Posts Tagged ‘working with horses’
Seriously, even today?
I have to write a whole new blog entry about this – it was brought up in yesterday’s comments and now I want to know how much truth there is to it.
I normally think of the horse world as one where there is very little discimination against women. Â After all, it is difficult to find a horse discipline in which women don’t excel, rising to the highest levels of accomplishment. Â In jumping, hunters, dressage, stock breed shows, Arabian shows, and many others, you will have no problem finding women competing against men and winning against them on a regular basis. Â You don’t see it in the higher levels of polo, but that’s because it gets down to physical strength at a certain point — in low goal polo, the girls-against-the-guys games tend to routinely result in victory for the women, who often have superior riding skills to the guys, who often started riding just to play polo.
Nor is there any obvious discrimination in the barn at the kind of barns I’ve worked in. Â Most hunter/jumper and dressage barns are staffed largely by women, as are Arabian, AQHA, APHA and ApHC barns. Â Plenty of women care for polo ponies and transport horses across country. Â They train, assistant train, and groom. Â Many work as breeding managers and barn managers. Â Employment opportunities are plentiful, if not always well-paid.
That’s why I was a little surprised to read a post in the other thread that alleged that Claiborne farms refuses to hire women as stallion handlers or grooms. Â Now, I haven’t confirmed if there’s any truth to that yet, and I’d be interested to hear the answer. Â If you’ve worked for them in that capacity, and you’re a woman, speak up! Â It does remind me of rumors I have heard from friends who worked at the track that the racetrack is stuck in 1950 when it comes to women’s rights. Â Women aren’t welcomed and are often harassed, verbally and sexually, intimidated, and even physically threatened. Â I’ve heard these stories from a number of women who’ve worked at different racetracks, so there must be something to them.
So let’s talk about that today. Â If you’re a woman who has worked in the racing industry, are they still stuck in 1950? Â Have you had the same opportunities as a man? Â Have you worked for a farm that treated you like an equal and allowed you to handle stallions and supervise breedings, or was there an assumption that you weren’t competent to do that kind of work? Â If you’ve actually worked at the track, have you been harassed because you were a woman?
I don’t want to talk about every incident of some loser sexually harassing you at a horse farm, or this thread will be 700 pages long. We’ve all had that happen. I want to talk specifically about the racing industry today, and if a genuine issue still exists as to how female trainers, jockeys, exercise riders, grooms and barn help are treated and if they do not have the employment opportunities men do.
For those of you on Facebook, if you haven’t already, become a fan of Hercules the Horse to see his updates and new pictures. This is the big guy we are still trying to identify, the one who did what we all felt like doing when he bit Ron Mariotti, the kill buyer! Katie visited him yesterday and reported back!
