DressageHub | Dressage Rider Heather Blitz Defends - Helgstrand After Operation X Expose - FB Post In Description @DressageHub | Uploaded November 2023 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Heather Blitz has been shown over and over again here on Dressage Hub destroying the horses she rides with abuse, so it would make sense for her to defend Andreas Helgstrand in light of the Operation X animal abuse expose by TV2 in Denmark.
Here is what she had to say on Facebook.
How many of you critics of horse trainers out there have experience enough to really back up what you are complaining about? Seriously? And do you confirm it’s actual abuse before you jump on the bandwagon of hating? When you see blood in the mouth, have you found out for sure whether it was an innocent mistake that the horse just pinched their own lip before you acuse the trainer of ABUSE? If you hate that a horse is behind the vertical, have you asked whether that rider would like as much as anyone to keep the nose out and poll up but the horse naturally goes too deep and isn’t strong enough yet to hold that advanced balance before you decide to HATE? One of my horses runs free in her pasture waaay behind the vertical because that’s natural for her. Who will you hate for that? Just curious.
There is no shortage of abusive riding, ego and greed in the training business for sure. I don’t need reminders about that so save your comments. 🙄 I’m actually not even talking about the opX debacle. Just responding to where so many online critics are taking this. No one should train with anger, or lack of awareness of what they’re trying to get across to their horse and must be able to recognize when they have made their point and stop there. Abusive riding most often is involving emotion and anger and when there’s no recognition of the right answer from the horse and the rider goes on past that point. The other most common, insidious abusiveness is lack of correct rider biomechanics together with aids totally conflicting what the rider’s body is inherently telling the horse to do.
But I do have to stand to for my fellow, skilled and mentally balanced, compassionate and body aware trainers out there who now fear if you so much as brush your horse wrong you will be banned and blamed for everything. I mean trainers who take the responsibility of being balanced, non emotional, consistent and aware of the correctness of their own bodies as #1 priority! We are not to blame when horses are born with kissing spines and can’t stand up to normal healthy riding, or have genetic OCDs that eventually become their demise even with the most correct and passionate program in the horse’s best interest, or twist a gut because horses have a tricky digestive set up and it just happens.
One person writes how it’s so terrible that the average age of horses in a certain country is 7. While that is a depressing fact, be careful about blaming that all on over pushing training or bad riding. I had one in particular with 3 problem limbs before he was even in training at all and had to be retired before he even started. Warmbloods in general are more than ever being bred for big movement and good looks rather than health and substance and are born with myriad health issues or insufficiencies. Of course there are some breeders who prioritize the right things!! But many don’t.
Horses often come out of the womb with issues from tongue habits to nervousness and over reactivity. If you haven’t been around alot of breeding and foals to young horses, you can’t comment on that. If you have, you’ve seen it yourself. If we’re very lucky, we get one that truly is just a middle of the road, blank slate with no weak areas. Horses that have behavioral issues from birth that aren’t given the right kind of leadership and boundaries and training will live their lives suffering from their own demons. I can’t tell you how many horses I’ve helped get over their fears and insecurities by making sure training gives them life skills and confidence in me and themselves. Without guidance, so many horses would remain terrified of their own weaknesses and remain or become dangerous to handlers and riders and end up in much worse situations or hurting someone. In many cases, it can be dramatic what they get themselves into. And our job as trainers is to somehow magically get them through it without any stress? Sometimes just getting through a session without any drama is impossible because of what they bring to it. Just staying calm in a room with a crazy person is a skill in itself!
I really didn’t want to get involved in this online maelstrom but i feel it’s necessary to protect those of us who are out there putting our lives on the line to give horses a good, healthy education. It’s a very tough job that is impossible to perfect and now we’re going to be looking over our shoulder constantly for the next secret camera and overzealous critic. If you want to change the trainers, change what the judges reward and how the horses are bred!
Heather Blitz has been shown over and over again here on Dressage Hub destroying the horses she rides with abuse, so it would make sense for her to defend Andreas Helgstrand in light of the Operation X animal abuse expose by TV2 in Denmark.
Here is what she had to say on Facebook.
How many of you critics of horse trainers out there have experience enough to really back up what you are complaining about? Seriously? And do you confirm it’s actual abuse before you jump on the bandwagon of hating? When you see blood in the mouth, have you found out for sure whether it was an innocent mistake that the horse just pinched their own lip before you acuse the trainer of ABUSE? If you hate that a horse is behind the vertical, have you asked whether that rider would like as much as anyone to keep the nose out and poll up but the horse naturally goes too deep and isn’t strong enough yet to hold that advanced balance before you decide to HATE? One of my horses runs free in her pasture waaay behind the vertical because that’s natural for her. Who will you hate for that? Just curious.
There is no shortage of abusive riding, ego and greed in the training business for sure. I don’t need reminders about that so save your comments. 🙄 I’m actually not even talking about the opX debacle. Just responding to where so many online critics are taking this. No one should train with anger, or lack of awareness of what they’re trying to get across to their horse and must be able to recognize when they have made their point and stop there. Abusive riding most often is involving emotion and anger and when there’s no recognition of the right answer from the horse and the rider goes on past that point. The other most common, insidious abusiveness is lack of correct rider biomechanics together with aids totally conflicting what the rider’s body is inherently telling the horse to do.
But I do have to stand to for my fellow, skilled and mentally balanced, compassionate and body aware trainers out there who now fear if you so much as brush your horse wrong you will be banned and blamed for everything. I mean trainers who take the responsibility of being balanced, non emotional, consistent and aware of the correctness of their own bodies as #1 priority! We are not to blame when horses are born with kissing spines and can’t stand up to normal healthy riding, or have genetic OCDs that eventually become their demise even with the most correct and passionate program in the horse’s best interest, or twist a gut because horses have a tricky digestive set up and it just happens.
One person writes how it’s so terrible that the average age of horses in a certain country is 7. While that is a depressing fact, be careful about blaming that all on over pushing training or bad riding. I had one in particular with 3 problem limbs before he was even in training at all and had to be retired before he even started. Warmbloods in general are more than ever being bred for big movement and good looks rather than health and substance and are born with myriad health issues or insufficiencies. Of course there are some breeders who prioritize the right things!! But many don’t.
Horses often come out of the womb with issues from tongue habits to nervousness and over reactivity. If you haven’t been around alot of breeding and foals to young horses, you can’t comment on that. If you have, you’ve seen it yourself. If we’re very lucky, we get one that truly is just a middle of the road, blank slate with no weak areas. Horses that have behavioral issues from birth that aren’t given the right kind of leadership and boundaries and training will live their lives suffering from their own demons. I can’t tell you how many horses I’ve helped get over their fears and insecurities by making sure training gives them life skills and confidence in me and themselves. Without guidance, so many horses would remain terrified of their own weaknesses and remain or become dangerous to handlers and riders and end up in much worse situations or hurting someone. In many cases, it can be dramatic what they get themselves into. And our job as trainers is to somehow magically get them through it without any stress? Sometimes just getting through a session without any drama is impossible because of what they bring to it. Just staying calm in a room with a crazy person is a skill in itself!
I really didn’t want to get involved in this online maelstrom but i feel it’s necessary to protect those of us who are out there putting our lives on the line to give horses a good, healthy education. It’s a very tough job that is impossible to perfect and now we’re going to be looking over our shoulder constantly for the next secret camera and overzealous critic. If you want to change the trainers, change what the judges reward and how the horses are bred!
