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1/ Hey ponies, it& #39;s story time. Let me tell you about my experiences w/ Ponies on the Delta in Lousiana, USA. (Go grab some popcorn; this is LONG.)
The first time I went was April 2018. It was the 3rd POTD & already growing quickly.
The first time I went was April 2018. It was the 3rd POTD & already growing quickly.
2/ Me, my fiancee/handler, & our entire CO herd went. It was great fun, tough competition, & we had amazing experiences that I will never forget. We met people & made connections we never would have otherwise & we were eager to go again.
3/ My handler & I built a dressage system we still use purely so we could compete, & we both won the dressage event both years we competed.
4/ During that first year, a staff member named Foxy (someone I recognized from the internet in my early days of pony play research, & was excited to finally meet) groped my fiancee& #39;s breast while incredibly drunk.
5/ He made inappropriate advances on one other member of staff that year, & we were later told of several other incidents. He was all-around a poor judge: disorganized, made up patterns for events that were to happen later that day, marked out a blindfolded cart course that was…
6/ …near-impossible to complete without faults because he was DRUNK when he did it, made bad calls that we have good reasons to suspect were made out of revenge & an attempt to step on the scale so HIS pony might have a higher chance of winning (she didn& #39;t).
7/ We were unsure of how to handle this. Foxy was Head Judge & MC, & liked to remind everyone his word was law, & you& #39;d be kicked out of the competition for arguing.
8/ Through friends we made at the event, we later learned Foxy& #39;s behavior toward women was not new, that he likes to treat women this way -- especially ponies who wear his tack, & often trans women.
9/ Others had problems with Foxy& #39;s behavior & had complained, with zero being done, so it seemed unlikely that the owner & main coordinator of POTD, Joey, would do much to stop this.
Eventually word made it back around to the owner.
Eventually word made it back around to the owner.
10/ He said he spoke to Foxy & made sure it would never happen again. So, in 2019, we attended again. Foxy again was Head Judge. Once more we watched him put on a poor show of being a judge: he was disorganized, he made up things like reining & dressage patterns the hour before…
11/ …the events, he got in mine & my handler& #39;s personal space & stayed there even when asked to give us space, he spontaneously got in my personal space to photo-bomb a selfie without asking, & he walked up & hugged my partner during the awards ceremony with zero warning &…
12/ …without asking. Taken individually & in a vaccuum, many of these things would have been minor, but given his history & our experiences with him, this was NOT OK, & he was finally confronted when we made a scene during the post-event wrap up - a meeting after the end of…
13/ …the event, after the awards ceremony, in which attendees are expected to give constructive criticism, & say what they liked, what they didn& #39;t, what worked & what didn& #39;t.
14/ (I have huge issues with this system of offering constructive criticism, & these issues have been voiced many times - but that& #39;s a different story for a different day.)
Foxy was finally banned, & we offered to help Joey run the 2020 POTD.
Foxy was finally banned, & we offered to help Joey run the 2020 POTD.
15/ We would both judge, & my partner would take Foxy& #39;s place as MC. I got to work designing the dressage & reining patterns, both of which are finished & will likely be used in the upcoming POTD, whenever that will be.
16/ When my handler & I agreed to help judge & run the event, the group of us (judges & event owner) agreed to discuss & vote on all major decisions. It& #39;s the owner& #39;s event & we agreed he& #39;d have final say, but he agreed to come to us & get our input.
17/ He said "I& #39;ve been listening to the wrong people". He said he wanted to change POTD for the better.
I& #39;m not sure how long that agreement lasted, because we weren& #39;t informed when he brought in a 2nd.
I& #39;m not sure how long that agreement lasted, because we weren& #39;t informed when he brought in a 2nd.
18/ Roles that we& #39;d already discussed, agreed upon & assigned (such as a team of people to handle any reports of consent issues) got reassigned to this other person, & when we objected, another person added who none of us had ever met or heard of.
19/ All without our knowledge or input. When we continued to object, he said he couldn& #39;t have anyone be both a judge & on the consent violation team, that he personally was sure a consent issue would never happen anyway (...except that ONE time, right??
20/ Except it was multiple times?) & if they did, he personally would decide how to deal with it, because he& #39;s in the army & the army has an amazing track record when dealing with sexual assault.
21/ *sarcastic snort* He literally said he could tell with 100% accuracy & certainty whether people were lying by looking them in the eyes. (Do I have to mention that this is a myth?)
When the pandemic began, we mentioned we should get a plan together.
When the pandemic began, we mentioned we should get a plan together.
22/ The 2nd commented in a public attendee chatroom saying how the pandemic was blown out of proportion. We argued with facts, they responded essentially with "LALALALALA" until the government banned groups of 10+ people.
23/ This was two weeks before people would start traveling to LA for the event. Once the Trump administration announced the ban on 10+ people, THEN the owner decided to post-pone the event until October.
24/ Once it was clear October wasn& #39;t going to be a safe or good idea, we expressed our concern again. We tried to get plans together for mask requirements, sanitizer, food preparations.
25/ We tried to point out the issues with folks staying in the bunkhouse, which is a tiny space in the one communal building on the property with little airflow, where every year 10+ people sleep.
26/ We tried to point out the issues with the communal cooking area, the public bathrooms & showers.
27/ We tried to point out that AT LEAST people needed to be APPROPRIATELY INFORMED WITH THE CONDITIONS OF THE CAMPSITE so that attendees can make their own decisions around health & safety, & whether to come or not.
ALL of these concerns were brushed aside.
ALL of these concerns were brushed aside.
28/ We were told covid was a hoax, that the death toll was overblown, that the owner himself was in a SUPER SEKRET ARMY TASK FORCE so he definitely knew the truth of the matter.
29/ When folks in the attendee chat expressed concern, & that several had lost loved ones in the pandemic, the owner & his 2nd didn& #39;t have it in them to express condolences.
30/ Many attendees have already cancelled & asked for refunds, & the owner has repeatedly denied those requests.
31/ My handler & I were called "smartasses", told we were blowing A GLOBAL PANDEMIC out of proportion, told to shut up, & finally when we still wouldn& #39;t shut up, we were kicked off of staff.
32/ I personally care much more about the safety of our worldwide pony family more than any individual pony event. If we hadn& #39;t been kicked out, handler & I would have resigned anyway. We can& #39;t in good conscience assign our names to such a wreck of an event.
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