Doing A Disservice - for Too Long
Posted by Billy at 1/25/2010 6:56 PM 
Categories: Quickies
Tags: Stallions Claiborne Farm Women Horse racing Thoroughbreds
Categories: Quickies
Tags: Stallions Claiborne Farm Women Horse racing Thoroughbreds
Today I read a blog - that I don't intend to read again.
I try hard to make this positive here - or at least informative. When you post your opinion for the world (or my world) to read - you have to be in some way honorable. If you're not going to research what you're talking about (whatever the subject) then what you do is become nothing more than tabloid bullshit.
The blog is something like fuglyblog.com - I'm not putting the link up because I don't really want to promote it. The creator seems to run her mouth heavily about things she doesn't know anything about. She is yet another "rescuer" that likes to say she loves horses but she clearly hates horse racing. She doesn't nothing that I can see that promotes the sport - she just tears it down.
I was alerted to the blog by a friend who noticed she was bad mouthing one of my clients. I'll not stand for that - at all. She states that she read online - that Claiborne Farm (celebrating 100 years in 2010 - can anyone else claim that longevity? AND quality? - I'd love to know) refuses to hire stallion handlers or grooms. Then she is dumb enough to say she didn't bother to check that out.
1st off - if she ever paid any attention - she'd see that there are women as grooms at Claiborne. But you'd have to get off your ass to do so. 2nd - most women don't want to handle stallions - therefore - they aren't applying for such jobs most places. Before some idiot comments - take note that Warmbloods are not Thoroughbreds - so do not make a stupid remark and try to compare. Thoroughbreds are intense - calculating - thoughtful horses - and the stallions are rarely gullible or stupid.
There are several women that handle Thoroughbred Stallions throughout the US. She makes stupid statements about women in the industry - and it's clear she's talking about an industry she isn't in. I've been in this industry for going on 17 years. I've worked with more women than men (including when I prepped yearlings at Three Chimneys - thanks Rachel Southwood and the late Lorena Mullins). My bosses have mostly been women - including Benny Bell Williams when I was at Jonabell Farm. She is probably the best horseman (excuse me horseperson) I know. I deal personally with more women than men when it comes to my public auction clients, including trainer Michelle Nihei and Claiborne Farm's Dell Hancock.
What I notice most in the world of equality of the sexes is that women do more disservice to themselves than anyone. If I hear one more woman tell me that she can't get a job because she doesn't have a penis. Do you realize that you just proved you don't deserve the job? Because you think automatically that having a penis is better than not? I hear this type comment more from people who are not qualified than people that are deservedly hired. It's the same with anyone that thinks they are the best - but do not realize they don't have the qualifications. Sure because of some laws that were passed because people in charge at one point in business weren't smart enough to hire the most qualified person they just hired the white guy.
You know what I'm talking about. Nowadays that idea has changed because people across this land have realized that if they want to succeed they need to move forward and not hire people based on sex, race, relation, sexual preference. They are learning to hire based on - who will help move my company forward? Some industries do better than others - but the people that don't get hired and complain about it being because they aren't white, black, straight, male, etc. - do themselves a disservice. You didn't get hired - because someone else did - whatever the reason - you certainly didn't win them over. Improve yourself and stop complaining because - you're just stepping backward.
Women like this fugly woman (I use that only because of her blog - I don't know her at all - and could care less to meet her - thanks) are doing nothing for moving other women forward. -- Why? Because she's not smart enough to learn before she talks.
I try hard to make this positive here - or at least informative. When you post your opinion for the world (or my world) to read - you have to be in some way honorable. If you're not going to research what you're talking about (whatever the subject) then what you do is become nothing more than tabloid bullshit.
The blog is something like fuglyblog.com - I'm not putting the link up because I don't really want to promote it. The creator seems to run her mouth heavily about things she doesn't know anything about. She is yet another "rescuer" that likes to say she loves horses but she clearly hates horse racing. She doesn't nothing that I can see that promotes the sport - she just tears it down.
I was alerted to the blog by a friend who noticed she was bad mouthing one of my clients. I'll not stand for that - at all. She states that she read online - that Claiborne Farm (celebrating 100 years in 2010 - can anyone else claim that longevity? AND quality? - I'd love to know) refuses to hire stallion handlers or grooms. Then she is dumb enough to say she didn't bother to check that out.
1st off - if she ever paid any attention - she'd see that there are women as grooms at Claiborne. But you'd have to get off your ass to do so. 2nd - most women don't want to handle stallions - therefore - they aren't applying for such jobs most places. Before some idiot comments - take note that Warmbloods are not Thoroughbreds - so do not make a stupid remark and try to compare. Thoroughbreds are intense - calculating - thoughtful horses - and the stallions are rarely gullible or stupid.
There are several women that handle Thoroughbred Stallions throughout the US. She makes stupid statements about women in the industry - and it's clear she's talking about an industry she isn't in. I've been in this industry for going on 17 years. I've worked with more women than men (including when I prepped yearlings at Three Chimneys - thanks Rachel Southwood and the late Lorena Mullins). My bosses have mostly been women - including Benny Bell Williams when I was at Jonabell Farm. She is probably the best horseman (excuse me horseperson) I know. I deal personally with more women than men when it comes to my public auction clients, including trainer Michelle Nihei and Claiborne Farm's Dell Hancock.
What I notice most in the world of equality of the sexes is that women do more disservice to themselves than anyone. If I hear one more woman tell me that she can't get a job because she doesn't have a penis. Do you realize that you just proved you don't deserve the job? Because you think automatically that having a penis is better than not? I hear this type comment more from people who are not qualified than people that are deservedly hired. It's the same with anyone that thinks they are the best - but do not realize they don't have the qualifications. Sure because of some laws that were passed because people in charge at one point in business weren't smart enough to hire the most qualified person they just hired the white guy.
You know what I'm talking about. Nowadays that idea has changed because people across this land have realized that if they want to succeed they need to move forward and not hire people based on sex, race, relation, sexual preference. They are learning to hire based on - who will help move my company forward? Some industries do better than others - but the people that don't get hired and complain about it being because they aren't white, black, straight, male, etc. - do themselves a disservice. You didn't get hired - because someone else did - whatever the reason - you certainly didn't win them over. Improve yourself and stop complaining because - you're just stepping backward.
Women like this fugly woman (I use that only because of her blog - I don't know her at all - and could care less to meet her - thanks) are doing nothing for moving other women forward. -- Why? Because she's not smart enough to learn before she talks.
Beautifully said. Women (and people in general) do themselves a disservice when they say that they solely didn't get a job because the employer didn't like their race or sex or whatever. Sure, there are instances of discrimination, and those people should be properly punished if they go around acting on their beliefs. However, for the most part, the world isn't like that. The racing world is DEFINATELY not like that. I can say that at the racing college that I went to, there was a pretty equal ratio of girls to boys. At the farm where I work, there are more female riders than male. I haven't really seen any instances where someone in the industry didn't hire someone because that person happened to be a woman.
Oh, and the people commenting seem just as foolish as the woman that posted the blog in the first place. I saw one that seemed to have a brain...but then another person made sure to comment back and "put her in her place". Goodness. And I don't even know what the first person who commented is trying to say...it went from her talking about a girl that was uncomfortable with her body to trying to sell a horse. Hell if I know.
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Well said.
When someone speaks ill of the racing industry with ignorance and pure fabrication, it is indeed infuriating.
Though it is obvious it seems easier to blame the industry than it is to go through the process of self reflection/evaluation.
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Nothing to say but rock on, Billy!
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I don't know about the specific blogger you're talking about, but it's ludicrous to think that there's no sexism holding women back in the world at large or in racing in particular.
"If I hear one more woman tell me that she can't get a job because she doesn't have a penis. Do you realize that you just proved you don't deserve the job? Because you think automatically that having a penis is better than not?"
This makes no sense. If a woman says she can't get a job because she doesn't have a penis, what she's saying is that *employers* think automatically that having a penis is better than not. It has nothing to do with her belief.
If racing is such a bastion of equality, why the glass ceiling? Why do so many female riders at farms not translate into more female jockeys and trainers? Why are owners happy to have women doing low-profile work for them but not high-profile work? I'm not saying that owners and trainers are necessarily consciously sexist (although some never did get the memo about the 20th century, let alone the 21st) -- I'm saying that they likely have an unconscious bias that leads them to simply go along with the way things have always been done and hire men. That there is an occasional exception doesn't disprove that.
Hell, there's sexism expressed against female *horses*, and we're supposed to believe that racing is a gender equality nirvana for female humans?
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Funny! I never said it was equal - I said that her blog was crap and she didn't know what she was talking about. She's full of negativity.
As far as my penis comment not making sense: that's funny too. IF a woman says that to me - it's CLEARLY her perception. Because there is no proof in it. If so - she then she would sue and that would be that. Do you think an employer is going to say - "sorry you're a woman so we aren't hiring you" - ? no because that's illegal.
There is sexism in everything - I get that. Did I cry because they promoted a woman that couldn't spell ahead of me at a job I had long ago? No - I moved on. She still does the same job - I have my own business. - That's not because she's a woman - it's because she can't spell. I can.
If you are the owner - it's your money - you do whatever the hell you want. You have that right. If they hire a man maybe it's not because they DIDN'T hire a woman, maybe it's because of THAT specific man. I'm not saying - nor did I say above that there isn't sexism - I said suck it up.
Just because I'm not a woman - doesn't mean I'm not discriminated against in the TB industry. I could sit here and cry about it but instead I live MY life and do a damn good job at what I do - my personal life (which tends to be harder for the conservatives to deal with than if I were a woman) never matters at the end of the day. Why? Because I do the job.
If you want women to get the job just because they are a woman - that's as sexist as someone not hiring her because she's a woman.
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"If you want women to get the job just because they are a woman"
I have absolutely no idea why you would think I was saying that, if you read my comment.
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A strange thing, indeed, to worry about someone's genitalia. Choosing that phrasing disqualifies a person from a job simply by the choice of words. Comparing genitalia would make any person question the person uttering such banality. Does sexism exist? Certainly, and it is used to exclude both men and women. The equine industry is less sexist than most. High profile positions are earned by merit: education, wisdom, perseverance, and networking.Exhibit those qualities with integrity and barriers which exist will be broken.
Along with "this horse doesn't like men", Freudian statements like this reveal more about the speaker's mindset than the speaker may realize.
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She (fugly)is the biggest Idiot in the horse world. She thinks we all need to beat our horses like the AQHA Reiner people do to their head hanging cow looking things they breed. Mine can stand up straight anytime it makes me smile at her and she has never hurt me. Thank You Billy.
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Some women feel the need to blame men, rather than blame themselves for their lack of advancement, for the failure to get ahead, for just about everything in life.
Those women make ME, as a woman, look bad & I get the scorn of their negativity.
I don't know the person about whom you are speaking, but I imagine she has a bag full of excuses for every occasion.
Women who got ahead in racing & breeding did so based upon their knowledge, not the "novelty" factor. Often the many women who rise up in the sport did so on merit & good attitudes, good ideas.
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Billy, I'm glad you can spell!
LOL!
On a more serious note, life is unfair, the world is unfair, but if you sit on your ass & whine all day about it, instead of trying to improve your demeanor, no one is going to like you whether you are black, white, male, female, young or old. Negativity is the downfall of many who fail to acknowledge their own short-comings.
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Cathy's blog at fuglyblog.com is exactly what she says, "Snarky commentary." It's just her opinion. She is not a rescue, she works for a law firm. She personally only rescues three or four a year.
For the most part, she is trying to provide a service to starved, mistreated, abused, and poorly trained horses by educating people. She outs the abusers and the scam artists. She outs fugly stallions and mares who shouldn't be reproducing and she does so interestingly.
I have been in the racing business since 1969. I have seen women discriminated against but I have also seen stables and farms who prefer female workers. Just sayin'....
I read Cathy's blog about Claiborne and disagreed with some of her "facts." However, that was just one blog. I didn't condemn her and write her off for her differing opinion.
Give her another chance and see, you might even learn a few things. I know I did.
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All blogs are opinion/editorial. This one is my opinion. However - I do my best to make sure I know what I'm talking about. So it bothered me that someone who doesn't really seem to know much about the Thoroughbred breeding/racing industry would make comments regarding something she knows nothing about. I see she does a lot of blogs about riding horses and rescues. My interest is solely in the world of horse racing so I do my best to keep my opinions to what I know. She's welcome to say whatever she likes - that's the best part about blogging - I just prefer to be accurate. I won't condemn her for the other stuff - just not sure I personally want to bother with her blog.
Appreciate your input.
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