The Sport Where Everything Is Personal (Even When It Isn’t)
In racing, a horse switching trainers is just Tuesday. In the Olympic disciplines, it’s treated like a personal betrayal. Why does a simple business decision spark jealousy, drama, and chaos? This story from a midweek race day says more about our sport than you’d think.
Years ago, when I lived on a farm full of standardbred racehorses, we hauled two horses to an ordinary midweek race day. Nothing dramatic, nothing glamorous, just another day at the track.
Fifteen minutes after settling them into the guest stables, another trainer strolled in. He scanned the boxes, pointed at one of ours and casually asked my friend:
"So, that’s the one coming to my yard after the race, right?"
My friend, the human equivalent of an unbothered Scandinavian winter lake, simply nodded.
"I believe it is."
And that was it.
No outrage.
No theatrics.
No passive-aggressive comments whispered into mane plaits.
It’s not personal.
It’s business.
Turns out the owner wasn’t thrilled with the horse’s progress and wanted to try a new trainer.
Was it fantastic news? Not really.
A heads-up would’ve been nice. But my friend never held a grudge, not toward the trainer, not toward the owner. He simply shrugged and said:
"Results should have been better by now."
Because in racing, everyone knows the rules.
The owner pays the bills.
The owner picks the trainer.
It’s not personal. It’s business.
But here’s what fascinates me, cause why does this logic evaporate the second we step into the Olympic disciplines?
Let a showjumper switch riders or a dressage horse move to a new stable and suddenly the sport treats it like a Shakespearean betrayal.
People whisper.
People sulk.
People take it as a personal insult to their entire existence.
A world-renowned dressage trainer recently told me, and I quote:
“Dressage will always be chaotic because everyone in it is so bloody jealous.”
So it makes me wonder. Are we, the equestrians in the Olympic disciplines, really following the motto “it’s not personal, it’s business”?
Or are we all secretly living by the complete opposite, that in this world, everything is personal?
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Horzing Around
