That’s certainly horrible, but (sadly) that video has been around.
Why was she whacking the bay horse so much and for so long?
And why does he keep his nose on his chest in so many pix, it’s not tied down. Someone will have a hellava time getting him to reach forward after this sterling training. 
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It’s good that USEF corrected its rules to include out of competition abuse within its sanctionable offenses. The FEI has had that option in the past and has used it, but USEF doesn’t seem to have had the legal wherewithal until now. Hopefully A.M. will have his comeuppance if they find him responsible.
Nothing can stop the abuse of horses in the U.S. in backyard barns or schooling shows. I don’t know who she is, but if the woman shown in that link isn’t competing in USEF or FEI shows, nothing can be done about it.
Abusive riding, drugging horses, and the riding of lame horses by people (not necessarily purposefully but by people who don’t know what they don’t know, and don’t seem have a qualified person on the ground to let them know their horse is NQR) are unaddressed issues that can’t be solved by USEF.
At a schooling show where there are no rules, there is no accountability.
There is no keeping Safe Sport banned sex offenders from the schooling show grounds, nor the people banned or suspended by USEF or the FEI for abusing horses, or for medication violations from competing in the “fun” schooling show.
I remember the schooling shows put on by our riding club fondly, but they went under AHSA rules and no one would have dared to cheat. They were the essence of a schooling show, fun and schooling. No one was there to win.
What I have seen of schooling shows recently was not that. 
It’s too bad that we don’t require “trainer” credentials in the U.S. as does BE and the German system. In that case the trainer credentials could be removed as part of the sanctions and put abusers out of business, though I guess that NFs everywhere hesitate to do that for legal reasons.
It’s good though, to see the advent of horse welfare rules in U.S.
TB racing, with the HISA rules, and USEF along with the FEI becoming more serious about setting down members for horse welfare issues, in and outside of competition, are welcome and a long time coming.
I wonder how much the time needed to verify the date, time, and place of photos and videos slow down the investigations. With the advent of AI, photoshop etc…it must be a lengthy process to verify, and expensive to boot.
I hope that the people stepping up, and our NF cracking down, will result in people, whether in the National or local USEF levels, being held accountable for their actions.
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Denying water in order to create a more submissive horse is far from new. I was in my teens when I was first told to take a horse’s water away the night before a show. I’m in my 50s.
I played dumb and didn’t deny him water, by the way. He was a sweet, steady, reliable wp horse who won a lot. But that wasn’t enough for his owners.
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FINALLY!!!
(which is a complete sentence for the benefit of being able to submit it)
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Still no statement from him either.
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I doubt he will ever give one.
The question now is how much longer he and his partner will stay in NC. I am guessing they will look at selling, moving, and trying to make a fresh start in a different discipline in a different part of the country.
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No, but he or his dad said he would so I’ve been waiting to see if he would!
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Oh yeah! I forgot all about that strange twist. The father coming on CoTH.
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Sometimes revealed by their assertions that they are superstars or experts about everything - all while riding their lame horse around a jump course.
Perish the thought that someone may be coming back to that barn shortly to finish up for the day - or that someone is actually in a stall tending to a horse’s legs or whatever. Appointing oneself the lights monitor for a venue is a bit… odd and inappropriate. Just based on my experiences sleeping in tack stalls at assorted National Shows and often tending to horses late in the evening… before the actual lights out as per the schedule.
THIS. ^^ I needed to know exactly how much each horse was drinking…
Exactly right - as I already noted.
Exactly - that would include me, every trainer I have worked with in assorted disciplines and breeds and friends and associates as well. For decades.
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I forgot about that too!
I cannot see anything he could say would change anyone’s opinion of him. Especially at this stage. Nor could I see how any PR consultant could spin this in any way positive.
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There is nothing he could say that would make me care about it.
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It’s not always about spinning the dial all the way round to positive. Many times it’s about reducing the negative.
Either way though, that ship sailed. I was about to say it sailed when he didn’t immediately issue a statement, but given the multiple incidents over multiple years thing, I’m going to say that ship never even got built.
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I agree. What is there to say when multiple videos and pictures are worth thousands of words each? No manner of statement or apology could condone or justify this behaviour.
I do wonder if his owner(s) will keep their horses with him now that he’s suspended. Insane that he even has horses or owner(s) that support him after the videos came out.
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Or a partner.
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It causes hypersensitivity, especially when used with topicals intended to exacerbate sensitivity. If a horse is more afraid of pain from knocking a poll, that’s a performance advantage gained through the horse’s physical suffering.
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Is this the same person who worked for Denny Emerson at Tamarack for many years?
This video has been around for a bit. Seems like person that made the video was taking lessons, and objected to a number of things, including wearing cribbing collars.
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