

She’s one of numerous people these days making money from bad horsemanship. Albeit it other people’s but so many of these vloggers are just cr*ppy people and they make money from it.

 

[Nicnac]

Ironic that in her story she writes about her 8 minute warm up for young riders champs. I wonder how she would have felt had someone written about her test on that day in the same nasty way.

 

[Muddywellies]

She's a stirrer, because I think it how she makes money, through FB ads and sponsors and clicks and her blog. She's also aggressively litigious.

I wonder how the recent FEI ban on not any other event video than their own, with permission, will affect her?

She certainly likes the sound of her own voice !

 

[splashgirl45]

She posts things like a horse playing up and not going in the arena and saying it’s abuse. Horses can get awed by the atmosphere and it doesn’t necessarily mean abuse, just an overwhelmed horse , those sort of posts are not helpful IMO , she reminds me of Katie Hopkins which is not a compliment

 

[sbloom]

Campaigners, especially those at the forefront, are often difficult people. Without these difficult people change would be even harder.

 

[shortstuff99]

Campaigners, especially those at the forefront, are often difficult people. Without these difficult people change would be even harder.

It is not that she's difficult or a campaigner she is just generally not a very nice person and often passes off other work/videos as her own.

 

[sbloom]

It is not that she's difficult or a campaigner she is just generally not a very nice person and often passes off other work/videos as her own.

I'd say that makes her difficult. You could use various other words, but you can't say she's not difficult. Change doesn't happen without controversial people (Greta Thunberg anyone, not that I'm comparing them directly before anyone starts!).

 

[splashgirl45]

It is not that she's difficult or a campaigner she is just generally not a very nice person and often passes off other work/videos as her own.

I don’t have a problem with her being difficult but she seems to pick on things just to make fun of people . I agree any abuse should be publicised , but a photo of a moment in time is not necessarily showing how the horse has gone for the rest of the test.. videos show much more and are more reliable

 

[sbloom]

I don’t have a problem with her being difficult but she seems to pick on things just to make fun of people . I agree any abuse should be publicised , but a photo of a moment in time is not necessarily showing how the horse has gone for the rest of the test.. videos show much more and are more reliable

I get it, but we're criticising her for the downside of what is her fundamental skill set ie creating change. People like her get it wrong quite a lot, i'ts inevitable because they don't see the world like most of us. Most of us wouldn't be able to do what people like her do, the time, the passion, the energy, the backlash. To be able to withstand that she has to be a certain type of character.

Some people will agree with most of what she prints, might not agree that she should have posted it, but will agree with its content, and she'll p**s people off, repeatedly, and in this day and age will say that half of what she does works against her. Just like JSO. When you see pictures of Charlotte leaning back, being really strong on a horse's mouth, especially a young horse, then some criticism may be valid. We keep only banning the very worst, the most public of crimes - eg. a strict definition of LDR with time limits in the warm up arena, and we all know how much riders are able to get around that, HOW many years down the line? Drawing a broader brush will feel right to many, voices have been silenced too long. It's no surprise that some of the publicity, the criticism, goes OTT, but then again, "OTT" is different for everyone.

Highly sensitive persons often create change, neurodiverse people often create change, and we know what flack Greta gets for what are mostly immutable character traits. There is a downside to all aspects of our personalities.

If you're the sort of person that does create change, you're likely to also get backs up, regularly. Not defending what she's doing (don't follow closely) but I just think it's inevitable that they step over lines, regularly.

Oh and specifically, many people can watch a video and think the work looks okay, photos are incredibly valuable to expose what is going on in the millisecond. Usually there are a whole load of stills and video taken across a fair time period showing it's not a moment in time.

 

[shortstuff99]

She didn't used to campaign for changing dressage as she didn't like modern training, she was a massive Anky and Edward Gal fan! This is a more recent thing as it is getting her views. Mainly used to just make fun of people being 'bad' riders to laugh at them.

 

[coblets]

Highly sensitive persons often create change, neurodiverse people often create change, and we know what flack Greta gets for what are mostly immutable character traits. There is a downside to all aspects of our personalities.

If you're the sort of person that does create change, you're likely to also get backs up, regularly. Not defending what she's doing (don't follow closely) but I just think it's inevitable that they step over lines, regularly.

What does being neurodiverse have to do with Dressage Hub? She doesn't accidentally step over lines because she's neurodiverse or sensitive or whatever. She just likes getting views from being vile to people it's not an animal welfare thing with her.

 

[Goldenstar]

Some of what she says has some merit but she expresses herself with a glee about the dressage disasters that’s really deeply unpleasant .
To me it comes across that she really enjoys being nasty .

The whole CDJ and Secret Agent thing was a bit off he was a 4yo horse at a big demo yes he was a bit all over the place at times he was ridden beautifully .
Yes he went BTV some of the time but he’s young and weak with natural uphill balance .
It was fascinating to see a horse like that at that stage in that situation with a world glass rider .

I used to watch Dressage hub but it’s got shoutier and nastier and more about her so I have sort given up on it .

 

[Goldenstar]

If you want to see some horsepersonship on you tube take a look at The Clever Cowgirl you will learn more there than on Dressage hub .

 

[eahotson]

I get it, but we're criticising her for the downside of what is her fundamental skill set ie creating change. People like her get it wrong quite a lot, i'ts inevitable because they don't see the world like most of us. Most of us wouldn't be able to do what people like her do, the time, the passion, the energy, the backlash. To be able to withstand that she has to be a certain type of character.

Some people will agree with most of what she prints, might not agree that she should have posted it, but will agree with its content, and she'll p**s people off, repeatedly, and in this day and age will say that half of what she does works against her. Just like JSO. When you see pictures of Charlotte leaning back, being really strong on a horse's mouth, especially a young horse, then some criticism may be valid. We keep only banning the very worst, the most public of crimes - eg. a strict definition of LDR with time limits in the warm up arena, and we all know how much riders are able to get around that, HOW many years down the line? Drawing a broader brush will feel right to many, voices have been silenced too long. It's no surprise that some of the publicity, the criticism, goes OTT, but then again, "OTT" is different for everyone.

Highly sensitive persons often create change, neurodiverse people often create change, and we know what flack Greta gets for what are mostly immutable character traits. There is a downside to all aspects of our personalities.

If you're the sort of person that does create change, you're likely to also get backs up, regularly. Not defending what she's doing (don't follow closely) but I just think it's inevitable that they step over lines, regularly.

Oh and specifically, many people can watch a video and think the work looks okay, photos are incredibly valuable to expose what is going on in the millisecond. Usually there are a whole load of stills and video taken across a fair time period showing it's not a moment in time.

You make some very interesting and thought provoking points.

 

[Ceifer]

So one of her videos came on my feed this morning.
The rider was Ashley Holzer. The horse was having a meltdown at entering the ring.
The video states the rider consistently had this behaviour exhibited from all her horses. I don’t know the rider so that would have to be verified but the rest of the video states that the rider rode the test tactfully.
Apart from using the phrase ‘trigger stacked’ to describe the behaviour I don’t think there is anything particularly incendiary in there.

The point being that some of these dressage horses are so wired, panicking and generally loopy that it goes against the principles of dressage itself.

Now obviously horses can have a bad day, get spooked etc but a pattern of this is less than ideal and now seems the norm as the horses are either bred with this temperament or the lifestyle they lead envokes this behaviour.

I have worked with this type of horse before and I hate to say it but it really comes down to money. These horses are purchased for hundreds of thousands and are then kept either stabled apart from exercise or in postage stamp size paddocks so is it any wonder they behave this way?

The way Carl Hester keeps horses is the exception (lots of turnout in company) rather than the rule in the sport.

 

[Muddywellies]

Is the whole point of her posts, to rip dressage riders to pieces, or does she do posts where she gives praise to riders?

 

[Denali]

She rips them to pieces under the guise of trying to enact change.

She’s been banned from major shows in Florida for several years now. Not because she’s calling people out for abusive riding, but because she has literally caused riders to be stalked and harassed over a bad photo.

While what she does COULD be to get people to clean up their act, that’s not what she’s about.

 

[shortstuff99]

She rips them to pieces under the guise of trying to enact change.

She’s been banned from major shows in Florida for several years now. Not because she’s calling people out for abusive riding, but because she has literally caused riders to be stalked and harassed over a bad photo.

While what she does COULD be to get people to clean up their act, that’s not what she’s about.

Someone once commented on one of her posts and she disagreed with the comment so found out where the poster worked and kept bombarding the work with e-mails about it.

Her original group got taken down/hacked so this new group only has the posts on it about bad training which hides how bad she used to be.

 

[Denali]

Someone once commented on one of her posts and she disagreed with the comment so found out where the poster worked and kept bombarding the work with e-mails about it.

Her original group got taken down/hacked so this new group only has the posts on it about bad training which hides how bad she used to be.

I forgot about that. She’s completely unhinged. Susan Wachowich is her name.

https://forum.chronofhorse.com/t/really-dressage-hub/430322 Here’s a long thread.

 

[clara]

Who would thought it? Two of the most toxic influencers appear to have a tie-up.
Astonish hypocrisy by DHO to ignore the viral video of Dickinson's abusive riding.
And people who still have money ticking our of their accounts for DHO's now archived subscribers group might take a moment to cancel.

 

[Matafleur]

Who would thought it? Two of the most toxic influencers appear to have a tie-up.
Astonish hypocrisy by DHO to ignore the viral video of Dickinson's abusive riding.
And people who still have money ticking our of their accounts for DHO's now archived subscribers group might take a moment to cancel.

Colour me entirely unsurprised. Nothing that is posted on that page is really posted to further horse welfare, everything she does is either to attack people she has a vendetta against or to make money.

Maybe as a side effect there is a positive impact but it is purely incidental. This is the most toxic page in equestrian social media in my opinion.

 

[Lou1061]

You may be interested in this. I’m from Australia where Alicia Dickinson and her business buddy Natasha Althoff started off. We have a lot of info on them and they have left a trail of destruction. Alicia’s competition dressage history is rather interesting- underwhelming. And she ruins horses. Fries them. But Susan supports them.

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