Long time reader but first time I’m commenting. Crypto aero has a reputation for being abrasive and confrontational. I am sure this is the owner who responded.
Not only that but I have researched their feed extensively and it’s basically 80% oats with no actual proper fortification backed by any nutritional analysis.
Basically, don’t buy their feed. Just buy some oats and add a couple supplements (Vermont Blend?) and call it a day.
The PTB have had these reports and materials since “the beginning of the summer” and not only is he still operating as a rider/trainer, he’s received a grant and represented the US internationally.
Two words come to mind to describe the PTB: Impotent. Opaque.
Incompetence?
It’s so off the wall!
I mean, maybe you don’t want to withdraw sponsorship, but a response like “we take animal welfare seriously, but also believe in due process. We will evaluate our partnership once the full facts are known and any investigation by the FEI is complete” is not that hard.
Instead they opted for the “DO YOU WANT HORSES TO STARVE, YOU MONSTER!!!” which is one hell of a choice.
Completely agree. This person is known for this!! I’m glad they showed their true colors.
Beyond unprofessional.
I looked at the websites and SM today of businesses Andrew had listed in his Burghley post. Here’s a link - comments are enabled if anyone has updates.
I saw this comment on the USA Eventing post, and thought it was a general good idea:
Time for USEA to implement disciplinary action that is recorded on rider’s USEA number and is easily accessible for public record.
Much like licensed healthcare workers, we should be able to see if a rider (especially those at the top of the spot representing international events) has had misconduct. There should be a line drawn in the sand for how much misconduct is allowed until they are banned from the organization. This is a sport/hobby at the end of the day. No one HAS to be here.
That is a good idea. Not perfect, but it give people something at least.
It’s late Monday in the US now, has there been no statement at all from AM or his camp?
None that I have seen.
Clever with leather replied to me that they don’t sponsor him, he bought from them. I sent the post where he was thanking them and noted they may wish to consider distancing. Nice enough response and I can only take them at their word, but given situation, I’d post something about never having sponsored/anti-abuse, etc…
I’m still trying to figure out which upper level riders are defending Andrew McConnon?
A couple people have said here that is happening, where is posted and by who? @Benchmark? @AmmyHour926?
It has been ions since I have posted on this form. So long, I had to sign back up for an account. Cypto sent me a rather similar response. I seriously doubt it is an adult or business owner who is responding to the messages. The response in broad strokes needs to wait it out for the young man to defend or respond to the accusations.
I asked them what could be the response? I’m sorry, I won’t do it again? Or yes, it is me in the video. Because either do not deserve grace. It is wild to me they need more then the video for this young man.
Which I don’t understand how someone in their mid 30s is considered a young man. He is an adult, who made a lot of money in his career and afforded opportunities that most would have just dreamed of. I don’t understand why the grant did not go to someone who is at the start of their career vs someone that is 15 plus years into theirs.
I’ve been thinking about this whole thing a lot in the last 24 hours or so since I saw these videos. The response from USA Eventing was subpar and very damaging in my opinion. They basically admitted they’ve known for months and done nothing
We’ve all brought up Charlotte, Parra, Helgestrand, Little, others. Except for Charlotte, it seems to me that the wider public is still somewhat ignorant of the rest of the people we’ve all known for years doing this kind of stuff. Hell, One of the biggest blue tongue culprits out there won gold in Paris.
I now bring up the example of an entire Olympic sport whose purvey was changed forever by a few videos of two bad apples and “one moment in time” that the public noticed and raised an uproar. I’m speaking of course of modern pentathlon. The German rider and trainer, perhaps somewhat unfairly, single-handedly brought down the removal of equestrian from modern pentathlon.
I say somewhat unfairly because I watched the videos of some of the rest of the rides in Tokyo and they were equally bad. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I watched Paris pentathlon and thought to myself “Well I guess that wasn’t too bad”, thankfully.
After the Charlotte thing, and the wide media attention, it got in the mainstream, we are all kidding ourselves if this kind of stuff is not going to be able to be explained away anymore. Nor should it be.
If the governing bodies and the athletes won’t do better on their own, then they deserve everything about to come their way.
That’s what I thought.
I have no comment yet on all the rest, but did anyone else notice how many weird very gentle pats Andrew gave his horse at the end of sj yesterday?
This was years in the making - I’d say that the punching incident is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Their federation was ignoring the issue for eons and it finally came to a head at those Olympics.
I do not doubt that you are correct. I never followed pentathlon until Tokyo when all of that drama ensued. I only watched this time because I knew it was the last time that equestrian would be in for the Olympics and I was curious if improvements had been made, or at least that it would not be an embarrassing shit show on the world stage
I would respectfully submit that other equestrian events are at a similar crosshairs at this point in time
This is not true. I’ll clarify.
The pathetic, corrupt, failing UIPM had been planning this since 2016 or 2017. There was a contract drawn up; we’ve seen it, this has all been documented in the interim.
The Tokyo situation was used as an excuse to justify the leadership’s illegal actions that subverted the sport’s constitution.
I watched it too and I’m sure @jer would have also. I thought the riding was really good this year.
The abuse and blind eye really does run rampant in AM neck of the woods. I have scribed, stewarded for years at mostly dressage shows in NC but also scribed some eventing dressage in SoPi. I stopped because it was so disheartening to see the abusive riding and the blind eyes being turned by the judges and TDs and I no longer wanted to give my time to support the sport. One show, a couple of years ago, I was stewarding and a rider whipped her horse so much during the test that he had lash marks. The horse stepped out of the arena during the test so they were disqualified. I held her when she left the arena because of the lash marks and called the TD who was Sue Smithson, also from Southern Pines, home of AM. Sue laughed with the rider and said she would have whipped him too. She said she would ask the judge what to do but since they’d been disqualified already, there wasn’t really much left. I reported to the show management, should have reported it higher up and should have taken pictures. The USEF needs to do more.
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