Sir, this is not going to go the way you think it’s going to go. You’re about to get wrecked.
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Let’s get mired in the minutia Thomas Bostwick McConnon, ya? Anything to take away from Andrew McConnon’s hitting his horse in the face and causing it to spin in fright.
Horse people don’t hit horses in the head when they don’t jump or steer as they’d like them to, but of course you wouldn’t know that right? Because all you know about horses is “heels down” and you don’t understand that terminology. 
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Believe what you want, I have not spoken with him. As far as I know he’s in England and I’m in New Hampshire. Another son told me of this thread. I’m not demanding anything. I think it’s too easy hiding behind these pseudonyms to posit inuendo and hearsay without knowing all of the facts, so I’m just encouraging everyone to identify themselves and stand up for what they’re saying.
Shades of Inigo Montoya…?
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I understand your hesitancy since you are new here.
I also understand that you have no idea about the the CV’s of people on this forum.
This isn’t You Tube, and many people new to these forums have made the same mistake, by being snotty and not having any idea to whom they are speaking with.
It would help if you knew anything about horses, then you might have an idea about the responses to your posts. You aren’t the first to come here denigrating people that know much more than you, and I’m sure you won’t be the last.
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Your son ruined his own career. Full stop. Shame on you to try and lay that at the feet of anyone but him.
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Your points here are outrageous.
Most riders will tell you, and it has been stated here over and over in this thread and through out any of these forums there are really only a few reasons a horse is doing the opposite of what the rider is intending. Most of it is pilot error (which has been pointed out several times that your son did not hold the horse to the line) or pain or absolutely a washout in the sport being taught.
Since this horse was not green, we can safely cross out this horse is a washout or should be a washout in the sport.
That leaves us the remaining two options. Pain and pilot error.
Pain–
If this the SOP of professional trainers, with great successes and knowledge, is this how one responds to an animal in pain? If so, I will never send my horses to a professional if this is the industry standard. and we know it is not the standard response dealing with pain
Pilot Error–
If this is pilot error, why is your son so angry at a horse for his mistakes? It is okay as riders for us to make mistakes, we all do it. That is why we train. If I was to go out on a wild limb, and try to excuse this because he was abusing his own horse and not one of a sponsor or paying customer that he chose to abuse…nevermind, I can’t even make that leap
What more do you need to see, Dad? What do you need Andrew to tell you, that your own eyes can’t observe? The 5 seconds more of the video before or after the hitting/smacking at the head/punching or whipping? Would those 5 seconds prior or after the event clearly make this a case of-“wow, that animal really had it coming.” “It was all the animal’s fault, and good on Andrew for showing the horse this will never be tolerated.” If not 5 seconds more, 10? What possibly can more footage or Andrew say that totally justify these actions. This is not isolated. The “rumors” have been there for years. Finally, someone was brave enough to capture it and show his true actions and nature.
The reason your son has the success he has is because he sits on the back of magnificent animals that are kind, gentle souls that pour their heart out when asked. He is lucky he was not dealing with a boss mare-who would have ate him for lunch. An alpha stallion that would have trampled him. All of the horses between those two spectrums are the reason he has had success. Also the facts he was able to cloak his true nature and threaten/convince people to stay quiet.
Maybe it will help you to look at this from a different perspective. That is no longer a horse in the video that was not listening. It was a child. 5, 6, 7 maybe even 15 years old. Maybe it was a woman… Does that now help you understand that every single horse person who sees this video has zero tolerance for his actions?
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@Wick_McConnon - do you know when this might be? Did you know he’s lost a lot of his sponsors already? I should think he’d want his ‘side’ out there ASAP - or at least his first official statement of remorse, etc.
We do agree on this point.
This a bold statement for someone who also made this statement:
I’ll give you the benefit of my experience: horses wheeling in terror, backing into equipment, etc. are absolutely feeling abused. And terrified.
Your son exhibits signs of a scary anger management/impulse control problem and I’m betting if you’re really his father this is not new information for you if you are honest. If you care enough to take time in your day to argue with folks in an online forum, please counsel and assist him in getting help for those issues.
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I would be very surprised if this were not the case. However, I would be almost as surprised if they were discussing the terms of the grant and/or the fitness of the recipient publicly on social media. Whatever they may be doing to use any power they may have to influence funding (or defunding) decisions will almost certainly not be done publicly, or discussed on social media by them. In fact there may be language requiring confidentiality of recipient selection discussions. Which of course leaves them open to criticism for “doing nothing” from those who have no way of knowing what they may be doing quietly. When a decision is made it will probably be announced, but not a blow-by-blow of how this or that donor gave the board an ultimatum. FYI I am not an insider with any of these organizations, but do have board member experience with several non-profits in other sectors that rely on large donors.
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Encourage all you want. Many of us have been on this BB for years and know who’s who.
You don’t. That doesn’t give you any leeway to demand anyone’s name, especially when you haven’t even spoken to your son about this.
I suggest before continuing to make yourself “that guy”, that you have a chat with your son.
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what does town of residence matter? Some of us aren’t even American, I doubt you would have a clue where my town is.
More news
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Correct, “SKYDY”, I don’t know the first thing about how to encourage a horse to repeat a behavior that is desired, nor to discourage it from repeating bad behavior. I’ve read posts that say it’s ok to forcefully elbow a horse in the mouth if it’s nipping at you. Slapping them forcefully on the neck (not “hitting them in the face”) and yelling “NO” seems to be in the same ballpark. I agree it’s not the best approach, and not likely to achieve what’s desired, but I maintain that it shouldn’t be a career-ending incident. Yes, there are allegations of other incidents. Let’s see what they were, and who said that they had occurred, and what credence can be attributed. If the evidence is clear, so be it. -Wick McConnon, Westmoreland, NH.
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He’s still in England, I assume, “Jealoushe”, whoever you are. I’m a geezer living in New Hampshire. He’s busy. So am I. Do you talk with your child(ren) every day?
Thank you Wick. If you ask for information about horse training you shall receive.
The reason that an elbow stuck out while a person is on the ground, to defend themselves from an aggressive biting horse is OK, is that horses can seriously injure people with their teeth and a horse that has not been taught that biting humans is not OK, will not be long for this world because they can purposefully kill people.
A horse that is not doing what its rider wants it to do (jump a jump or whatever training is being asked) from the saddle, is never helped to that end by hitting it in the head. It just isn’t.
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No. But when they are having a personal crisis, absolutely every day.
And, should they ever be the centre of a huge scandal/crisis threatening their livelihood and reputation, that’d be multiple times a day.
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Just perpetuating an old New England Town Meeting tradition by ascribing one’s name and residence to one’s comments to eliminate the ability to hurl anonymous insults.
That makes sense, thank you.
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Genuine feedback @Wick_McConnon: since you do not understand anything about the subject matter (as you note yourself), you have no additional information or the ‘rest of the story’ from your son (as you’ve had no contact with him and don’t even know for certain where he is), and your son doesn’t even know you are on here interacting with the equestrian community of which he is a part, in which he makes his living, and on which he is dependant for income, sponsors, students, horses, grants, instruction, etc., it might be wiser to sit back and wait until he engages with the community directly.
With all due respect and recognition of the understandable impulse to defend one’s own offspring, I think you are doing him no favours here.
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