https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6L1bQwwqzs
24k views so far
4 Likes
Sheâs kind of extreme in her views with respect to professional riders.
I agree that there are serious issues and a noteworthy lack of accountability within the governing bodies of sport⊠but⊠not ALL pro riders are guilty of abusive conduct. Thatâs an overstatement.
17 Likes
I shut it off after less than 5 minutes due to her pontificating about the evilness of ALL professional riders. Sure there are a lot of asshats in the business who shouldnât be, but surely there are decent professionals out there.
ETA: There are easier ways to make a living than in the horse business.
13 Likes
To me she comes across as being at least as concerned with how sensationalizing evilness might increase monetization of her account as with equine welfare.
44 Likes
Oh her again. Tried to cash in on the suffering of Cyril Bertheauâs horses. Sheâs nothing but a pimp.
7 Likes
Oh interesting.
Yeah⊠she just seems off to me.
1 Like
Yes she isnât my fav but just sharing as relevant. At least over 20k more people know about this now.
4 Likes
Thatâs fair
1 Like
Agreed. And she nicely demonstrates what USEF and FEI have wrought with their handling/lack of handling of this case and others: people are forced to go SM/court of public opinion b/c the governing bodies do nothing.
Once thatâs the MO, people like this pick it up and run with it. People inside and outside the horse world then see it.
As bad as this particular person is, the governing bodies deserve this kind of coverage due to their complete and utter failure to address this stuff in an effective and timely manner. They made this bed; sadly even good horsepeople must now lie in it. The orgs are giving the sport and everyone in it a bad name.
11 Likes
Yep! And whereâs Andrewâs statement thatâs coming!??
Quite the waitâŠ.
11 Likes
FEI has the time and resources to design, produce and release a tool to measure noseband tightness in the name of horse welfare, but still nothing on how they plan to address the blatant and well-documented decade+ long campaign of abuse from Andrew McConnon, who is yet to be suspended. Brilliant.
30 Likes
The gauge, which coincidentally is almost identical to the taper gauge launched by ISES in 2016âŠ
2 Likes
Sheâs a nutjob. As soon as she started onto hating ALL professional riders, she lost all credibility.
The governing bodies, FEI & USEF definitely have issues, but thatâs a completely different discussion than claiming that all professionals donât love horses.
18 Likes
Do you mind sharing the context for posting this article in this thread?
Correct me if I am wrong, but McConnon has worked with Costello at least in the past and it has been speculated that Costello probably knew of McConnonâs dirty deeds.
24 Likes
Interesting. Maybe heâs stepping down to spend more time with his family. 
15 Likes
It was noted on FB that it wasnât his choice.
5 Likes
Coach, mentor, career advocate, landlord, etc. etc. which begs the question of where supporting young athletes ends and where conflict of interest begins. A person in such a powerful position at USEA leveraging that power to, hypothetically, campaign for/make elite, career launching, connections for a rider who is a client of their coaching business can go very wrong.
"Proximity to champions has defined Andrewâs education. When Marc turned his eye toward course design, Andrew moved his small operation to Robert Costelloâs farm. âBobby had a shed row barn where I could be partly on my own and partly under his watchful eye,â Andrew said. âI had a client or two and I was teaching lessons. I took the interim step of being on my own, but still having his guidance.â
"Ultimately, Andrew decided that finding a place where he could ride and continue his education would make the most sense, an idea that his coach, Bobby Costello, agreed with wholeheartedly: âBobby told me that it would be a great move, and that I could never do anything better than that.â
"While working for Costello, McConnon determined that he wanted to reach the elite echelon of international three-day eventing. To that end, he moved to Europe in 2016 to work for British Olympian William Fox-Pitt. It was there McConnon saw first-hand the work that Fox-Pitt put in to become the FEIâs world No. 1-ranked eventer, a distinction Fox-Pitt has achieved multiple times.
McConnon today applies the philosophies and practices he absorbed from Fox-Pitt, Donovan and Costello to forge his own path. "
14 Likes
This is very interesting, reading between the lines.
12 Likes
