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

[magical thyme]

130. I enjoy the fun-poking, the "horse prom," the "horse they danced in on," etc.

and I certainly understand the rage at the attempted $77K tax deduction, and the sticker shock. Many of us were priced out of "our" sport years ago, and resent it. I'm long past the sticker shock, but certainly I resent on every level the misuse of all that essentially stolen money. A lot of jobs, education, and food could have been provided through money lost to loopholes and tax evasion.

Using the clothes to claim "elitist" is as silly as using a figure skater's costume to claim "elitist." It is simply formal attire to replace formal military attire, mark the occasion and highlight the elegance of the horse.

And I do have a problem with certain posters who have repeatedly made ridiculous claims about dressage being cruel, abusive, unnatural, etc. simply because the Romneys are involved with it or because they have no deep experience or understanding of it and/or horses, or are envious of people who can do it. I find it interesting that in this thread so far only one has popped up with that claim.

There are people on this board who make a living teaching and training dressage. There are others who have done so in the past (me) and who now has a youngster in her back yard in basic training. They are by inference calling us abusers.

That pisses me off because it is 1. factually incorrect and 2. potentially libelous.