Sometimes one just gets fed up...
The other day, a casual chat with another equestrian professional turned into something heavier: the uncomfortable truth that our sport is in real trouble. Scandals pile up, the elite drift further away from reality, and too many people defend the indefensible.
The other day I talked to a rider I know. Not an interview, nothing spectacular but just some thoughts thrown in between us.
The topic for our discussion was equestrian sport and if there's any future for it.
Both of us, equestrian professionals in different ways, agreed the sport is struggling, big time!
There have been too many scandals, the elite both in dressage and show jumping have totally alienated themselves from the rest of the world. For sure not in the same way. But still.
Cause where show jumping seem to produce ultimate diva characters faster then Henry Ford could produce the legendary T-Ford back in the day. The dressage crowd doesn't seem to realise they need to completely detach themselves from the riders that do bad.
The riders that are proven to have done bad to horses, and when doing so not only hurt the horses, but also hurt equestrian sport as a whole!
I remember gasping for air at several occasions the past years when yet another scandal in the dressage world has become common knowledge, and how some of the rider, sometimes even journalists, have gone all in to defend the wrong doers.
Never mind there have been videos and such proving these wrong doings.
Still some pretty high profile names in the sport have seemed completely oblivious to these facts, and instead gone all in to defend their colleagues.
Having friends when things are tough is always nice. But I am more and more starting to wonder why we see the phenomena, and I don't believe it is all down to collegial support.
In some cases I truly and honesty believe that the exact same thing goes on in their own stables which make them not take these matters that serious.
Myself have realised I do take these things serious, and that I still care enough about equestrian sport to continue to write about it. By doing so I hope I will get the opportunity to connect to others, just like me.
Horse people with or without a higher education within the sport that like to gang up together to make equestrian sport great again.
Cause in the end of the day I have spent too much time and effort into this sport just to toss my work out the window. I hope you'll enjoy, and help this site grow bigger by doing simple things in accordance to; Share, Like, Follow!
