I am a firm believer that peer pressure can be a very powerful incentive for behaviour modification (see the naughty list on my website www.applausedressage.com if you don’t believe me). So, with that in mind, I am pleased to provide you with the video of Michael Morrissey BEATING his horse at the US team trials. Some clever soul managed to obtain some video footage and not only did he or she post it on youtube, he or she has sent me the video footage. So, if you are reading this and about to yank the youtube video, don’t worry. I’ll post it right on this blog without the aid of youtube if you do that.
Following the official FEI statement which you can find in my last post – the one that says MM was disqualified from all further participation in the US team trials, I found him in the results for the next week’s Trial #3, which was held on March 3 on the Steeplechase Field at WEF. MM had 12 faults and was 24th in the overall standings. He has been ‘disappeared’ like an Argentinian dissident from all the results at shownet.biz, but trust me, he was there and whoever ‘disappeared’ him has not been able to erase him from every single website or press release. I have now been contacted by an individual at USEF who is taking responsibility for giving the FEI wrong information, which the FEI then sent to me. This individual says that in fact MM was disqualified AFTER trial 3, and that he made a mistake in his reporting to the FEI. I’m not buying it though. Not one little bit. Come on! How can you say someone was disqualified from competing when he was right there in the flesh, and on the results – at least for a while anyway.
Here is the video. Note that he has turned the whip around in his hand to get more force in the whacks. He also hits the horse on the shoulder a couple of times before going for the golf swing on the backside. As I said in an email response to the individual at USEF, never mind the rules. Anyone with a shred of humanity would cringe to watch a horse treated this way. I am still awestruck that nothing was done to discipline him right after it happened – by USEF or the FEI.
Disgusting. Thank you for continuing to bring this to the light.
I agree peer pressure is very powerful.And that is mean if you beat your horse for no reason>Why do people do this to horses and other animals?
I’m sadly sure this happens in practice rings around the world, but by not sanctioning MM, the FEI is essentially admitting it condones abuse. Colour me shocked. Not.
I abhor animal cruelty and here, in the video, it is openly taking place with no repurcussions at all for the rider!!!? I cringe to think what he did to the horse once he was out of the public’s view!
I would have have loved to have lashed him with that very crop myself, followed by shuffing it where the sun doesn’t shine!
*grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Great blog! Keep up the good work! I also agree that peer pressure can influence behaviors.
Thank you for posting this. People need to realize that they can’t get away with this kind of thing in this technological age.
I love your naughty list by the way. 🙂
Fugly Horse of the Day (FHOTD) has blogged about it; this WILL get out.
And here I thought crops were for show, with a possibility of use as a reminder. I didn’t realize you were expected to ASSAULT your horse over the jumps with it…what a man. What a stupid, cruel man…if you want the horse to go over the jump, you might want to steer the horse toward the CENTER of the jump itself.
To MM: you, you ignoramus, are an a$$hat of the first order. If you’re capable of throwing a temper tantrum and beating your horse in front of everyone, what happened after this ride was over and the horse was out of view?
I hate people. What’s worse is the shuck and jive re: the results. MM needs to be fined and penalized by exclusion from future FEI events. (Hey, we can dream, right?)
I hope prospective employers of MM could see this video; hmmm, wonder what this poor horse’s owner thought? And they PAID to have their horse publicly abused.
Appreciate your having a naughty list, by the way.
Carole
When I was growing up it wasn’t uncommon or even frowned upon to smack a horse around like that. But then we GREW UP and stopped it. Although I know of more than a few people who never grew up that much.
But when I watch Grand Prix jumping it is still pretty common to see this. I wouldn’t even have blinked in surprised if I watched it live. (NOT that I would approve, just not be surprised)
Absolutley Disgusting! He should be bloody ashamed with himself!
There was no way that horse was going to make the jump to begin with the “Driver”‘s steering was off the horse was pointed at the F’in side of the jump. What a dip sh*t, he should have been stopped from completing the ride and told to get the hell out of the arena.
Of course he ran out on that fence! The guy ran him into the standard. That horse had no idea where he was going. If I were a judge, I’d have excused his sorry behind from my ring.
Guess who was taking part in the GP at Tampa?
2010 Gene Mische American Invitational
1 14 ARMANI JEFFERY WELLES USA 0.00 88.05 0.00 44.36 TRITON VENTURES ABIGAIL W
2 22 SELECT PETER LEONE USA 0.00 89.00 0.00 44.87 GER POELS HORSES LIONSHAR
3 4 OLE MAC CONE CAN 0.00 85.92 12.00 46.00 SARA/LARRY HOUSTON/EVOY
4 8 LENNOX LEWIS 2 LESLIE HOWARD USA 4.00 83.01 LESLIE & PETER HOWARD
5 10 TRISTAN NICOLE SHAHINIAN-SIM USA 4.00 87.77 ILAN FERDER
6 25 UBLESCO CARA RAETHER USA 4.00 88.65 TRELAWNY FARM
7 12 CIM CHRISTO GEORGINA BLOOMBERG USA 4.00 89.49 GOTHAM ENTERPRIZES
8 26 CRELIDO MICHAEL MORRISSEY USA 4.00 90.22 MICHAEL MORRISSEY
9 23 FIFTH ESTATE 3E HUGH GRAHAM CAN 4.00 90.59 KING RIDGE STABLES
10 17 URBANUS CHARLIE JAYNE USA 6.00 99.00 ALEX R. JAYNE
11 5 VICOMTE D MARIO DESLAURIERS USA 8.00 83.63 JANE F. CLARK
12 21 HIDDEN CREEK’S CAMPELLA MARGIE ENGLE USA 8.00 83.79 HIDDEN CREEK FARM
to be perfectly honest, this really is not that bad. if any of you. I respect MM for not getting after that horse going to it the first time. This horse is a world cup horse, it should jump the water. I am not saying it is legal, which it obviously is NOT, but it is NOT by any means abuse… if any of you ride at all, im sure you have seen horses get schooled and in some cases, it is necessary.
Someon eshould do the same to him!!!
How the hell can someone belive that its right to hitt a horse like that.
He can NOT call him self a rider!
God Horsmanship is something that a lot of riders dont have.
Ofcourse a horse have to be schooled but certenly not in that way at all!!!
If someone would do like that in sweden the judge would ask them to leave the ride court.
Why should it be any different for the pro riders????
DISGUSTING
This is absolutely NOT effectively schooling a horse, this is purely an example of a rider having a temper tantrum on course, I make no argument that a Grand Prix jumper should jump the water, they are trained to jump and if they refuse then of course they should be effectively corrected, the key word here is EFFECTIVE, that being the crop one or two strides out on the second presentation to the jump as a reinforcement, this rider begins beating on the horse before he has even turned to re-approach the fence and then continues to bash on him all the way down to the base when it looks pretty clear to me by the second and third smack of the crop that the horse has every intention to go forward. Good horsemanship involves correcting the horse in the moment of disobedience and rewarding when the horse moves in the right direction, this rider is just aimlessly beating on his horse, whether he is abusive or just a terrible horseman who doesn’t understand how to train an animal I can’t say…either way it’s bad and should not go unpunished
This horse and rider should have been eliminated. The rulebook considers more then 3 hits with the whip as abuse of the horse. The International Federation FEI is quite clear about this and is very concerned about protecting horses and the image of the sport.
Personally, I always intervene in cases of horse abuse whether in the arena or the warm-up areas.
I am an international show jumpng judge.
I don’t know why the Gj didn’t take measures in this case.
Evidently this pair is neither World Cup rider nor horse. If you don’t have the horsepower or the training to compete at this level, stay home. It is not only dangerous to be so overfaced, it’s disgusting to see the unpsportsmanlike conduct from someone who cannot accept their own mistakes or the horse’s lack of talent. He should be banned from all comeptition, period. Unfortunately, this behaviour is all too common,and no one watching did anything about it either. simply disgusting.
If he would do something like that in public, one can only imagine what goes on behind closed doors???? There is NOTHING that can make this ok.
13 strikes. Yes, calculated, unconcerned about the whole incident. Bad riding in the first place as he didn’t place the horse correctly. Deserves whatever is dished out to him. This is not schooling, this is competition.
Someone should have checked the horse’s skin for welts. I’ve seen some pretty bad ridging on a horse – welts – just like corrugated cardboard, after a beating with whips.
Arenas, riding schools, public ones at least should all be monitored by camera; in a perfect world, so that none of these bad-tempered swell-heads would get away with it.
I am very late to the game (i.e. the Morrissey Chronicles), but I would be very remiss not to say thank you for your persistance in this matter. It is a very important wake up call to all of us who have ever let our temper lead us to entirely inappropriate and inhumane behaviors. Thank you for being there to sound the warning!
I personally know Michael Morrissey & Crelido and Michael is an amazing rider. Crelido is taken care of so amazingly and treated so well. I know that whipping him WAS necessary for Crelido to jump the jump because I know he would refuse it again because he has done that before. It’s not animal cruelty at all-so people hating on him…relax.