On the Line

Talk about carefully worded press releases. The one reporting on Michael Morrissey’s grand prix win on Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park recounts that his “talented and sensitive” horse Crelido “always gives his best effort and the pair has learned how to help each other and be successful in the ring over the years.”

Hmmmm, interesting. If the name Michael Morrissey doesn’t ring any bells, search YouTube for “How to get a horse to jump”. Remember now? Morrissey’s riding during the USEF Show Jumping Selection Trials for WEG back in February touched off a huge outcry when the video spread like wildfire on the internet (this blog fanned some flames, too.) It led to his suspension for striking his talented and sensitive mount more a dozen times after a refusal at the water jump. USEF stewards also took a big hit for not penalizing Morrissey on the spot.

I feel the same way that Crelido probably does about this guy; distrustful and wary, but settling on a cautious acceptance as long as he behaves himself. After all, we don’t have much of a choice, do we?

It’s easy to bag on him, and that press release sure takes context to a whole new level. (“I feel pretty good, it feels good to be back,” smiled Morrissey. . .) But Morrissey served out a three-month suspension that ended on August 4, and paid a $3,000 fine. He’s now eligible to compete again, and he won a big class over a hard track on his first trip out.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m among the 72,304 viewers who wanted to take a whip to him after watching that video. But there’s another point to be made here. Michael Morrissey beating his horse is the top video that comes up in the search for “How to get a horse to jump” on YouTube. It has 64,612 more views than the second rated video, which is of last year’s Hampton Classic Grand Prix. Thus, there’s a very good possibility of your average horse enthusiast plugging the same search into YouTube to find a helpful video and finding that.

And now someone’s first impression of how to get a horse to jump is that you must be a whip-happy fool. I hope that the person who posted the video thinks about this and considers taking the video down. Morrissey has been punished by USEF and condemned by the YouTube masses. But continuing to let that video live on the internet does a disservice to horse training, show jumping, and everyone involved with the sport. What do you think???