http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002386363

.

who else in the world would put up with either of them?

Had to stick him in a crate on the top of the car.

Can't get that out of my head, these people are unreal.

Sadly, a whole bunch of low and middle class folks will vote against their own best interest in November.

The 1% bought out American religion specifically to ensure it.

at an average of $10,000 a year x 5 ports ( I think that's how many houses they said they have) = $50,000
So is this something the average person can do?

hobby. So much for her not considering herself wealthy. People who have multiple homes and the accessories that go in them and staff to run them don't seem to understand the concept of people who don't own even a single home, who are maybe renters and even homeless. I don't get how clueless people like this are. We definitely don't need them running a country.

We've got a winner!
Plutocrats have no clue how the rest of America lives.

Not bad for someone who isn't wealthy.

and I don't consider myself wealthy." More indelible proof that money can't buy class.

There's tone deaf, completely tone deaf, pathologically tone deaf, and then there's The Romneys.

mikey_the_rat

(or shouldn't say) on the campaign trail? Really?

I cannot believe this, but I guess I have to, since it keeps on happening and happening...

... and if they say "boo!" to him, he says, "You're fired!". The ones that don't get fired, he ignores, since his thinking is always "I have more money than them, so they are worthless".

The same thinking process as any 0.1% asshole has.

He surrounds himself with yes men.

... I hope "bet you $10,000" becomes a putdown/ironic/hipster/whatever phrase in the future.

Lots of other good phrase-candidates from the blatherings and panderings of the liars known as the "repig presidential candidates".

Puh-leeeze, keep shooting your oblivious mouth off like this, over and over and over......

I know her type well. My town is full of "horse people". Go to either of my town's more upscale grocery stores, and you'll see a half a dozen of them trotting around in their riding clothes. Most of them can't be bothered to change their footwear, so they traipse all over the joint in their shit-caked boots. These are the same people who hate bitch about government and taxes, but are expecting my city to use tax dollars to build them a horse park. I can't wait to get out of this place.

barn fees, food, horse shoes, grooming, and ????

It has to north of $300.00 per month which works out to $3,600 per year x # of horses owned.

That does not cover vet fees, horse trailers, bridal path fees, and ....

Or more. Way more in some places. There's also the purchase of saddle, bridle, bits, brushes, buckets, blankets, hoof picks, halters, boots, riding britches... Some of these things get lost or damaged more frequently than one realizes, so while not a "monthly" cost, things like hoof picks are somewhat frequent purchases.

A local barn here, where the trainer called his clients "working class", ie they were lawyers, doctors, business men/women, and a few living on small trust funds, the board/training monthly was $900, plus $400 for shoeing (every 5 weeks). These were show horses - the cost to trailer them to a show locally was $200-500 per show, and if it was from Oregon to So. Cal, it was $1500++; to the Midwest, it was $3500-almost 5k. And you paid extra for the week you were showing there, at $90/day (included extra work for grooms) - you paid the show daily rate in addition to your usual board/training monthly bill. And tips, hundreds of dollars for tips, plus any goodies to barn staff (elaborate) and to the trainer (extremely generous and elaborate).

This was at what was deridingly called a "working class" barn filled with professionals (these people had money, but in the uber rich world of these horses on the A circuit, well, they were lambasted for being poor cousins). For the uber wealthly? Like Anne? I don't know for sure, but I do know personally of quite a few wealthy hunt/jumpers who fly their horses to other parts of the country for a season. Others who instead maintain "horses in every port" pay thousands per month. Thousands. Because these horses aren't just boarded at a public stable; they have trainers, grooms, exercise girls/boys, stable shoers, vets on call, stall cleaners/feeders, on and on. That exists whether or not one adds shows on top, which I don't know if Anne does. While the price of some horses can be modest, these competitive ones were $50k and up, and that is not considered to be anything other than a starter horse. You want to really compete, you spend what they are spending, which is quite a bit more than that. That is what Anne's type of wealth typically buys in the horse world. Sure, one can (and many do) keep horses at the rates you mentioned in your post; however, people in Anne's wealth class for the most part are not even aware that a horse could be kept so cheaply - yes, they'd considered that cheap. Nor would they feel good about doing it that way - take a look at any of the magazines selling horse supplies, esp. the luxury ones. Just outfitting a horse in a "wealthy" style will set you back thousands. True, one can own horses without all this fluff - many do. But for those with serious money in the bank, they pay out serious funds and there is nothing that can be bought for a horse that their horses do not have at least one of, if not more.

I've seen estimates that ALL of her horses total $250K - and in the horse world, given the wealth this woman has, does almost make her a poor cousin. Above the working poor at public stables, above the working class at the low end of the private stables, but way below the rarified air in which some of these folks travel (and where she could too, if she so wanted).

I've met rich people like Anne. They've been so removed for so long from reality, that they actually believe it when they say they are not wealthy (because they are comparing themselves to the few that have more than them). It is simply nauseating to listen to for any length of time.

that at the horse barn I described, which other than one large inside area was very bare bones (a big metal building), board alone was $600. You could get lessons at $30/hour.

I am still googling to find out what horse world Anne lives in - I've heard it described as just having horses so that she can maintain her physial fitness as an MS patient.

However, both of them continually mischaracterize things so badly that it is fair to say she may not have been speaking truthfully about her participation in the horse world.

Not that it matters, I suppose - I am just getting irritatd that at a couple of twits that, in the fashion of Sarah Palin, merely want to be President and First Lady just to say they "won" those "titles" in life. Considering how stupid they sound everytime they open their mouths, I'd say they've already won more in the life lottery than they should have with their enormous wealth win.

Ann is an FEI competitor in the dressage world. The horses are a means of competition in the dressage show world, an investment, and I'm sure it also does wonders for her health (that part I mean seriously) when she rides. But no, she doesn't just spend a few hundred bucks a month on this sport. Owning a horse doesn't mean a person is wealthy. But while she may struggle with her health, she doesn't struggle to support her horse habit at the highest levels and in grand style with several trainers and their staff doing the heavy lifting, as she flies in now and then for a few hours. At the barn I mentioned earlier, there was a horse with a suspensory issue (it can be a career ender) - the owner did the same as Ann, swooping in now and again to hand walk or brush the horse; however, the care of the horse was entirely at the hands of the trainer, the staff and the vet. It takes more than a few hours a week to deal with that sort of thing. At least she didn't put him down immediately, which often happens. But it is a ton of money to spend keeping a horse with a trainer, esp. when he can't be used.

They also found Marco Polo, a 9-year-old Dutch gelding schooled to Intermediaire I that she keeps with trainer Maria Harrington, nearby the Romney's home in Belmont, Mass. Marco Polo had a suspensory ligament injury during shipping and has been recovering for the last six months. Romney says she loves brushing and caring for him during his recovery. It's another training experience just to hand walk and ride him only at the walk.

Of her dressage journey, she explains, "For me just to get to the Grand Prix ring is a miracle. Then if these younger horses I've bought end up being good, I'd love to do a CDI--at least get to the point that I'm not an embarrassment to the sport," she laughs.

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/dressage/romney_070505/


She also co-owns some horses who are shown at the highest levels; she also funds one via a $250,000 loan to a farm from which since 2010 she has made fro 15k-5k in interest alone. This came from an amended FEC disclosure when the Romneys forgot to list some of the horse investments - you know how you can so easily forget some of the "little" expenses here and there.

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his wife have put their money behind a horse, and the guy who rides it.

According to a new financial disclosure form filed by the former Massachusetts governor, Romney's wife, Ann, earned $15,000 to $50,000 since the beginning of 2010 in interest on a loan to a horse farm in California called the Acres. According to a spokesman for the campaign, the item is a personal loan of more than $250,000 that Romney's wife made to the family's horse trainer.

Romney filed his original disclosure form in August identifying assets worth at least $85 million. Like Members of Congress, candidates file forms disclosing the value of assets in broad ranges; because some categories of value have no maximum (such as spousal assets worth "over $1 million&quot , Roll Call only tabulates the minimum values.

At the end of September, Romney filed a one-page amendment to his disclosure form, noting an asset that had not previously been listed.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_40/Mitt-Romney-Adds-Well-Groomed-Asset-to-Disclosure-209371-1.html?zkMobileView=true

But turns out she does participate in her sport at the highest levels, and does hire the whole trainer/groom/helpers she-bang, so her monthly bill for this is in the astronomic range.

In the rarefied world of upper-level dressage, Romney has achieved goals many amateurs only dream of. Riding her beloved Baron, a 19-year-old, Austrian Warmblood gelding, and coached by her long-time trainer and friend Jan Ebeling, Romney earned her U.S. Dressage Federation silver and gold medals in 2006. That same year, she was the New England Dressage Association Adult Amateur Champion at Grand Prix level, on a score of 63.33 percent.

“I’m just like any other crazy horse person,” she said. “You find a way to make the time to ride. If I have to get up at 5 a.m. to fly to California and then ride until 10 p.m. at night, because that’ll be my only chance to ride for a month, then that’s what I’ll do.”

http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/dressage-makes-ann-romneys-soul-sing

In my ranching community, I am truly surrounded by people who prove daily that you can own a horse and not be wealthy. I know people who have given up everything else in their life to be able to have a horse. Hard choices to eliminate everything most of us wouldn't be without, in order to ride.

But Ann's world is not that world, so don't let anyone tell you that just because she owns a horse or two, it doesn't mean she is wealthy, esp. when she says she doesn't feel rich.

She is. And her horses live the lifestyle as well (which isn't always as cool as you'd think when they get to be valuable, but that is a whole 'nuther story).

"Romney is an avid equestrian, crediting her renewed involvement in it while in Park City, Utah (where the couple had built a vacation home and where they lived when he was in charge of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games) for much of her recovery after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis[19][22] and for her continued ability to deal with the disease.[18] She has received recognition in dressage as an adult amateur at the national level,[18] including earning her 2006 Gold Medal[23] and 2005 Silver Medal at the Grand Prix level from the United States Dressage Federation.[17] She also sometimes competes in professional dressage events and has broken the 60% level at Grand Prix. Romney works with California trainer Jan Ebling,[24] who schools her and her horses in dressage and works with her importing new stock from Europe. The pair qualified for the Pan-Am games in 2004. By 2011, the horses she owned in California were valued at more than $250,000"

I'll leave it at that and say no more.

That's the trouble with super-straight, suppressed folks, like Mormons; their sexuality comes out in the weirdest ways, in double entrendres

Mr Ed has got to be smarter than her.

Fair warning--you might not want to click the links.

and clueless? Yeah, come to think of it, she could be her husband.

And that gif is weirdly disturbing.

Thank you.

I needed that.

It's funny as hell but it's also extremely bizarre. Something tells me the entire Romney family ain't quite right in the head.

Have either of these two clowns ever held a screwdriver? Looked under the hood of a car? actually plugged something into an electrical outlet


It's like they are playing out this music video as their campaign

Now every time you see a Romney Think of this

...I don't know which is more out-of-touch and clueless, Mittens or his Caddy-driving wife?

She apparently told Mittens she should do all the talking. Fine with me!

I just had a very dirty thought.

take the opportunity to talk seriously about MS.

for a couple that has been running for president for what 6-8 years now, how come they have no clue what to say or do in given situations. If it has taken this long and he hasn't figured out yet how to run for president, how can he BE president?

that zone is outside of the country club they play golf in.

Marie Antoinette Romney.

Horses are expensive to buy, to board, and to care for. Now I'm getting real curious as to whether they own any race horses. That really separates the aristocratic set from the commoners.

I live in a big "horse town". We have a number of racing stables, some polo stables, and loads of people who are into things like dressage and show-jumping. Quite frankly, I'd rather hang out with those involved in the racing industry than the vast majority of the hobby riders here. I don't have any contact with the stable owners, but the folks who work for them are nice, down-to-earth people, for the most part. Some of them even own a race horse or two of their own, and they are just middle class people.

It's the hobby owners around here that are the snooty "I own horses. That makes me better than you." types. Ann Romney epitomizes that crowd. Some of the polo types are like that, too. The exceptions being the players who come from foreign countries, along with some Americans. They and their families are quite down-to-earth.

It's possible that the Romneys own race horses, but she appears to be mainly a hobby rider, and from what I have observed, there is not necessarily an overlap.

Believe you me, they are expensive between the feed and the vet bills. We only owned two. And my family bought some cheap horse property at the time so we weren't spending money on boarding costs. Her boasting about horse ownership absolutely speaks upper class. And if she's buying race horses, the costs go up exponentially. Most race horse owners engage in their passion at a loss.

Just the way she said it, kind of sounded like she was bitter about her husband having an affair?? Just speculation but that's the way it sounded when I heard it, was kind of a put down to Mitt, that he better stop his messing around or people are going to find out.

I don't get it

Is horseback riding even considered to be a viable treatment for MS?

This just sounds a little kinky to me.

I would love to see her try to live my life for a month.

they're not like everyone else, that they're wealthy.