My heart goes out…
5 May 2007
4 Comments
To Amy Tryon and The Broussards, I’d like to extend my deepest condolences for your loss. As a young eventer in the Northwest almost ten years ago now, I always appreciated how community oriented this region of the eventing world was, and I truly hope still is. I still remember Amy participating in clinics at the farm I road and worked at, and she was always very kind and incredibly talented…which makes the abuse allegations all the more mindbogglingly hard to believe.
My heart goes out.
MY heart goes out to that poor animal who clearly in pain tried repeatedly to break to a trot but was booted back into a gallop and forced to jump another fence. It was excruciating to watch him land on his severely injured foreleg and again pushed forward into a gallop with Ms. Tryon only relenting after he cleared the finish flags. I was sickened - I understand the enormity and importance of winning a Rolex, however, the safety and health of the animal should be the first and only priority regardless of the financial gain and recognition it brings for the rider.
I don’t buy this bunk that she was not aware that the animal was injured. A rider at her level is acutely aware of the horse’s gaits, movement, and body language. In horse language, he was screaming pain yet she chose to put her own personal gain above his suffering. He obediently galloped on, practically on 3 legs and lost his life as a result. This is an absolute shame and a tragedy for the eventing world and I hope she is banned for life!
Hi Suzanne.
What we see and what she felt are two very different things. You have a split second. She made the wrong choice. Whether this was out of greed or it was because Amy was not aware of the extent of the injury is something that is up to a team of people far more experienced and qualified than you or I to judge. Your analysis of the situation may very well be correct - but it’s not the only way of looking at circumstances that either way are just awful…plain and simple. There are a variety of opinions on this matter, and I’m certainly open to your opinion, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. We’re all human. We’ve all made mistakes. And whether it was a horribly bad call or something more malicious, that’s something that both Amy and the Broussards have to live with for the rest of their lives.
Thanks for stopping by, Suzanne. It’s obvious you care a great deal about horses - do you ride?
Yes, I have been riding since the age of 6, over 40 years in all. I have competed hunters/jumpers and evented, both my own ponies and horses as well as horses owned by others.
It generally only takes a few strides to determine if your horse simply stumbled or has sustained an injury. After approximately 3 or 4 strides if your horse continues to bob his head or try to pull up, the correct and ONLY decision is to pull up and dismount!
As I said in my previous note, an advanced rider of her caliber could not have missed the change in his gait, head carriage, and his difficulty to keep galloping (he kept trying to break to a trot). For goodness sakes, she just finished 1st place in dressage - she knows what it feels like when a horse is not galloping along soundly on 4 legs! He blew out a foreleg. This would be comparable to saying that a NASCAR driver didn’t notice that his race car blew out a front tire.
Ms. Tryon continued to gallop her mount for more than just a few seconds after he very noticeably went lame. He tried to drop back to a trot and she booted him back to a gallop, rounded a bend, jumped a 4′ foot fence and continued to push him until he cleared the finish flags.
Upon finishing she pulled him up and quickly dismounted as a groom sprinted to the injured animal’s aid (too late - the damage had been done). From the urgency of her dismount she was well aware that the animal was injured and she needed to get off his back - unfortunately it was many strides and one fence too late!
It was horibble to watch and I’m sorry, but I just don’t fall for the ignorance argument. I strongly suspect if she had not been in 1st place and nearing the completion of a clear cross country round, she may have been more humane toward the poor animal. This was not an inexperienced weekend rider simply making a mistake - this was a highly skilled, astute top level rider driving to the finish for a win and causing the death of this beautiful, courageous, and valuable animal!
1. As I said before, this is your interpretation of the events that transpired. I respect them, but I don’t believe it takes everything into account, especially as both you and I are outsides looking in on this situation.
2. I have a different interpretation after watching that very sad video. But I don’t care to spend my time finding inflammatory adjectives and verbs to drive my point home.
3. I never said it was ignorance. My point is the same reason why some horrible things happen every stinking day. You’re not perfect, I’m not perfect, and Amy’s not perfect - we’re human beings. If you’re going to sum up my stance, please don’t use the word ignorance - I’d prefer ‘hindsight is 20/20′.
4. Yes. It was horrible to watch. We’re on the ground, with knowledge of the aftermath on our brain, and time passing slower than can be. As you are well aware, sitting up there in the saddle after a **** round of cross country is not the same.
5. I am entertaining this conversation with you, Suzanne because you’ve so far remained relatively calm and reasonable. I’m doing the best to remain equally as respectful. With your latest post, however, I do fear that you might travel down the path of more inflammatory, unjustified remarks which I frankly don’t believe is constructive. If you want to argue this point, by all means - but I will also suggest that the many forums awash with opinions on this matter might be a better place for your outrage.
6. You’re not going to change my mind. I agree with you on many levels, Suzanne, and I share your sympathy and regret for La Samurai. However, unjustly vilifying someone will not change the circumstances and in fact will do nothing to help anyone else learn from this. If she’s an evil, power/money/fame hungry monster, then no horseperson (with 4 months or 40 years worth of experience) will maybe look at their horse a little closer next time, or pay just a little bit more attention if they’re best friend takes a misstep.
To me, that’s a message that would do better to honor La Samurai, the biggest victim in this tragedy, than wasting energy focusing on what Amy should have done.
Thanks again for stopping by, Suzanne - hope you have a great day.
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