Meghan at glitzy launch party

[Twistybrancher]

Meghan in LA this week at some fancy launch party. Think these are her friends who own a high end salon.

The wavy hair has made a return, I’m guessing this is the new look she’s going for, for the rebrand. Jury is out out for that particular style- mid parting, flat waves. Thinks she suits a side part, with full waves. But hey!

Personally I like the paired down eye make up look. I always thought the heavy lashes and dark shadows were a bit much for royal duties (I feel Kates is far too heavy on the smokey eye too!)

But it sure does make her look different. I do think ita just make up and not surgery…but other posters are better at spotting these things.

Harry not there. They are her friends, so no real reason but when it’s a social event, doesn’t look great that they aren’t together….again

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-14090659/Meghan-Markle-dances-friends-glamorous-launch-party-Los-Angeles-without-husband-Prince-Harry.html

My understanding of the Drizzel situation is that her groom explicitly asked Harry not to ride her due to her advanced pregnancy but Harry insisted. The groom feared it would end in Drizzel's sever injury or death, which it did. That is why I used the phrase 'ride to death'.

I don't know whether Abuffalosoldier's groom asked the rider not to ride Abuffalosoldier, so I don't know whether the phrase 'ride to death' would be similarly apposite in that situation.

If an ordinary member of the public had treated an animal like that, would they not have faced some kind of consequences eg being reported to the RSPCA?

Your understanding? From where? People will lie and say any damn thing.

Me too. I’d like to make a report for the horses that died in Cheltenham last week. Just disgusting. I hope you do too.

Oh wait, you won’t.

Please provide proof, I’ve seen pictures of injuries, nothing about death.

Very unserious people. Pretending to care about cruelty because they dislike Harry.

Why would you downplay the factual death of 3 racehorses last week? Are you disturbingly obsessed with M&H? Promoting polo is very poor form on their part.

What am I downplaying? I wanted to report to the RSPCA like the other user suggested, the people that rode those animals to death need to be put to justice, no??

The royal family attend horse races and promote the same, it is very poor form on their part.

I presume so but I also think animal cruelty is probably endemic in any sport that uses animals as a key part of the sport. There was that British Olympic athlete (dressage?) in the summer who was exposed after some old footage of her went viral.

I don't believe Netflix can ignore this issue as it's been trending online since the trailer aired. They probably anticipated it and will attempt to head off criticism with footage talking about animal welfare and any evidence they can find that the horses 'enjoy' it. Will be interesting to see how successfully they can do that.

As I said, I am very surprised that Netflix were able to get comfortable airing this. As @OneTealSloth so rightly points out, many equine 'sports' beloved of the aristocracy face credible allegations of cruelty. Harry liked hunting for example, but I'm sure they'd never do a docu on that.

Who are these 'very unserious people'?? Once again, I'm confused by a post of yours.

It’s only an issue to the likes of yourself, people perform faux outrage anytime H&M do anything, it’s the same old song and dance. The series will air and nothing will happen.

The only thing Netflix cares about is numbers. Criticism, hate watching and engagement are the very tenets of Netflix, knowing them they’d welcome it lol

The RF may never do a docu of hunting or horse racing but they sure bet on horses and even race their own. Making a profit off animal cruelty is what they do.

You’re going to have to stay confused lol

https://www.peta.org.uk/blog/polo/

Polo Is Hard on Horses

Unlike sports in which only willing individuals participate, polo matches exploit a shocking 50 horses per match. The astonishing toll this high-speed, full-contact game takes on the animals’ bodies means they have to be subbed out every few minutes.

While some wealthy teams and riders may have enough horses to rotate the animals frequently to allow for adequate rest and recovery, many do not, meaning horses are easily overworked. Polo is also often played in extremely hot climates, like Argentina, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the southern United States, exacerbating the animals’ fatigue and making horses susceptible to heat exhaustion or even heat stroke.

Injuries Are Common

Often referred to as “fast and furious”, polo requires unnaturally speedy pivots on a hard playing surface, with the average horse running a combined distance of 1 mile during a single seven-minute round (called a chukka).

One study found that horses trotting on the hard surface experienced movement asymmetry and more than half the horses could be considered clinically lame.
It’s not unheard of for horses to be hit in the head by a mallet during a match. And cuts, wounds, tendon injuries, and splints are common in “polo ponies”, as are oral injuries like tongue trauma caused by the improper fit of bit and bridle accessories. Almost 50% of horses examined in one study were also found to be experiencing exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage (blood in the airways).

Polo players use whips and spurs to steer horses and encourage them to run faster, both of which can hurt these animals, whose nerve ending–rich skin is delicate enough to sense the touch of a fly.

The 'faux outrage' as you call it, has been around long before H&M decided to do a Netflix show.

I can confirm what Spanakopita says, coming from a very horsey milieu myself.

The dressage rider was Charlotte Dujardin and she was previously a very, very successful rider (multiple golds at the Olympics and World Equestrian Games, winning against Germany whose top riders would normally have been expected to waltz off with the medals[. More to the point, Charlotte was held up as an example of how you can get to the top whilst respecting the horse. Well, she definitely respected her own horses (Valegro and his successor[ but not, by the looks of it, all of them.

Anyway, that's a bit of a distraction on my part from Spanakopita's point, and the point others have made, that all sports where animals are used will involve a degree of exploitation if not abuse - in the form of taking unecessary risks, very often. For me, polo ponies get the worst deal, with the mallets and hard balls but also with the tight turns, so hard on the joints, tendons and ligaments, and incredibly fast stop-start action, so hard on the heart. Polo ponies are closely followed in the hard-done-by stakes by national hunt racers, in my opinion... but that's if you were to wish to cut the data by discipline, whereas it may be fairer to say that there are some very caring owners and trainers, and some rather less so, in all of the disciplines. I used to think, for example, that dressage, my sport, was one of the kindest... that is, until the Charlotte Dujardin video surfaced.

As for "where are the pictures", it is well known in the horsey circles that the Drizzle affair played out just as Spanakopita says, and there are no "photos" that could prove that, as what you'd really need is a video of the groom audibly saying what he said to Harry, then Harry jumping on her for that last, fateful and fatal chukka. Which nobody has.

I don't condemn Harry any more than I condemn others who abuse animals... although I do think that since he had a string of ponies to choose from, insisting on riding Drizzle does seem particularly selfish. Maybe.

Cross-posted with Jouxlake. My internet is slow today!

I am learning a lot more about cruelty in the sport, so that’s eye opening. Wonder why Polo is allowed to continue if it’s so terrible 🤔

To be really, really fair to Harry, I think that Drizzle was only in the early stages of pregnancy. Had she been heavily pregnant it would have been too visible and he would simply not have dared risk the opprobrium. Also, she would not have been half as quick, so basically becoming "useless" to Harry. Owners/trainers will very quickly and radically reduce the work of pregnant mares, especially if they compete, stopping riding altogether in the eighth month. So if Drizzle was preggers, it was early, and not showing.

I’m curious if anyone here will actually watch the show?

No, he was told by the groom not to ride her, and he wanted to, and she and the foal died - what Harry wants Harry gets mentality - he's an abuser

I guess because it is a very niche elitist sport, populated with some very wealthy individuals, so not a lot of publicity around it. Now that Netflix are doing this programme, and the PR blitz around it, I think there will be a wider audience learning more about the cruelty of the sport rather than the so called 'glamour'. But it would take years of pressure on sponsors and governments to stop funding it, for it to eventually go the way of fox hunting.

You were there?