Different Riders get different tack - Of Wives and Horses

The persons who are out of touch with America are currently in the White House.

When it comes to the Kennedys, hagiography is the mainstream media’s preferred mode of coverage. So it’s not surprising that Jackie Kennedy is held up as the paradigm of grace and dignity, while Ann Romney is caricatured as an out-of-touch elitist.

Of Wives and Horses - Noah Glyn - National Review Online

By Noah Glyn

June 11, 2012 

Ann Romney isn’t the only politician’s wife to love horseback riding.

The Los Angeles Times ran an article on May 22 headed, “On a Trail of Her Own.” It tells the story of Ann Romney’s “passionate engagement in a rarefied sport that she believes helps her deal with a debilitating chronic illness,” multiple sclerosis.

The Times reports that Mrs. Romney “fell in love with dressage, a fussy Olympic sport that is also called ‘horse ballet.’ . . . Because it requires tremendous muscle control, dressage also provided Romney unexpected therapeutic benefits.”

The Pleasure of a Horse

The author, Robin Abcarian, spends much of the article detailing the costs of owning dressage horses. “Dressage is not for the faint of wallet,” she notes. 

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The insinuation, which more than a few other commentators have picked up on, is that Ann Romney’s dressage riding is another example of, as Trip Gabriel of the New York Times put it, how “out of touch with average Americans” the Romneys are. (Gabriel’s story ran on the front page under the headline “In Rarefied Sport, a View of the Romneys’ World.”) Buzzfeed broke the news last week that Mrs. Romney’s horse would be competing in an Olympic trial. The media have reported on the number of homes the Romneys own, the types of cars Ann drives, and the vacations they take. And of course, according to Hilary Rosen, we should not forget that Ann has never worked a day in her life.

Ann Romney, though, is not the first wife of a politician to enjoy horseback riding. John F. Kennedy married a woman who first sat on a horse at the age of one, and who began learning how to ride at age three. According to The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait of a Rider, by Vicky Moon, “What many people don’t realize is how vital a role horses played throughout Jackie’s often star-crossed life. As a little girl . . . she found companionship and comfort with her pony Buddy. As a woman aching for the presence of her husband . . . riding a horse through the wide-open countryside brought sanctuary. Later in life, the lonely widow and reluctant celebrity found anonymity and solace in riding.”

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