Savage Abuse: Ben Talbot VS Brittany Fraser – Where is the line?

Savage Abuse: Ben Talbot VS Brittany Fraser – Where is the line?
I woke up this morning to read that Ben Talbot has been suspended for two months based on his behavior in this video which has been called a “savage” beating by the meeting. When I woke up this morning to read the headlines, I, like most people wanted to watch the video, but as I watched I could not help but think that this style of riding looks all to familiar and wondered why it was an issue this time.

Are we only banning riders when there is social media outcry? Are we only stopping abuse when it happens on a live stream?

If the stewards start calling out abuse in the warm up, they lose their jobs, if judges start ruling it out in the show ring in dressage they will no longer be invited back to judge. Heck, if they dont give the Global Dressage Show favorites the right scores they wont get invited back either, but that is for another video.

How do we balance accountability to the sport and to the horses when the only people with anything to lose are those that call the shots on what is abuse?

At a time when the whole world is watching and the FEI is doing there best to control the media it seems the only time they want to control the riders is when there is a social media outcry and their reputation is at stake. Seems like an exhausting business model for those of us sitting on the sidelines. Kind of takes all of the fun out of a watching the sport.

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