Can someone please tell me where the line goes in between being an internet troll and just anybody giving advice? Cause sometimes I find it really hard to NOT engage in conversations on social media.
Remember the story about influencers from a couple a weeks ago?
Well, one of the “influencers” got one of her clips to go viral, while also making a big fuzz about heading up one level of competitions.
She made some below average results on a horse that's been pushed way too fast through the levels at a young age and now has turned into a somewhat unreliable stopper.
This person sounds like she's a 1.60m level showjumper when she's in fact more of an average Joe competing on the 1.10-1.20m level.
She also charges people money to take part of her best tips to become a successful international rider.
International rider is the self acclaimed title she's given herself, and sure if you competed international you are an international rider, but question is if you're really an international rider, if you know what I mean.
The advice this woman hands out via her social media channels are frightening and, again dangerous, and eventually they will cause some serious body damage to either herself, her horse, or anybody else.
On her socials one can now read how she was forced to prove she could make a better round, than the previous ones on her current level before stepping up to the next one.
If that is not a clue you are not good enough just, and or maybe never will be just that, good enough. I don’t know what is!
And about that round, she was forced to do. It happened on a national equivalent of her current level. Which in most cases would make it two levels below the new level of international sport she is now is trying to achieve.
Myself seeing who followed this story unfold on her socials had to bite my tongue off and tie down my fingers to not start typing YOU ARE NOT READY…
Cause she isn’t.
Anybody can see that.
Myself cannot believe how it is even possible that riders like this literally slide through the cracks of the system(s).
Where did the horsemanship go?
How did we end up here?
Would it make me a troll to leave a comment directly to her and or via her socials that she is not ready?
Am I really the only one having these thoughts?
Links to things mentioned in this article
I'm Gonna Die...
Brands often chase big follower counts instead of real knowledge, which means people who don’t always know what they’re doing end up setting the trends.
Thank you for sharing this piece. I want to say — no, you’re not alone. That internal conflict you describe is familiar: the question of whether speaking up would make me a troll, or worse, whether silence makes me complicit.
For the most part, I’ve chosen silence. Not because I don’t care, but because I’ve come to believe that horsemanship, particularly in online spaces, is already saturated with polarising discourse and an almost evangelical certainty. The low cost of communication and the ease of anonymity seem only to amplify this.
I’m not sure these forums are conducive to genuine, thoughtful exchange. Too often, an alternate view is not just unwelcome, it risks entrenching the very ideas it seeks to challenge.
That said, I found your reflections meaningful. The nuance and humility with which you wrote invited something different, and that’s worth acknowledging.
Happy riding