# Another Romney story: Ann Romney and the drugged horse **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 5, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319 "2012-07-05T15:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/21 "2012-07-06T20:43:24Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Except that my original point was that no hay was being made of this at all, despite the fact that if it were the other way around Fox would have “OBAMA HORSE DOPER” on permanent crawl. Which is why it has been hard to get the facts of the case. Trying to make hay from such a minor story just plays into the Fox News game. I don’t get good vibes when I see Dems stooping to their level. ---
**Author:** ![bare4winds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@bare4winds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare4winds)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/22 "2012-07-08T07:22:18Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I haven’t seen much discussion of a story quietly circulating around the Interwebs (and apparently mentioned in the NYT recently) about a fraud case involving a lame horse allegedly doped to the eyeballs to hide the injury: > > [Super Hit](http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/ann-romneys-high-horse) > On the one hand I tend to view negative stories getting little media traction as suspicious. On the other hand, those look a lot like legal documents on that website. Anyone know any more about this story, and whether it’s even vaguely making any difference to Mitt’s campaign? Romney was dropped from the case after 18 months of litigation. > **[On a trail of her own](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-may-22-la-na-ann-romney-dressage-20120522-story.html)** > > Ann Romney's testimony in a lawsuit over a prized horse opens a rare window into her private world. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/23 "2012-07-08T17:07:22Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#): > > **Trying to make hay** from such a minor story just plays into the Fox News game. I don’t get good vibes when I see Dems stooping to their level. I saw what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/24 "2012-07-08T19:13:21Z")
Yeah, just horsin’ around.🙂 But I took the reins from Gyrate: “Except that my original point was that no hay was being made of this at all…” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/25 "2012-07-08T20:29:07Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > So does the trainer still work for the Romney’s? I agree that if the trainer drugged the horse without Romney’s knowledge, she can’t really be held responsible. But one hopes that if the alligations in the lawsuit were true, she’d at least fire the guy. I’d think that a minimum would be to fire the guy and take legal action (after all, she can buy a dozen attack lawyers like I buy a dozen pairs of socks) sufficient to make sure he’s never in a position to do that crap again. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/26 "2012-07-08T21:34:40Z")
Trainer to Ann: "Nonsense! You know how upset Super Hit always is when a vet is working on him, and always needs a light sedative for everyone’s safety and comfort; that’s all he had, just the usual. I don’t know where this lab is getting these other two drug traces from – maybe they don’t clean their equipment properly? "And this buyer who’s suing – look, her own vet acknowledged he knew the horse had been medicated, and he told her about Super Hit’s pre-existing condition, not to mention she was riding the horse for a year before she decided he was unfit for further use. Who knows what sort of damage she did to him herself? And now she’s trying to pass the blame off onto us and extract money from us to to pay for her own stupid mistakes. This is all just a load of nonsense from a greedy golddigger who sees your wealth as her own little piggybank. “Now, enough of that. I’m delighted to tell you that Rafalca is coming along beautifully and the odds are excellent that the selection committee will pick her for the Olympics. Let’s go look at her while the staff get your horse ready for your lesson today.” Sorry, **Steve** , but your scenario would never happen in the Romney dressage world. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/27 "2012-07-08T21:42:10Z")
I don’t see how this is a story at all at this point. Well experted, **Eddy**. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/28 "2012-07-08T21:45:25Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > the prissy nature of the “sport” of dressage itself? You can take the quotes off that word, mister; it’s mentally and physically demanding, even gruelling, to do well at dressage, especially at the upper levels – or do you regard, say, figure skating as “prissy” and not a genuine athletic endeavor? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/29 "2012-07-08T21:56:33Z")
Personally, I don’t regard any athletic endeavor with wholly subjective scoring as a sport. That includes cheerleading, figure skating, dressage, gymnastics and ski jumping. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/30 "2012-07-08T22:07:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I don’t see how this is a story at all at this point. Well experted, **Eddy**. Thanks. I can’t stand Mitt, and I doubt Ann has the faintest idea what life is really like outside her pretty little bubble of lifelong privilege, but I’m not going to sit quietly by and let unfair innuendo go unchallenged when I know what’s far more likely to be true. Especially when the people criticizing have no idea how much hard sweaty work it is to get to [here](http://inlinethumb55.webshots.com/50806/1156994881000735275S600x600Q85.jpg) even when that “here” is the very lowest level of the dressage world! > [@](#): > > Personally, I don’t regard any athletic endeavor with wholly subjective scoring as a sport. That includes cheerleading, figure skating, dressage, gymnastics and ski jumping. I take your point, but if one defines sport in terms of the physical and mental efforts required to perform it rather than the scoring of performance in competition, then I contend you are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/31 "2012-07-08T22:09:12Z")
In that case, bricklaying or carpentry would be sports. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/32 "2012-07-08T22:14:18Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > In that case, bricklaying or carpentry would be sports. 😉 Don’t be silly; unlike sports, they’re useful functions and aren’t much fun. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/33 "2012-07-08T22:50:54Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > I take your point, but if one defines sport in terms of the physical and mental efforts required to perform it rather than the scoring of performance in competition, then I contend you are wrong. That seems to make runway modeling a sport. Note, I think dressage is a sport. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/34 "2012-07-08T23:00:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > ☹ Based on the thread title, I was hoping for a story a lot juicier than **that!** Well, not everyone can be Catherine the Great. (yes, yes, apocryphal, I know. Cecil wrote a column about it, donchernow.) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/35 "2012-07-08T23:11:32Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Personally, I don’t regard any athletic endeavor with wholly subjective scoring as a sport. That includes cheerleading, figure skating, dressage, gymnastics and ski jumping. I don’t think ski jumping is purely subjective; I believe length of the jump and style go into how it’s scored. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/36 "2012-07-08T23:31:36Z")
You’re right. Strike that one from the list. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/37 "2012-07-08T23:35:02Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t think ski jumping is purely subjective; I believe length of the jump and style go into how it’s scored. Style isn’t subjective ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/38 "2012-07-08T23:40:32Z")
Come to think of it, just how does one define a sport? Is competition necessary? For example, if I ski cross-country but don’t enter any races, am I engaging in the sport of cross-country skiing? Methinks this could be a topic for IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/39 "2012-07-09T00:32:17Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Come to think of it, just how does one define a sport? Is competition necessary? For example, if I ski cross-country but don’t enter any races, am I engaging in the sport of cross-country skiing? Methinks this could be a topic for IMHO. This debate was [settled](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xSJRIKuNJBA#t=225s) a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319/40 "2012-07-09T03:49:03Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Style isn’t subjective ? 🙂 I think he means style as in the style of the landing. As in, you do _this_ and you get 2 points. You do _that_ and get 5 points, or whatever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-romney-story-ann-romney-and-the-drugged-horse/627319.md?page=3)