Even Horses Can't Escape Facebook

Fur was flying yesterday after Adelinde Cornelissen's elimination from the World Equestrian Game's dressage competition. Her horse, Parzival, had blood foaming from his mouth resulting in disqualification. The Chronicle of the Horse was at the competition and immediately tweeted the information and posted pictures on Facebook (http://bit.ly/cbPtet, http://bit.ly/bUF6Zb). This led to an onslaught of comments from fans for and against Adelinde as well as the posting of pictures of her using rolker in the warm-up ring (http://bit.ly/bgV0K9). Rolker is a riding technique where the horse is forced into an unnatural head set by applying extreme pressure to the bit; its use is banned by the FEI, which governs the WEG competitions. Once the training pictures were posted, the tone of the comments took an angry turn. Fans began to accuse the FEI stewards of not thoroughly examining the horse and overlooking obvious abuse. Considering the recent debacle with Sapphire’s elimination at the World Cup and the pictures posted of illegal training methods being used in the ring under the steward’s noses, it's no wonder fans were questioning their ability to govern properly. Without saying a word, Adelinde had launched a massive marketing campaign that was rapidly degrading her brand.

Even in the insulated horseback riding world, which has long shunned technology, social media is having a major impact. While professional riders don't have much time to actively manage their public image, with the speed at which information travels online, perhaps they should make time. Heavy weight riders like Anky Van Grunsven, who is frequently in the headlines for bad behavior, have product lines branded with their names; damage to their reputation can mean thousands of dollars in lost revenue and sponsorship. Social media has obvious relevance to top riders but local trainers and boarding facilities also need to get into the game. The horse world has a dedicated social networking site, Equestrian Life, that smaller businesses have finally begun to use as a platform to advertise their services. My former employer, sundanceequestrian.com, even has a blog on their web page that they publish to the barn Facebook site. Unfortunately the majority of the horse industry is still unaware of the impact social media marketing can have on their business. A few of the top barns in the US don’t even have websites. As our professor pointed out, it’s possible to have a social media marketing campaign for your business without even knowing it; hopefully the horse world will wake up and take advantage of these new marketing tools.