The Horse People (Olympic Equestrians) Are Furious

[DinahMoeHum]

Last week, Patrick Redford of Deadspin blogged a piece about Olympic equestrian events titled The Olympics Are For Humans, Not Horses in which he basically disparaged the sport.
http://deadspin.com/the-olympics-are-for-humans-not-horses-1784662204#_ga=1.193372843.706084249.1463414652

This week, the responses have come in - and not in tweets either, but in long letters from equestrians. And they ain't happy:
http://deadspin.com/dead-letters-the-horse-people-are-furious-1784987429?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

The best letter, IMO, is the last one:
(snip)
Dear Patrick: If there’s one thing we equestrians are sick of, it’s pudgy, puerile little desk jockeys like you telling us our sport isn’t a sport. You think we’re so “aristocratic” (your words, Princess, not mine) that we won’t stoop to your level. Bring it, Princess, let’s go. Equestrian sport in the Olympics stems from the days when it was a international MILITARY competition for CAVALRY. Why? Because back in the pre-mechanized days, if you and your war horse were stranded in a field fenced with barbed wire with enemy shells firing at you from every direction, you better DAMN well have the chops to get yourself and your horse out of there, or end up dead.
(snip)

The writer then goes on to explain the 3 equestrian disciplines, plus the training and the financial aspects of the sport.

Conclusion:
(snip)
Nutshell version, Princess, you don’t know SHIT about what we do, and your ignorance shows and shows and shows. The reason equestrian sports look so easy is because our Olympic riders are SO GODDAMN GOOD AT IT. And they got there by virtue of relentless training in pursuit of perfection like every other Olympic athlete. Before displaying this level of ignorance in public again, Princess, do your research. Study your history. Better yet, take a few riding lessons too, from a real hard-ass like George Morris or the colonel-in-chief of the French Cadre Noir cavalry unit. They will SCHOOL you. Only then do you get to come back to me and tell me how “easy” it is and how we all “just sit there”. . .
(snip)

[twogunsid]

1. Hehe...Wow. Pretty good letter....

....and I agree with the writer.