Andrew McConnon horse abuse

[Benchmark]

Disclaimer that I do 100% appreciate logic in these situations, which I think your post demonstrates; however, it’s unacceptable behavior that certainly doesn’t appear to be an isolated incident.

I don’t think he deserves empathy based on what I’ve seen. Empathy for the person who once in a blue moon looses their temper and, once the moment passes realizes and owns their mistakes, yes; Empathy for the person who leverages these tactics as consistent training methods, absolutely not.

He chose this as his profession. He has clearly shown (based on current info) that this how he operates. We do not allow empathy to people who commit insider trading, fraud, etc. because they feel pressured to do so in order to succeed in their chosen line of work… and those are crimes that don’t cause physical harm to another living being.

You can’t call for empathy for someone who has so blatantly committed some truly terrible crimes against the animals they claim to love just because they may be mentally fragile. He’s an adult, he knew it would be bad if it came out, he choose to behave this way, and he was arrogant enough to do it in some fairly public settings.

Now, the flip side. We also can’t just blast this everywhere and put the narrative in the hands of people who don’t know horse sports and don’t care about the ramifications for the equestrian world as whole. They do not have the horse world’s best interests at heart, they want dramatic stories that get the public riled up. That will take the entire ship down.

So don’t burn the powers that be at the stake- they need to approach this strategically for the sake of everyone who posts on this board and loves eventing. Acting in a measured way is more important that acting on a short timeline.

To the upper level riders defending or glossing over this- would you send your horse to this man for a month?

[aBayDay]

" USEF takes all reports of equine abuse very seriously and prioritizes the safeguarding of horse welfare. We received an anonymous report at the beginning of the summer regarding U.S. eventing athlete, Andrew McConnon, and were sent materials showing abusive behaviors shortly after the report was made. After determining USEF did not have jurisdiction over the matter because it did not involve misconduct at a USEF competition, USEF promptly referred the matter to the FEI, where it is under investigation. The FEI’s jurisdiction and ability to pursue disciplinary action is broader regarding reported incidents of animal abuse occurring outside of licensed competitions. This matter is under the jurisdiction of the FEI and USEF will enforce any disciplinary action taken.

Abuse in any form, at any time, is unacceptable in our sport, and the USEF Board approved a rewrite of GR838 (109-23) under the Welfare of the Horse Sub-Chapter at the Mid-Year Board Meeting in early June. This rule broadens the jurisdiction USEF can exercise over reports of abuse that occur away from USEF competition. It also provides an updated description of what constitutes unethical treatment of a horse and provides definitions for both “Participants” who are bound by the rule and a “Covered Horse” expanding the ability of USEF to protect horses. The rule change proposal went through an extensive review process. Stakeholders and affiliates across all breeds and disciplines provided feedback, which was instrumental in the creation of the final draft of the rule. The rule will go into effect December 1, 2024, and will apply to reports of misconduct off competition grounds that occur after the effective date submitted going forward."

[floppyammy]

@No1

Where/who?

I am also curious who these people are on social media that are calling for empathy as it relates directly to the the pictures and videos shared of AMC.

[hey101]

@Benchmark

Now, the flip side. We also can’t just blast this everywhere and put the narrative in the hands of people who don’t know horse sports and don’t care about the ramifications for the equestrian world as whole. They do not have the horse world’s best interests at heart, they want dramatic stories that get the public riled up. That will take the entire ship down.

So don’t burn the powers that be at the stake- they need to approach this strategically for the sake of everyone who posts on this board and loves eventing. Acting in a measured way is more important that acting on a short timeline.

To the upper level riders defending or glossing over this- would you send your horse to this man for a month?

I disagree with this part of your post. It was only until the outside world started looking in a few years ago that real changes started to be made in the equestrian world outside of racing, à la George Morris. And I think from USA Eventings own statement, having been aware of this situation from the beginning of the summer, they have had plenty of time to get their strategic Plan in place to address. Which they have obviously blatantly done nothing about.

Honestly, their statement makes them look a lot LOT worse.

Let us remember that CDJs video did not take place at a formal event either and look at the fallout from that one both within the horse world, and without. I never saw so much reporting on equestrian events, and that particular incident on the major news streams.

[DownYonder]

@Badger

Charlotte was an Olympic medalist. She immediately acknowledged/admitted her inappropriate behavior and stepped down from the team and (IIRC) told the FEI to sanction her as she felt she deserved it.

Meanwhile, crickets from Andrew.

That’s the difference. Not the gender.

At the risk of sounding sexist, I would postulate that maybe one gender has more sense of moral responsibility than the other.

[AmmyHour926]

Good points I didn’t think of!

[rideforthelaurels16]

I’m sure you’d rather this was done properly, rather than simply posted as an embed of the social media post with no additional useful information or due diligence. Rest assured, it is being worked on extensively.

[libgrrl]

Poor Mark Todd. That “sin” was understandable to me, and he dealt with the aftermath (I felt) quite graciously. This is different.

[alicen]

@piaffequeen2

He worked under William Fox-Pitt and I’m pretty sure he didn’t do any of this crap while over there otherwise he would have been sent home.

Firstly, many apologies because I can not remember the source, but I do recall reading that A Mc said that he had learned from WFP that eventing was a business. Looking at horses as $ signs while ignoring that they are sentient beings could lead you into some devious behavior.

[FitzE]

@2bayboys

Considering that the grant Mcconnon received has the Broussard name on it, I’m surprised they haven’t been more strident about putting out a statement condemning his actions. Their name and his are closely connected. They have a stable of lawyers and advisors who should be better at managing the fallout.

Exactly

[NaturallyHappy]

This^^^^^ x 1000!

[Virginia_Horse_Mom]

@Benchmark

To the upper level riders defending or glossing over this- would you send your horse to this man for a month?

That is a very important, pointed and powerful question.

[DMK]

I sat on my hands because I was mostly sure that USEF rules didn’t extend off show grounds. Even FEI rules are rather recent IIRC (I think it was rolled out in one of our driver briefings this winter). I know everyone wants to move fast, but I think the normal course of events is much longer. If you want to successfully prosecute a case, you need witness statements, corroboration, you need to go all Jack McCoy on the problem. Remember how long it took to deal with Andy Kocher and he had freaking electric spurs?

My suspicion with Charlotte is that there were a lot of conversations between her team and the FEI, she saw the writing on the wall and the damage that drawing out the disposition of her case would do to her country’s Olympic team and their efforts (or the British team made it clear to her there were not any other options at that late date) so she wisely stood down. But that’s not how the normal case moves through the system. And that’s incredibly frustrating for those of us who are genuinely horrified by the actions of this rider, but unfortunately, that does not mean the FEI is dragging its feet, it just means these things take time. Or rather if the FEI is dragging its feet, it’s a little too soon to declare that as fact.

[FitzE]

I wonder if some of the owners can press charges/sue him for this behaviour.

[Virginia_Horse_Mom]

Thanks for sharing this. This is a better statement, in my opinion. A step in a healthier direction.

[FitzE]

@LSBC

I, too, would have expected more of a response from Rebecca Farm. You have recourse as a donor, regardless of what the “rules” are. Because, ultimately, they still want those grants. So if Rebecca Farm said we need XYZ statement/action/whatever from USEA, the USEA should really do it and it is well within their rights to demand it.

Again, exactly. Thank you. It was so nice to wake up and see this and other statements after the repeated pushback I got yesterday. We need people like big donors to leverage their positions to demand change at the org level.

[endlessclimb]

I’ll tell you who I will never buy feed from, and that’s cryptoaero. And I was just looking at them over the weekend.

What a garbage ass response.

[FitzE]

I bend over backwards and pay significantly more for many things (currently building supplies which are big money these days) to support small and local businesses in my area. I am super committed to this.

This response is so BSC that this company actually deserves to go under. I cannot fathom who on their payroll would have typed this up and hit send. Were they sober? I mean, that’s the only reason I can imagine for this statement to have gone out.

Also, do they understand the term blackmail? It would appear not since the message only requested they withdraw support because of abuse, no threat of any type of retaliation whatsoever if they did not.

[endlessclimb]

Can you message this to someone with a boatload of horse followers? Their response needs to be widely known.

[Blugal]

I am replying to @FitzE’s recent post, because I think it’s important to be factual about what happened.

@FitzE

It was so nice to wake up and see this and other statements after the repeated pushback I got yesterday.

Yesterday:

@FitzE

Comments in the absence of seeking any information before you comment are zero value add.

You wrote this to another poster. And I agreed with the sentiment. But then:

@FitzE

Disappointing response by Rebecca Farms.

This was 19 hours ago, meaning, you posted on Sunday night. The allegations went viral on Saturday.

@FitzE

What is so hard about making a public statement like

As others pointed out, making a public statement can take some time and due diligence. You screen-shotted a FB post where RF made some quick comments in response to being tagged.

@FitzE

They do need to do better then just say, publicly, ‘not our fault’ and leave it at that. In fact, not responding to that FB post would have been better than what was done.

@FitzE

What I’ve done above is note that the people providing the funds thus far have done a simple throwing up of their hands and claiming no involvement in the dispersal of funds

On Sunday night, you were already calling out RF for not “doing better”, “leaving it at that”, and “a simple throwing up of their hands”. But you literally only had the information of comments on a Facebook post - you did not enquire further. And once you learned of my personal anecdote, you turned around, saying:

@FitzE

That’s a great report and suggests to me that RF will indeed have a better response and will be part of the solution here b/c this shows they clearly care.

I stand by my “pushback”. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to RF at this stage, given what we currently know.