horse abusers and fake trainers

mark todd.

Mark Todd has riden in the olympics seven times and was actually chosen to go there nine times, he won two gold medals and three bronze medals. he was actually voted rider of the 20th century. from what we saw at the time, rightfully so. He won badminton in 1980.

He was an embassador for an animal well fare group until he stepped down early last year. After the incident with another riders horse at one of his cross country clinics. for some background the rider had been told to do a six inch step down into water with her horse, Chloe (the rider) mentioned her horse was nervous with this stuff and had had an agreement with Mark that he would hit the ground with a stick creating the sound a lung whip would make. 

Mark successfully got the horse down it with little to no problems (correct me if I'm wrong there) and moved to a larger drop this time, using the method once (hitting the ground) he then realised this wasn't going to work and went onto hitting the horse multiple times with the stick. The animal had no where to go and jump down. people cheered and that really annoyed me. No one should be cheering on this abuse.

a horses skin is thinner than ours if that hurts up, its gonna hurt the horse. I've actually seen someone with a scar to this day from them being hit by one of these sticks. It's not like this horse was hit lightly either you see him swing with force. Poor Chloe was to afraid to speak up about the probable trauma of this moment and will likely not go to many workshops because of this experiance. in no way did she consent to her horse being actually hit with the stick and Mark should not have done this. "I wholeheartedly apologise to the horse and all involved for my actions in this video clip. One of the main things I preach is about establishing a mutual respect between horse and rider and that patience and kindness is the best way to get results. I believe this is one of the main attributes along with a great empathy with animals that has enabled me to have a long and successful career in eventing." this is Marks apology and on his part this was a good apology. but he expected everything to completely stop after apologising.

Sir Mark Todd has since retired and for the better as we do not want any other  incidences like this one occuring.