Do we ever expect a statement from AM?
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Well… at this point it seems like it isn’t going to help him much. I would assume that the clients who are going to leave him have already made that decision, and the clients who are going to stay have made that choice as well.
And… the people in the broader eventing community have also formed their opinions. My guess is his friends are talking to him privately about the matter, and most of the rest of the community who is appalled and upset by it are going to give him the cold shoulder.
The FEI is in the midst of investigating it all (supposedly), and according to more recent reports, he’s cooperating with them. That’s all understandably a private process for now though.
As for USEF, the way I read it is that this behavior won’t fall under the new rule going into effect at the end of the year. So if the FEI doesn’t sanction him, there’s a chance he won’t be sanctioned at all.
Sooooo… on a practical level… it doesn’t seem wise for him to make a public statement. It’s probably smart to sit back, hope the investigation results in minimal sanctions, and hope that with time and distance and a few loyal clients, he can make a career comeback. He wouldn’t be the first pro to do so. Heck… Paul V still coaches plenty of people and has had a thriving business for years.
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Fully agree wih your realistic and rather depresseing assessment…
Which all boils down to a “much ado for nothing” conclusion.
The future of equestrian sports is then, in a more dire situation than what we could’ve dreaded, isn’t it?
And first and foremost, the situation of those who are the pillars of our sport, the horses.
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I personally wonder about the future of eventing as we know it. Will there be pressure to remove it from the Olympics following 2028? It seems like there is some significant risk for a number of reasons. Stories like this one certainly don’t help the situation.
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and still not suspended. Not making much sense at all.
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As far as I can tell, we don’t even know where the report currently stands in the FEI process. It’s not very transparent.
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In a few weeks this whole situation will likely be on the back burner for everyone involved, including the public.
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This seems about right. I’m honestly expecting him to continue to have a thriving equine business. If Ellen Doughty Hume can do what she does and still operate/compete/run a business - I suspect AM will as well.
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It will be interesting to see how soon he is out and about competing again. Then folks will have a better idea as to which clients have stayed with him, and which other local professionals seem willing to continue being generally cordial to him, and to look the other way.
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anyone who has kept their horses in training with him through this should be ashamed. And anyone who continues to do business with him should also. It always amazes me that people continue to support these abusers when there are actually some good trainers out there not doing shitty stuff.
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One of the owners of his top horses literally moved to a nearby town in NC to be closer to AMs operation.
If she stands by him through this mess, and he keeps that horse as well as Wakita (who he owns)… and he doesn’t get a lengthy FEI suspension or ban… he will probably survive this professionally speaking.
Just my best guess.
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Sad. For the horses. The fact that he hasn’t made a statement tells me everything I need to know.
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I just don’t understand, and never will, how someone who sees this abuse, keeps their horses with him. It would appear too many people own horses for the wrong reasons.
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And therein is the real problem. IMO. The money is OK with his methods. Success at all costs.
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We go to Carolina Horse Park for Events. I would be appalled if they allow him to compete there again.
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I think his partner’s practice is a sponsor of CHP…
I think if he is not suspended or banned, he’s going to be able to compete at all recognized venues… they might face issues if they tried to implement their own personal ban of specific individuals without investigations or any sort of fair process, or an official suspension or ban from a governing body in the sport.
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My trainer and I have been talking about this a bunch since the story broke and her comment yesterday was, “If I tried to report something like this, everyone would look at me and go ‘who the heck are you?’ and blow me off about it” because, even though she’s ridden at the 5* level, she definitely isn’t a big name to take seriously.
The frustrating reality of our sport is that she’s one of the people who we’d think could report something like this because she’s almost entirely self-funded and when she isn’t it’s because she’s in partnership on something with a boarder from our barn who has known her almost as long as I have (nearly two decades), so it’s not like the money is at risk. Because she is self-funded (and not independently wealthy), though, the ability to maintain a string of horses to consistently campaign at the top levels is pretty much nonexistent, so TPTB don’t really care what she has to say.
I’ve watched her retire her 5* horse after their first run around Kentucky even with people pressuring her to keep him going and campaign another year because she said, and I quote, “he doesn’t owe me anything.” I’ve watched her take an incredible horse that was winning or nearly winning after dressage every time and intentionally lose her placing on XC because she felt the mare wasn’t ready to go for time yet at Prelim and Intermediate and she wasn’t going to fry her trying to do too much soon (only for the rider that bought the mare from her to do exactly that—they never made it around a 5*).
But sure, give developing rider grants to people like AM, make it so that people feel like they can’t report abuse due to either personal consequences or feeling that they won’t be taken seriously (or both), and drag your (USEF/FEI) feet on investigating and implementing consequences, because that is making our sport so much better.
I love eventing but sometimes I really, really hate it.
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Funny she also won the same grant as him, but the lesser amount of money. Saw her name on the list and thought how ironic.
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I had to look it up, because surely you were mistaken???
The words rattling around in my head are colorful, but I’ll leave the same I had for AMs father upthread.
Dumbfounded, truly aghast.
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