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Post by lesleyking1 on Dec 24, 2014 18:11:19 GMT 1
Oh well said Liz, my little lady's new career has involved confidence building for my fostered kids, respect teaching for my son, I.e. teaching him how to catch your horse for the last two days to the amusement of the yard, she has been a demo horse for a first aid course we held on the yard, she is a lead horse for a baby that's worried at the moment and after a lifetime thinking I knew enough about horses she proved I had a lot more to learn, yes it would have been nice to jump on and go showing but re-starting her three years ago was making her miserable and she has been so much happier doing lots of useful little jobs. She is now up for working watching her on videos is so rewarding, seeing her happily floating round the school with her tail swinging beautifully relaxed behind her. Poor Kauto, what's the rush.
Any other ex-racer success stories out there? Would be nice to have some positives out of this thread.
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Post by portiabuzz on Dec 24, 2014 18:50:23 GMT 1
Well said Liz . Sent from my SM-G800F using proboards
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Post by clipclop on Dec 27, 2014 10:14:06 GMT 1
There certainly is widespread upset and anger at Kauto's appearance and treatment on this ghastly BBC clip, and it will be interesting to see what happens next - if anything. Poor boy, he became something of a pawn between his strong-minded owner and his equally strong-minded trainer during their horribly public falling-out two years ago, and the owner removed him from the trainer's yard, which caused much sadness at the time. The owner is not a horseman at all, and doubtless thought that a dressage career would be much safer and easier for Kauto than anything involving galloping and jumping. But the horse looks so miserable and shut down, and after all he's had two years training in a professional eventing yard so should surely be able to do basic preliminary dressage in public by now - it looks as if he is doing his best to get the message out that he simply can't cope with this new discipline. And after all, why should he? Would anyone think it a good idea to send Valegro racing or point-to-pointing after he retires from pure dressage? I really hope that the owner finds his wonderful horse a really nice private home, where he can be treated and spoiled as he deserves, and just given enough fun exercise and outings to keep him happy. I agree with much of this. However, going out and doing prelim dressage at a nice, quiet venue is very different to doing a display in such an environment as olympia - this year a display at hoys was cancelled as the horse found it too much yet had done displays all over the world. In this case, Laura pretty much said in the interview that he hadn't been prepared properly. Who's fault is that? Without knowing the full facts, it's not fair to blame Laura when the owner holds the purse strings - although the horse is in Laura"s care, any training/competing away from home is at the discretion of the owner. Kauto Star is renowned for being quirky so there will have been a concern he would react explosively to such an environment. If he was given some kind of sedative prior to the display to try and cover the lack of preparation, it would explain why he looked how he did. If he was doped then it's hardly fair to use that as a true representation of how he is coping with his life after racing. I also wonder whether Laura would have stopped the display part way through if it was her own horse and therefore her decision - don't underestimate the pressure put on her by both the media and the owner. I hate how social media has allowed hate campaigns to form so readily. Yes, it wasn't pleasant to watch but go to any riding school, livery yard or local (or even affiliated show) and you will see far worse. We've all seen the kid with an american gag in the pony's mouth and spurs jabbing at their sides hauling a pony round jumps (for the 8th time.that day) yet people seem to turn a blind eye when they aren't hidden behind a computer screen. Just remember, a lot of ex eacers don't cope with being 'family horses'. They need experienced people to retrain them give them the best chance of a long term home. Some relish the freedom of being turned out in a herd yet some just don't cope - those are generally considered too high maintenance and end up as neglect cases or going for slaughter - the lucky ones go to local slaughterhouses whilst the not so lucky end up being victims of live export. Sent from my GT-I9195 using proboards
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