Well written and researched piece. I’m glad they took the time to be thorough and fact check. The timeline and FAQ were particularly helpful. I also appreciated the disclosures at the beginning and end about their approach to the article as well as relationship with AM.
A few sections that stood out to me (bolding mine):
June – August 2024: The FEI confirmed to the anonymous reporters that they would begin collecting information surrounding the allegations in preparation to open a case. During the period of the end of May through the end of August, multiple emails were exchanged between the initial witness and the FEI, and the FEI spoke on the phone with the four individuals named in the initial report. Throughout this period of time, the witnesses verified, the FEI took several days or even up to nearly two weeks to respond to emails, prompting the witnesses to follow up inquiring about the status of the investigation. Though we have not been able to confirm that Andrew has yet received a formal notification or charge letter, during this period of time he did become aware that the FEI was looking into the matter. He has indicated to EN that he is fully cooperating with their investigation, which is still ongoing. EN has also not been able to verify that a formal case has been opened yet, though witnesses confirm that the FEI did communicate that they were working on preparing one, and that the process would take some time. The witnesses expressed concern to the FEI about the time the investigation was taking, as by the end of August Andrew was preparing to compete at Defender Burghley. The witnesses also requested additional clarity from the FEI in terms of the investigation process and what would be needed to open a formal case. The next reply with an update on the investigation was provided from the FEI on September 11, though we are not privy to what that step is.
That is just mind boggling. And the fact the FEI would not give any more info in their replies to EN. And they didn’t provide the reporters with another update until after everything blew up on social. Also AM knew before Burghley he was being investigated and unlike CDJ chose to continue competing.
Now, the USEA is a little different. Despite the fact that the USEA is not actually a governing body – they are an affiliated association that contracts with USEF on regulation – their by-laws do state that they have the power to suspend a member…Had the USEA and USEA Foundation been made aware of the investigation sooner, Rob says, there could have been more action taken.
Interesting that USEA could have taken action but USEF could not.
We’re certainly not going to add our voices to the brigade of folks who refer to many fair rebuttals against wrongdoing as “witch hunts”, but what we do implore you to do is this: when you see something that sparks these negative feelings in you, take a moment to process how you feel, and then think about the most productive way you can react to it. Often, sharing to spread awareness of wrongdoing is impactful. In many cases, videos can be shared far and wide across social media and never once actually submitted to the appropriate safeguarding channels. In this process, damage can be done to both accuser and accused while little due process is actually followed.
I like this better than the fuzziness of Matt Brown’s post
…outside of our small world, there’s no quantifiable reason for any of this to exist, which quickly undermines any argument that any specific method is the only way to train a horse to do something. If there isn’t a strong argument for why the horse should need to know how to do the thing in the first place, how can we argue that abusive methods are a justifiable way to get there?
THIS
