It's past time to end the "pony envy"

[magical thyme]

108. I'm not defending elitist scum like the Romney's. I'm *condemning* them.

Dressage in and of itself is not elitist, any more than being a farmer's kid with a pony to ride on is elitist. It is a system of training that facilitates riding, making it more fun and easier for both horse and rider. Top trainers used to be accessible to *anybody* who wanted lessons on *whatever* horse they had to ride. And if they had no horse, a horse was provided to them. As a business, yes, you had to pay the trainer. But the cost was the same whether you brought your own horse or rode one of theirs. When I had no horse, I rode fully trained Grand Prix horses donated by a 1%er at no charge.

Dressage competition at Olympic levels has been made elitist by scum like the Romney's that buy their way in and crank up the prices for everybody in the process.

I'm asking that people here try to differentiate between a system of riding, and *some* of the people that participate.

Horseback riding crosses the aisle. When people attack all dressage, they are attacking democrats as well as republicans.

There have been people on this board (so far mostly avoiding this thread) who have been attacking dressage itself as a way to attack the Romneys. They have called it abuse, cruel, painful to the horse and forceful, as well as others mocking it totally. It is none of those things. And it is wrong of them to spread those lies; especially when there are people on this board who make their living teaching and training dressage riding.