Pic of his stirrup after riding…
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Here’s his horse with his head tied down to his front legs for two hours after being severely whipped.
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I don’t have anything to say here that wouldn’t get me banned.
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Do you have sources? Are these personal pics or coming from somewhere?
I’m inclined to believe them, but we also shouldn’t undermine the cause with unsubstantiated evidence, real or otherwise.
The videos that are going around clearly show the person in question, but so far the rest (including the whip welt pic posted upthread and on FB) haven’t been verified.
I’m disgusted. Disgusted that this keeps happening, that “everyone” knew about it, that reports were made and seemingly ignored.
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So this person’s claim to fame was a VERY high profile working student/assistant rider gig across the pond. Was this behavior tolerated there??? Was it TAUGHT there??? Just how gross is this sport we all love??
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These pics come from the people that have witnessed the abuse and gone to the FEI. The reason they’re being released is because the FEI didn’t do anything about it.
If you’ve been to his barn, you’ll know the crossties are his crossties.
I too am very careful about the rumor mill and not to feed it, but I have no reason to believe these people are being untruthful or that these pictures are not of Andrew’s horses.
This news has been a longtime coming… no one wanted it to get to this point. The FEI was supposed to handle it.
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Someone I know sent the videos and evidence to Rebecca Farm’s instagram, since they appear to be sponsoring his trip. Hopefully they’ll see it.
Also there is some discussion that it may be the same horse in both videos, so that remains to be confirmed.
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Thank you for clarifying! I’ve seen threads like this spin out of control, so I just wanted to make sure.
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It got shared by Dressage Hub, which yes is basically just a fastpass to Crazytown but also will help ensure this goes like wildfire. I saw someone in the comments also tagged Milestone Equestrian… so, ditto for that as well.
If PTB and others in authority continued to turn a blind eye while his horses suffered and his staff knew the true story— they’re reaping what they’ve sowed.
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Yeah I roll my eyes at that person/page, but they certainly know how to make noise on social media. DressageHub is icky to me, and causes more problems sometimes, but I imagine there’s no stopping the report now.
I know we have hashed this out multiple times, but what exactly can the FEI do with reports like this? Or USEF/USEA? Are their corporate hands tied by “it didn’t happen on competition grounds during active competition and wasn’t reported precisely in the correct way”?
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I think it’s plausible it never came up there. Sometimes these tendencies come to the surface when a rider is on their own, without regular supervision of a coach/mentor/employer, etc.
Another lifetime ago I worked for a trainer who was considered a brilliant horseman by much of the community, and generally presented himself as such in public. But I can’t tell you how many times I saw him resort to tactics like thsee when the “important” eyes were gone.
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It sounds like there have been multiple documented (and unanswered) official reports submitted to the FEI and USEF.
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Or when the person is now on their own and struggling to produce the same results or feeling they had when working under someone else. Lack of oversight and support brings out the worst in some people.
Right but what are we expecting from FEI and USEF? Competition ban pending investigation? Can they accept evidence from private property?
I’m asking because I am seeing a lot of noise about “why won’t USEF do anything/of course the FEI does nothing” and while I agree that brushing this type of thing under the rug is a failure of the organizations I think it’s helpful to know what we (g) want them to do, and if they can do it.
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In the H/J world a ban means a major loss of income since the prize money is a lot. The governing bodies obviously make that decision but in eventing what would the repercussions be? If you are given a time frame ban are you still alllowed to train horses? Give lessons? Hold clinics?
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I think this is the huge question going forward.
I am in no way supporting or dismissing these videos, but I also don’t want to live in a world where you are harshly disciplined every time someone produces an unflattering video of you. In this case, yes, it sounds like there is a concerning pattern. But it is a slippery slope, especially when everyone has a camera plus you can create AI fakes. It’s a problem that needs a protocol.
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I wondered too how he could possibly have gotten away with this treatment of horses around WFP, and maybe he was on his best behavior for two years(?) there … but people in the area are saying this has gone on for 10+ years and I know of two horses seriously messed up by Andrew BEFORE he went to the UK. I never knew specifics of what happened to them, but one was dangerous enough he had to be retired at like 8 years old and the other is doing well thanks to his incredible current owner. That being the extent of my personal knowledge I had assumed/hoped that those two were cases of young horses being overfaced rather than abused outright and that Andrew had done better since his time abroad, but guess not! And his significant other is a horse vet for crying out loud.
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Those poor horses. It’s hard to click ‘like’ on pictures like that, but thank you for coming forward.
That’s not training, that’s abuse.
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Sickening. For all the issues with social media, I’m glad that it allows people to bring things like this to light if the governing bodies don’t take action.
Yes I know, moment in time, danger of a short video taken out of context, most (all?) of us have done things we regret, blah blah blah…but if you ever have a moment in time where you whip a horse in the face for chipping an oxer, you deserve what’s coming to you.
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When and where exactly did it take place? For a successful disciplinary process to begin, first of FEI, USEF or both need to be told. We can’t assume they will see it on Facebook etc.
It sounds as if someone has tried before but governing bodies have done nothing, hence the video leak. But it is true or is it just hearsay that its been ignored so far?
The second point is when it happened. If it was early in the year and the rider had not renewed his USEF or FEI registrations at the time, neither of those bodies have any jurisdiction over him at the time of the alleged offence. Other abuse cases have failed on that legal point in the past.
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You’re not going to find that kind of behavior in any training book.
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