Sir Mark Todd - where’s the outrage? Animal cruelty

[ConasAtaTu1]

Just watched a disgusting video of this man whipping a clearly terrified horse ten times to get it to go into water. Cowardly running back each time so the horse couldn’t kick him to rightfully defend itself from the beating. Total scum.

I hope he will get similar fines/outrage/RSPCA investigations as ongoing for Kurt Zouma.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10505319/Sir-Mark-Todd-caught-whipping-horse-branch-TEN-times-make-water-obstacle.html

from British Eventing

"British Eventing are aware of the footage that was released on social media recently. We are disappointed at the content and would like to stress that we view equine welfare as paramount to everything we do and that we expect our members, along with the wider equestrian community, to uphold the same values."

But no action !

I have strong views on this. Sir Mark’s actions are totally wrong. Beating a horse into submission is counter productive, old school training that creates anxious horses. I hoped had disappeared forever. As he has admitted it, he must surely receive a sanction from BH and BE.

Unlike Sir Mark I am no olympian but I have trained quite a few young horses to jump into water. Sir Mark knows as well as I that the answer is time, patience and asking little questions before big ones to develop mutual trust and respect between horse and rider. The horse must have confidence that the rider is asking a doable question.

First you get the horse used to walking through puddles they can see the bottom of. Next you choose shallow river or pond and ask the horse to walk along the edge and gradually move further in. When jumping a young or inexperienced horse into water for the first time you get a bolder horse to give a lead. If that doesn’t work, you get off and lead the horse through yourself so the horse sees if it’s doable for you, it’s doable for them. Once the horse has followed these steps confidently a few times you ask the horse to go through with the rider onboard and no lead. If the horse still isn’t happy, I would not hesitate to conclude jumping into water is the wrong job for the horse.
It shouldn’t be asked again.

Mark needs to get retrained himself it seems, preferably by someone like Warwick Schiller.

As others have said Mark Todd was one of my heroes, I thought he was one of the good ones. Gutted to read this and find out he's as awful as they come.

Can people really not see the difference between breeding animals for meat/to be killed, and breeding them to be, essentially, pets?! Neither one should be beaten/hurt etc and animals bred to die should have a reasonable life, which is why people should buy from farms and butchers, but obviously there is a difference between the two/what they have been put on the planet to do.

lets not get off topic , MT hasnt had the same backlash as the footballer earlier in the week and British Eventing have hardly come down on him like a ton of bricks

@billysboy

lets not get off topic , MT hasnt had the same backlash as the footballer earlier in the week and British Eventing have hardly come down on him like a ton of bricks

Exactly and the question is why?

@billysboy

lets not get off topic , MT hasnt had the same backlash as the footballer earlier in the week and British Eventing have hardly come down on him like a ton of bricks

I think this could be because Mark Todd competed and won his Olympic Medals for New Zealand not the UK , although he is based in Britain and is involved with British eventing in terms of specialist training, now that he is retired. And he was knighted for his services to equestrianism. And of course equestrian sports are far less high profile than football.

He is now involved in training race horses and the RHA have said they are investigating.

Mark Todd has a well established riding wear & equipment brand and these revelations will I imagine destroy that. No one will want to be seen dead wearing Mark Todd branded riding jackets or boots or whatever now.

Also football is a lot more popular than eventing (sadly)

@billysboy

lets not get off topic , MT hasnt had the same backlash as the footballer earlier in the week and British Eventing have hardly come down on him like a ton of bricks

Hmm I wonder why.

@billysboy

lets not get off topic , MT hasnt had the same backlash as the footballer earlier in the week and British Eventing have hardly come down on him like a ton of bricks

And neither has had the same backlash as the teacher

@Giraffesandbottoms

Can people really not see the difference between breeding animals for meat/to be killed, and breeding them to be, essentially, pets?! Neither one should be beaten/hurt etc and animals bred to die should have a reasonable life, which is why people should buy from farms and butchers, but obviously there is a difference between the two/what they have been put on the planet to do.

Nope. I don’t think that the arbitrary determination of certain animals as ‘food’ or ‘friend’ in any way changes the ability of those animals to feel pain or the tragedy of their deaths.

A cow or a pig feels the same amount of pain as a horse. Protesting the abuse of one whilst dining on the other makes no sense to me.

Then why do you eat meat Saysama?! This says you don't care about animal welfare. You condone cruelty based on the fact you eat meat. You are so sanctimonious with a huge superiority complex.

Why is there always a pointless derail into veganism?

This is a big shock for people who follow equestrian sports and who thought he was one of the good ones (not me though I’ve never liked watching him ride). Absolutely fuck all to do with eating steaks

That is grim.

@WildFlowerBees

Then why do you eat meat Saysama?! This says you don't care about animal welfare. You condone cruelty based on the fact you eat meat. You are so sanctimonious with a huge superiority complex.

I thought you didn’t want this thread to become ‘about that’. Yet, here you are tagging me and asking me questions.

I’ve already answered you twice. Scroll up and read my previous responses. They were pretty clear.

Except you haven't answered the question at all. You must really lean to one side with that huge chip on your shoulder.

@WildFlowerBees So, you are now conversing with me without tagging me. Are you a child?

I did answer it. You just didn’t like my answer. You seem very uncomfortable with people who don’t indulge in the theatre of ‘this animal is good, that animal is unimportant’.

According to you, I condone cruelty to animals because I view them as all the same. And people who arbitrarily decide that some animals are fit for slaughter and some aren’t…they don’t condone cruelty to animals? This genuinely makes sense to you?

You also appear to have no idea what it means to have a chip on one’s shoulder.

Also, to all the people asking ‘why’? Mark Todd is white. Kurt Zouma is black. Systemic racism is a thing, whether or not you wish to admit it.

Bollocks

Kicking the cat was far far worse than this.

@Saysama

Also, to all the people asking ‘why’? Mark Todd is white. Kurt Zouma is black. Systemic racism is a thing, whether or not you wish to admit it.

Systemic racism is a thing but I think it's more to do with Zouma being more famous and higher profile. I'd never heard of Mark Todd until this thread. Football is a much bigger sport.

@DesdemonaDryEyes

Bollocks

Kicking the cat was far far worse than this.

It wasn't "worse." They are both despicable acts.

@Waxonwaxoff0 ‘British Eventing have hardly come down on him like a ton of bricks’. Direct quote from one of the people asking ‘why’ above. The manner in which this is being handled within the sport has nothing to do with football being a much bigger sport.

White people are always eager to find ways to deny that things are the result of racism. I wonder why that is.

Yes they are both despicable acts, but the cat could have been seriously damaged by the kick.

The branch was not going to cause serious physical injury to the horse .

[quote Saysama]**@Waxonwaxoff0* ‘British Eventing have hardly come down on him like a ton of bricks’. Direct quote from one of the people asking ‘why’ above. The manner in which this is being handled within the sport* has nothing to do with football being a much bigger sport.

White people are always eager to find ways to deny that things are the result of racism. I wonder why that is.[/quote]
I'm not really aware of how it's being handled in the sport as there's not much publicity around it. I thought the "why" questions were asking why more people aren't complaining about it, you can't complain about something if you don't know about it. The video of the teacher abusing her horse went viral so more people knew about it and complained.

Also unfortunately in the equestrian scene this kind of abuse is seen as normal in some parts. It's also a class issue.