Not to mention, this abuse goes beyond bad horsemanship. It’s criminally prosecutable to beat an animal in the way he does. Did? Nah, does.
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I recognize the irony in these words but it’s not my place to say because it’s all just been reported to me third-hand. Before his name was released I was getting a crazy amount of “guesses” privately. Many people guessed correctly, but there are five other people of prominence who had five or more reports from people to me for horrible and abusive behavior. They fell into two camps:
—withholding food/water and creative restraints—this seems—by reports I got—to be incredibly popular method among a few top professionals. Withholding food and water for more than 24 hours before dressage, for instance to make a horse “quieter” (WTF??). The creative restraint comes into play and used in conjunction with withholding food/water after a “bad” ride to teach them a lesson. For instance—you have a ride where the horse is disobedient. You finish your ride and short tie them in a stall with head up, or tied to their tail, or tied to their own legs for several hours. Get back on the horse and repeat the ride. Bad ride again? Rinse and repeat the previous routine. Repeat all day until the horse “submits”.
The other camp are the horse beaters. We have people on teams who think things like….taking a stirrup and leather off of a saddle and beating a horse in the head and body with it from the cross country field back to the barn—you know so you can really use the momentum at the end of the stirrup leather because it wouldn’t jump a ditch? All ok.
These are the people with tempers, and I was shocked to hear that most in this camp reported to me are women.
Theses are only anecdotes for me to tell. I have not witnessed this behavior and don’t know what is true, but each of these type of things were reported to me by separate people multiple times. It is up to the witnesses to come bravely forward and the organizations to take them seriously.
This stuff is happening, and if you start looking around for those really good riders who started shining near the top of the sport then quietly walked away? You’ll find interesting stories about how they couldn’t watch what horses are put through to get there anymore.
—
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That person is equally culpable in the abuse, then. Neither the owner nor AM deserves that (or any) horse. This is just sick. AM is bad on his own level, but for the owner to see their horse abused and go, yep, let’s have some more of that, thank you. That’s just as evil.
Any word on how his veterinarian partner figures into all this?
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I’m speechless.
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OMG. Truly horrifying and heartbreaking.
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It’s heartbreaking. And incomprehensible.
That poor, poor horse.
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Speaking of Andrew’s owner, who at one point had at least three horses with him …
I’m not sure what to make of that really. Caroline P. must be smarter than to operate on informal verbal agreements so who knows what the whole story is there. The dates line up with the horse moving to Andrew though.
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I read the decision - they had an unsigned agreement, I.e. it was in writing but for some reason it was unsigned.
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I’ve heard from a source in the local eventing community he is sending two horses he owns off to be sold, and that he and his partner (the vet) are planning to head out west. Good riddance to both. If true, those of you in the Rockies and Western US - keep an eye and ear out.
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The entire AM situation is truly troublesome, but honestly, I think the idea of a veterinarian who is knowledgeable of the abuse, supportive of the abuser and participates in covering up said abuse with treatment is possibly even more troublesome for me.
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Ugh. As if there aren’t enough crappy “trainers” out here.
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Yes, to this.
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This is absolutely disgusting to read. I hope the others you refer to are outed at some point.
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Exactly. Admittance and apologies go a long way, neither of which the public has received so far 
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This makes me absolutely sick! I’ve seen some
of these practices in the Western world, but starving or withholding water for event horses seems downright dangerous to me. Makes me wonder about how common colic is with UL horses who go through this!
Then there is me, refilling the water before I leave the barn because I want the buckets as full as possible always!
I hate these people!!
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Doesn’t anyone check the barns? Is there no way to hold them accountable to this? Are they hauling in the morning of dressage?
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- No one checks the barns at non-FEI competitions. The checks at FEI competitions are not to verify food/water/bedding.
- Yes, many/most competitions these days, even at the upper levels, are one-day affairs where everyone hauls in and shows from their trailer.
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I hate to be weird, but when I’m at a show and I’m doing night check, I put my eyes on every single horse in the barn mine is in. I’m normally last out, and if I find something that needs urgent attention I call the number on the contact card. No food/water would get a call from me.
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Respectfully disagree as someone who has been an FEI steward for many years. When we go through the barns at a competition we do look at water and the condition of horses. It’s one of the reasons we ask for contact numbers on stall cards.
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