Andrew McConnon horse abuse

[FitzE]

Mistakenly hit the button when my screen had moved on from Wick’s post. I updated to clarify it was not meant for you. Apologies!

[skydy]

@FitzE

If you cannot distinguish the difference between riders patting, even vigorously, their horses in celebration after a round while the horse canters/trots quietly along and the horse wheeling around in terror while your son beats it about the head, I’m not sure what value your assessment has. In one of the videos your son was using a crop. Have you seen riders hit their horses around the head with crops after a successful jumping round? Yeah, me neither.

Your son is a full-grown adult. He is a professional rider. He is representing the US abroad as we type. He has accepted HUGE grants of other people’s money from the USEA. All that comes with responsibility whether you and he like it or not.

He needs to come out and make a statement on his own behalf (see: Charlotte Dujardin for a recent example). Daddy coming on here to scold everyone is not only not a good look, ultimately, it hurts his reputation.

And, speaking of the scolding, no, people aren’t obliged to not follow and discuss a major breaking story just because you don’t want us to. There is no ‘rest of the story’ that will make what’s in those videos acceptable in any way, shape, or form.

You son shows signs of alarming anger management issues and lack of impulse control. He needs to address that and do the work to overcome it.

His silence so far is deafening.

ETA: not a reply to @skydy! This is meant for @Wick_McConnon

OK , no sweat, gotcha.

[BrownDerby]

You are correct. He did not punch the horse in the video. He whipped the living shite out of it.

[Whoaovergo]

@Wick_McConnon

What is your name, and from where are you posting? Who has verified that these whip marks were taken of a horse under Andrew’s care? As for the picture allegedly taken of Eddie after he had allegedly been manacled in such a fashion after allegedly two hours, who took that picture, and when and where was it taken? Here I go down the rabbit hole…

QFP

I think this ‘rabbit hole’ you are speaking of is called incredulous

[FrittSkritt]

If you QFP using the quote function on here, it’ll disappear if he edits the original post. Best to copy/paste in and wrap it using the quote icon in the editor.

[Wick_McConnon]

Is “incredulous” your answer to the provenance of the picture?

[Whoaovergo]

Thanks! Learn something new every day.

[Wick_McConnon]

Sorry, new to this. What does QFP mean?

[skydy]

@Wick_McConnon

He did not punch the horse. Pause it and take another look.

Bless your heart. You know nothing of riding yet you jump in to a forum that has many riders with very impressive CV’s to defend your adult kiddo who believe me, knows that there is no excuse for his behavior.

[Whoaovergo]

You can deflect all you want, it doesn’t change the fact that there are multiple videos of your son abusing horses, including beating one in the face with a crop.

[Joanne]

@Wick_McConnon

I have not yet spoken with my son about the brief videos that were posted.

Mr. McConnon, perhaps you should speak to your son. Did you know he has lost almost all his sponsorships?

[FrittSkritt]

This vaguely reminds me of the Brock Turner case (not saying this is the same level of criminality or to even compare the two people, just in case anyone wants to insinuate) where the father was whining to the court that his son’s life had been terrible since the conviction and he couldn’t even enjoy steak anymore.

[peedin]

McConnon senior, the correct word is wail, not whale.

[skydy]

@Wick_McConnon

I’m Andrew’s father, Thomas Bostwick McConnon of Westmoreland, NH. I have not yet spoken with my son about the brief videos that were posted.

Yes. You know I’m having a difficult time believing that “Dad” hasn’t yet spoken to son about this, but has found his way to COTH and is demanding names from longtime users here.

[Whoaovergo]

He looked it up though!

[peedin]

And he managed to know the difference between fazed and phased.

[Wick_McConnon]

Whale is also a verb for the action of hitting something (such as that gambling table, or a punching bag) forcefully and repeatedly.

[Whoaovergo]

…so what your son did to those horses?

[Wick_McConnon]

Looked it up, and whale is in fact correct.

[Whoaovergo]

Glad we agree that your son “forcefully and repeatedly” struck multiple horses on different occasions.

I feel like we have made progress! Admitting is the first step, I hope Andrew is honest with himself as well and can take steps to work on his anger issues.