Yet another delightful rider..... not..... when will this end?

smolmaus said:
At least they give some details. It must be such a strange read for a layperson, like she was caught whipping a horse and everyone delighted to have her back.

Can you imagine if it was that Olympic gymnastics coach who was outed as a sexual abuser? The Dutch volleyball rapist was booed at least, but hey the Guardian did do an article where he got to say how sorry he was 🙃 Maybe it's not that odd after all 🤢
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The difference is that CDJ was never convicted of a crime, or even taken to court over it. While it breached the FEI guidelines it didn't meet the threshold for criminal charges. It is a lot easier to come back from that, than an actual criminal charge and a lot of people will see it differently.
 
U.N.Owen said:
The difference is that CDJ was never convicted of a crime, or even taken to court over it. While it breached the FEI guidelines it didn't meet the threshold for criminal charges. It is a lot easier to come back from that, than an actual criminal charge and a lot of people will see it differently.
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I'm not saying people should treat her the same as a child rapist. The problem I have is that people aren't treating her like a horse abuser, which she is.
 
My view is that she is back for good and will probably be select to the next Olympics.

Nobody can change that but i strongly believe that if you do something bad, it catches up with you at some point.

I'ts her own conscience after all, she has to live with it.

I wish her nothing bad at all but in life, sometimes, things come back at you.
 
smolmaus said:
I'm not saying people should treat her the same as a child rapist. The problem I have is that people aren't treating her like a horse abuser, which she is.
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I have to agree. So many people are all "welcome back Charlotte". I was so very disappointed in her when I watched "that" video. IMO its very difficult to ensure someone has changed and will never do something like that again, as they felt it was acceptable in the first place which most of us wouldnt (Id hope). Once an abuser, always an abuser IMO and I firmly believe anyone caught doing things like this (no matter how "professional" or otherwise) should be banned from the sport forever. I do not want to see Charlotte, or this man compete ever again. They lost their right when they took away the horses basic right of not being hurt/abused.
 
Janique said:
My view is that she is back for good and will probably be select to the next Olympics.

Nobody can change that but i strongly believe that if you do something bad, it catches up with you at some point.

I'ts her own conscience after all, she has to live with it.

I wish her nothing bad at all but in life, sometimes, things come back at you.
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Except the video of the whipping will be one of the last nails in the coffin of equestrianism at the Olympics.
 
We all get up next day and say I wished i had not done that but when dealing with a difficult horse you make mistakes and you just have to move on. people who deal with horses on a day to day have to be firm and make decisions that the bunny huggers do not like or getting killed. I was not there so I have no idear if this was a horse or rider problem or a pushy parent.
 
Overstone stud said:
We all get up next day and say I wished i had not done that but when dealing with a difficult horse you make mistakes and you just have to move on. people who deal with horses on a day to day have to be firm and make decisions that the bunny huggers do not like or getting killed. I was not there so I have no idear if this was a horse or rider problem or a pushy parent.
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There is never going to be an excuse for the sustained abuse she dished out that day. From what we can tell, she was trying to make the horse perform a movement, not trying to stop it putting its rider in danger, or any other understandable reason (even if you aren't a bunny hugger 🙄). It was an abusive shortcut to proper training. Whether she was under pressure from the owner or not, there's really no justification for hitting a horse that many times. If you think there is, I'm calling you out as an animal abuser too!
 
Overstone stud said:
We all get up next day and say I wished i had not done that but when dealing with a difficult horse you make mistakes and you just have to move on. people who deal with horses on a day to day have to be firm and make decisions that the bunny huggers do not like or getting killed. I was not there so I have no idear if this was a horse or rider problem or a pushy parent.
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But she didn't say it the next day, she only said sorry when the video came out.
And she called it a one off, alluded to it being a heat of the moment thing.
In that case, why was she smiling in the video and saying the whip didn't hit hard enough?

THIS is exactly the problem a lot of us (and non-horsey people) have.
If she truly took accountability for what happened and then championed change, that is a great ambassador for the horse and the sport.
Pretending it was a one off and being annoyed not everyone has fallen back under her spell immediately, that gets people's backs up.

Call me a bunny hugger if you like but I'd rather that than someone who sees no issue in the video
 
Overstone stud said:
We all get up next day and say I wished i had not done that but when dealing with a difficult horse you make mistakes and you just have to move on. people who deal with horses on a day to day have to be firm and make decisions that the bunny huggers do not like or getting killed. I was not there so I have no idear if this was a horse or rider problem or a pushy parent.
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A) there's no evidence that this was a difficult horse or that safety was an issue here (although I doubt walloping an athletic horse being ridden by a teenager would pass any risk assessment)
B) walloping a horse multiple times and complaining the whip wasn't good at hitting them is not 'being firm' (as they say on the socials, your hard drive needs checking)
C) she is one of the foremost dressage riders on the planet. If she can't set good coaching standards, even to pushy parents, she should stick to riding. Or preferably move out of horses altogether.
 
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1.1K views · 17 comments | Deux courtes vidéos envoyées par une personne qui souhaite rester anonyme. On voit Ben Maher sur Dallas Vegas Batilly dans le paddock de détente du CSI5*, 1m60, le dimanche 2 novembre 2025 à Equitalyon. Ils finiront 21ième

Deux courtes vidéos envoyées par une personne qui souhaite rester anonyme. On voit Ben Maher sur Dallas Vegas Batilly dans le paddock de détente du CSI5*, 1m60, le dimanche 2 novembre 2025 à...
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Ben Maher: anyone care to give this lameness a score? 😮
 
I do think that we should all remember that every one if us does things that we regret later and we all from time to time make poor judgements.Would we want to be punished for life for it?
 
BurntontheoutsideTurkey said:
www.facebook.com

1.1K views · 17 comments | Deux courtes vidéos envoyées par une personne qui souhaite rester anonyme. On voit Ben Maher sur Dallas Vegas Batilly dans le paddock de détente du CSI5*, 1m60, le dimanche 2 novembre 2025 à Equitalyon. Ils finiront 21ième

Deux courtes vidéos envoyées par une personne qui souhaite rester anonyme. On voit Ben Maher sur Dallas Vegas Batilly dans le paddock de détente du CSI5*, 1m60, le dimanche 2 novembre 2025 à...
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

Ben Maher: anyone care to give this lameness a score? 😮
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😒 too high to be riding, never mind jumping.
 
eahotson said:
I do think that we should all remember that every one if us does things that we regret later and we all from time to time make poor judgements.Would we want to be punished for life for it?
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No one wants to be punished full stop. The point is whether the punishments we're seeing are even vaguely appropriate given the multi-faceted awfulness of what several riders recently have been caught doing. If you like the sport they have dragged it into the headlines for all the 'wrong" reasons. If you like horses you'd prefer such people never went near one again. If you like children you'd prefer them not to suffer moral injury by either being severely disillusioned by their role models or being inured to deeply unethical behaviour such that they emulate it later.
 
eahotson said:
I do think that we should all remember that every one if us does things that we regret later and we all from time to time make poor judgements.Would we want to be punished for life for it?
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No, and I think most people aren't saying she should be punished for life?

But could we have some honesty about it not being a one off?
And as someone who has made a comfortable life out of horses and particularly out of being seen as the face of better/kinder riding for many years, I would love to see her speak out more and advocate for more change for horse welfare in dressage.
What has she seen or done previously for her to think it was a suitable way to treat that horse?
In reflection what would she do differently?
What has she changed in her training and riding since her ban?

I'd rather she use her fame and use the publicity from the ban and return to competitions for good, rather than pretending it never happened and everyone pushing it under the carpet
 
So many complaints on here regarding the penalties handed out by the organising bodies. How many of you are members of BD/BS/BE? Out of those, how many of you attended the AGM of each of those bodies and raised you concerns about the length of suspension/other penalties for offences? If you did not attend, how many of you wrote in to the respective bodies and raised your concerns? If the answer is NIL then you have little to complain about so it is time to stop.
 
eahotson said:
I do think that we should all remember that every one if us does things that we regret later and we all from time to time make poor judgements.Would we want to be punished for life for it?
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We all are already. That's just how society works. We are judged by our actions, sometimes our opinions, and nobody is owed forgiveness. Forgiveness is given.

She isn't a run of the mill horse person who has whacked a horse in a moment of fear or temper, I'll freely admit to having done that. If anybody judges me for it, they can't be harder on me than I was on myself, but they are fully entitled to have that affect their opinion of me forever. I'm not earning money from sponsorships though, which inherently comes with a certain status and influence. I'm not coaching. I'm not representing my country or being held up as a role model so it is different and the standard for behaviour has to be higher.
 
Overstone stud said:
We all get up next day and say I wished i had not done that but when dealing with a difficult horse you make mistakes and you just have to move on. people who deal with horses on a day to day have to be firm and make decisions that the bunny huggers do not like or getting killed. I was not there so I have no idear if this was a horse or rider problem or a pushy parent.
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Oh my flaming god
 
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